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The Screenwriter in Cyberspace
By Charles Deemer

Column #9 - Marketing in Cyberspace

Carlos de Abreu, the owner/host here at the Internet Screenwriters Network (which is part of the larger Hollywood Network), tells me that a "pitch page" will be premiering here soon, an area where writers can pitch their screenplays to established producers. This innovation, although ahead of the curve, speaks to the way the Internet is changing the way Hollywood does business.

Studios already have seen the marketing advantages of cyberspace. Most now have a presence on the World Wide Web, at which they pitch their new releases with clips and interviews.

That's the role of the studio as seller. But what about the studio as buyer? What marketing advantages does cyberspace offer to screenwriters?

Not surprisingly, that depends on whom you ask. Although each edition of the Hollywood Creative Directory shows more prodcos listing email addresses, something as basic as receiving queries by email is still not something most producers embrace.

Queries by Email

I talked to several independent producers about the advantages and disadvantages of doing business in cyberspace. Not surprisingly, their reactions are mixed.

"I was accepting email queries over the past 6 to 9 months," said Rona Edwards of Edwards Yellen Entertainment, "but stopped because I felt compelled to answer everyone that emailed me and I had to explain how I did not accept submissions unsolicited or without release forms. When I would send release forms and receive material, with the exception of maybe one submission, most were very poorly written, amateurish actually, and it was a waste of my time, unfortunately. Since the majority of submissions were of poor quality, we decided not to list our email address anymore."

"I believe in hard copies," Edwards continued, "and unless I wanted to print out every email I received to file away under queries, which I don't have the time to do, I'd rather receive something the old fashioned way."

Greater Access

Not everyone shares Edwards' unfortunate experience with email. John Tarnoff, who has been accepting email queries for about a year, is seriously considering a project that was introduced to him with an electronic pitch. Although noting that in general the material "is not as high quality as I would like, which is the case no matter where you get scripts," Tarnoff sees a greater access to material as one of the advantages of accepting email queries.

This advantage of wider access is also why K. Muffett accepts email queries.

"The advantages are to tap into the rest of the world's writers/creators," said Muffett. "Hollywood tends to feed upon itself. You may have noticed that a lot of stuff looks and sounds similar. For many companies this is not an accident. If an idea worked one time, why not do it again with a few changes? Money is the objective. I am not opposed to making money but the most important focus is the work itself."

The Problem of Volume

"The problems with pitches over the email might be the volume," Muffett continued. "It is difficult to tell with only a few sentences whether a project sounds interesting. Therefore it requires asking for more information, getting submission agreements signed first, etc. If the email were filled every day with pitches, it is likely I wouldn't read many. I do throw a lot of mail out too, but a cursory glance does usually happen."

"But I do believe using cyberspace is likely and wise," Muffett concluded. "It will require some thought as to how best to utilize it so that it is not overwhelming."

Adam Kline of TAE Productions also believes in the positive potential of doing business in cyberspace, despite some personal negative experience that resulted in removal of the company home page off the World Wide Web.

"It can be a good way to find screenplays," he said, "but you have to put in some controls to doing business online." In cyberspace, rumors can turn into flames, requiring considerable damage control.

First Sale in Cyberspace

In the current Creative Screenwriting journal, mention is made of what is considered to be the first sale of a script pitched in cyberspace, the screenplay Northwest Harbor:
"In a possible first, this script was first marketed on the Internet. The authors (Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton) networked (pardon the pun) their script on the Writer's Ink forum on the online service The Vine. Here's how the chain of contacts unfolded: Falacci and Heuton interested fellow forum participant James Tugend, who told his wife, producer Jennie Lew Tugend, who passed the script to Jennifer Perini of Warner Bros."
Sales of scripts, which are then turned into profitable movies, will bring cyberspace closer to the center of Hollywood's business playing field, and this process has now begun. The future holds many possibilities, from the online pitching coming soon to the Internet Screenwriters Network, to the writing, sale, production and distribution of digital movies whose only screen is the computer.

In the meantime, writers active in cyberspace must remember that the same marketing protocols apply as in the universe of "snail mail." Don't take advantage of the ease of electronic mailings to avoid doing your research and homework, making sure that the prodco you have in mind works in the genre in which you write.

Despite certain uncertainties in the electronic marketplace, it's an exciting time to be a screenwriter.

--Charles Deemer

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Originally appeared at the Hollywood Network.