Marketing Blitz

So, I've taken on a rather huge project recently. Over the next seven weeks, I'm going to be sending a query letter out to every agent listed on the WGA's website. Now, all the best advice that I've read, says that you should make a query letter as personal as you can get. Unfortunately, I can't seem to apply this strategy to WGA Agents. I spent the better part of November and December 2008 calling agencies individually to ask for a contact name for a query letter. More than 90% of those agencies responded with the following answer:

"Just address it to 'agent.'"

Most agencies do not post the names of their representatives online. Few of them are published in the Writer's Market. So, that leaves the phone. Alas, my phone research led me to find data that directly contradicts most of what I've read.

Granted, most of the stuff that I've read from the Writer's Digest line of books does not deal with Screenplay Agents. So, if you're going to query publishers, I would still suggest that you make the letters as personal as possible.

In any case, I started getting my first series of rejections today. As I excitedly rifle through all of the SASE's that I always include with my queries, my wife asks, why do you get so excited about rejection letters.

"Simple," I answered, "If you're not getting rejected, you're not trying."

I stand by that. But, I also stand by the numbers. Over seven weeks, at 168 letters to be mailed for each one of seven screenplays, that's 1,176 letters. Of all those, it only takes 1 letter--just 1--to change your life forever.

-Matt

Boo YAH!!!

Well, good news comes much sooner than I expected. Results are in for the top 20 finalists of The Writers Place Screenplay Competition. I entered 7 screenplays, and 3 made it into the top 20. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I was the only finalist to have multiple entries make it. According to the contest administrators, winners will be announced on January 1, 2010, so at least I don't have long to wait. Fade In always claims that quarterfinalists are announced in February, but contestants never hear anything until March.

Keep your fingers crossed, and let's see how far we can ride the luck wave.

-Matt

Competition Season

Well, it's been a long time since my last post, but I've been a busy, busy guy. When last I blogged, I was unemployed. I'm happy to say that has not been the case for some time. I found gainful employment again by February of 2009, and now I run a precious metals retail store in Rocklin. Things are going good, and now that I've had time to settle in, I've been able to bring the focus back to my writing.

For starters, during my period of unemployment, I was able to finish a script that has plagued me for a few years; ROBOTICA. In addition, I did A LOT of reading and cranked out a few short stories. Then came job time. Since it was a new career path--the days of banking are over--I wanted to put all my focus into that, since my 5 member family needs food and shelter. But, some time passed, and as with all things, I mastered my newfound career quite quickly (what, me arrogant?).

I've now done full revisions and re-registrations on all of my working screenplays, and entered all seven into both The Writers Place Screenplay Competition and the 14th Annual Fade In Screenwriting Competition...so we'll see how it goes.

I've never entered more than two scripts into any one competition.

Hope to type more soon...hopefully with some good news.

What, Me Work?

Well, as of November 10, 2008, I’ve been unemployed. As it turns out, with the economic environment in its current state, being a banker wasn’t such a great position to be in. Alas, the community bank with which I was employed wasn’t in such bad shape, but my management position was.

So now I am presented with the greatest challenge of all? Can I overcome the stress of unemployment, a new baby (born in mid October), and clever financial maneuvering to keep a roof over my family of 5’s heads and focus on writing during the bulk of my days? I won’t lie, in the last 1½ months, I’ve seemed busier unemployed than I ever seemed when I was working. But, as the holidays wind down, that won’t last long. Eventually, the only thing that I’ll have to do is check the classifieds and other job listings, but that only takes a few minutes per day. It’ll probably be another few weeks before I actually start at a new job. So, can I sit down in front of my keyboard and write for 8 hours per day?

I guess that we’ll find out.

Much Needed Time

I’m off on a four-week vacation. I haven’t had a vacation for nearly two years, so this will be nice. Granted, I’m going to be spending most of my time cleaning and changing infant diapers (my wife and I are expecting our third and final baby any day now), but at least I don’t have to shave or wear a tie for a month. It will also be a great opportunity to finish up a script that my friend and I have been working on for about 2 years.

Ah, good times.

- Matt

My Second Article Published

My second article has just been approved for publication in The Wildwood Independent. From the feel of things, I’m hoping that I can make this a fairly regular activity—if for no other purpose than keeping my typing hands busy.

- Matt

First Published

Time and time again I’ve read the words, “write what you know.” Well, I’ve always sort of ignored that rule, because what I know best is banking—and let’s face it, banking is not the most exciting topic to write or read. But, lo and behold, I should have started listening to that rule a long time ago.

I like to remain an active guy—wife, kids, work, more hobbies than any sane man can count. So, when the opportunity came for me utilize my finely honed writing skill in an effort to help our local Chamber of Commerce fill their newsletter, I jumped at the chance. No big deal, right?

As it turns out, the Chamber of Commerce newsletter is an insert that goes into one of our local papers, The Penn Valley Courier. The Penn Valley Courier is published and owned by Mike and Linda Dobbins, the same individuals who publish The Wildwood Independent. To make a long story short, Mike ended up reading the article, and asking me if he could run it in The Wildwood Independent because he thought that it was important material for Lake Wildwood (my home) residents to read.

So, my first article is going to be published. It’s a local paper, but at a readership of about 10,000, it has a much higher circulation than a great deal of small publications that have rejected my submissions in the past.

Either way, I promised to treat myself to a nice cigar when I finally got published.

I guess it’s time to go shopping.

- Matt

Too Much of a Good Thing

Have you ever stayed up so late reading that you go to sleep reading random strings of words to yourself in the style of dramatic prose? I was not feeling very well yesterday, so I stayed in bed and read 300 straight pages of Frank Peretti’s The Oath. Of course, by 3:30AM, I only had another 70 pages until the end, so I kicked myself when I fell asleep. Then, all night, after seven consecutive hours of reading, my brain had become so accustomed to reading, it just kept on reading…quite interesting.

I’ve had the same experience with video games…curse you Mario Bros. 3. At the time (back in the day), MB3 was one of the most highly anticipated games to have come out. After my brother and I anxiously bought it, we played it for 16 hours straight. Had there been drinking, gambling, and tuberculosis, we would have been pre-teen versions of Doc Holiday. Anyhow, I went to bed that night, and as my eyes closed, I could still see little Mario, jumping violently onto the backs of Koupa Troopers, unleashing a fiery hell from the tips of his sausage-like, Italian fingers, and somehow defying the laws of Newtonian Physics by obtaining short bursts of flight by spinning his oft-sought raccoon tail. As wake drifted to sleep, and sleep drifted to dream, I found that my mind was now the game controller, and even mental Mario did my bidding.

It took me all night to get over my “reading nothing” affliction. But, Peretti’s work is pretty addictive—for me. His style is much like my own, as are his protagonists and antagonists. Eerily, The Oath bears a striking resemblance to my The Shroud. I may have to make some slight changes now…so I don’t read like a copy-cat. But, in all fairness, I wrote The Shroud three years before I’d even heard of Frank Peretti.