Film Courage: Jay, you mentioned on your Youtube channel about an article on Final Draft and it
was quite beneficial for you from an Oakland [California] screenwriter who used to be a rapper,
Saeed Crumpler? Jay Fingers, Novelist, Journalist, Editor, and Screenwriter: Right. Film Courage:
And it was called Against All Odds How a Black Writer from the Bay Area Queried his way
to Being Repped. Again that's Saeed Crumpler, he had some tips and it was beautifully written,
do you want to go over any of them? Jay: Yeah, Saeed's article was very helpful
and following his tips is what has led to the requests that I've gotten so far for my script.
One of the things that he said which I hesitated in doing but he's just like Use every tool in your
toolkit. You've got to go for it. Mention that you're a black writer or mention if you are a
queer writer or a latino writer or what have you. Use that to your advantage. Mention if you're a
woman writer because managers are looking to diversify their roster. It just makes sense.
Lead with something like that and let me see what this person may have to offer. Another tip was
just to keep it short. Queries that I had drafted before reading this article were way too long,
paragraphs upon paragraphs it's just like this isn't good. I'm sitting here thinking that
all right a five or six paragraph query is cool and it's not you know site is just like
intro logline outro thank you you know with your contact information of course and I followed that
template as well so it's your quick intro you know hi I'm an emerging black screenwriter and
I've got a script that I think you'd like to read here's the log line thank you for your time and
consideration j fingers phone number email address like seriously like keep it short and again it's
it's been something that I think works you know I know that these people their time is limited
they're getting a query they're getting an email from someone that's unfamiliar to them
and they want to be out of that email as soon as possible so if you can accommodate them
then they're I think they'll be more receptive to to saying okay yeah sure you got to have a strong
log line that was another thing make sure your log line is tight and you know he did give tips on
ensuring that the log line works and those were tips that I applied to my log line you like the
restructuring and finding that one tidbit that would that would like capture someone's attention
and yeah like I said I think it works because I've gotten several requests for for my script
I think Saeed also said number two make it personal don't just put dear manager yeah I mean I
think that goes without saying you definitely want to make it personable you know not your you know
hi sir hi ma'am dear manager and you know nothing even something as simple as hi or hey you know
if you you know use a mesh you know hey karen seriously you know it works it really works
because it already it establishes that rapport right away you know right away so right right
those are great tips yeah great and we'll put a link to that and then we'll also put a link
to your video too because you you talked about it on your channel how many query
letters have you sent out since you've been in la gosh I've probably probably sent out
between 20 and 25 i'll say yeah
and these are emails or u.s mail yeah these are these are emails emails okay so we don't do
I yeah I haven't I haven't done the snail mail thing there is a manager out there who I think
prefers snail mail but I haven't query that manager but yeah sending out emails
so you've done about you said 20 about you know 20 20 to 25 probably closer to 20 yeah and you
you definitely got the one response back any others besides that one
yeah I mean I've probably gotten probably gotten about eight responses
yeah probably about eight responses when you get these responses back do you put these in
let's say an excel document where you know to follow up with this person in a year or whenever
right right yeah so I do have a spreadsheet and I've got the manager's name the company that they
work for their email address the type of of manager that they are like if they
specialize in like tv you know or features because features is really my thing so I'm
kind of focused on that but there may be some managers who you know diversify they're looking
for kind of everything so I do note that I do have the date that I query a follow-up date and
just like a little space to note what kind of response if any and what do you think is
the acceptable amount of time to send out a new query query letter with a new project
I'm honestly not sure because this is this is the first like you know query like round of queering
that that you know I'm doing and I don't want to follow up with a new project so soon like after
like a pass or what have you like one manager you know they were just like this project isn't for us
but feel free to reach out to us with you know anything else you may have I didn't know I mean
I just knew that that meant the door was open to query again but I didn't know if that meant next
week or give them some time so you know I want to I want to give some time before I do that as far
as like follow-ups I'm thinking that follow-ups I'm thinking that maybe like two months is a good
window so with that in mind if I'm just going to query like you know pitch like a whole new
script or what have you then i'd probably extend the wait time to maybe like six months
and is that something that's beneficial I guess with your writer's group as you can talk
to these other writers and find out what is industry protocol definitely yeah yeah yeah
you know and not just with them but with other writers that I know the screenwriting twitter
community you know so yeah right because it because it I would imagine it does hurt if you're
if you're too insistent yeah I think it could come across as maybe desperate seeming desperate
you know and that's not you know my goal is not to you know aggravate anyone you know I want to
build a meaningful relationship and you know build a nice rapport with people so if the
door is left open to you know maybe query you know with another project okay cool you know
I'm gonna give you some time though you know before I before I bother you again what are
your thoughts on query letters to be honest I I'm still I'm still not a fan but I do understand and
now that I now that I understand and now that I feel comfortable in crafting query letters I feel
like that's a tool in my in my tool kit that I can definitely use they're not as bad as log lines
but no query letters I questioned the effectiveness of them before
but that's only because my attempts were just terrible like I said now that I feel that I can
craft a good query letter and you know get a response I certainly understand why they work
well I mean because someone wouldn't send their work blind without something it's just like you
probably wouldn't want to send a resume without some type of cover letter right exactly exactly.