We’ll get Back to You Shortly! How to Survive While Hollywood is Reading your Screenplay

A screenwriting career is not only a lot of writing and rewriting, it’s also a lot of waiting.

Waiting for the next great idea, waiting for your reps to return your emails, and the most agonizing of all, waiting for feedback from a producer, executive, agent, manager, or director after you’ve sent them your script.

It can take months, sometimes years to get your script read. So when someone wants to see your material it’s exciting - you feel that long-awaited surge of momentum, finally you’re leveling up!

And then… radio silence (or maybe a one line email telling you they haven’t gotten to it yet). It can leave you feeling deflated, frustrated, and frankly pissed off. 

So what do you do while you’re waiting? How long do you hold out hope that they’ll get back to you? How can you tell if they’re really just busy or if they read one page and tossed your script on a reject pile?

To ease your mind (and maybe give you an extra shot of patience) here are some tips on how to survive while Hollywood is reading your screenplay, and a few reasons why it might be taking so long:

It’s probably NOT YOU it’s THEM

When you don’t hear back right away about your script, it’s easy for that inner critic to take over and tell you it’s because your work sucks and the person reading it thought it was so bad they never want to speak with you again. In reality (at least most of the time) it’s not you, it’s them. Screenwriters need to remember that everyone has their own workload and priorities. Even if you sent someone a 30 page pilot, it can take a Hollywood exec an average of an hour to two hours (sometimes more) to review a script. It’s not just reading: they are collecting their thoughts as they go, evaluating what’s working and not working, and making notes. That’s a lot of time and attention for someone whose schedule is already jammed. Remember, reps are dealing with multiple clients (and multiple scripts); development execs are probably dealing with multiple projects in various stages of development; even if you sent it to a fellow screenwriter they have their own scripts, pitches, and meetings to focus on. But although this all means it might take someone longer to get back to you - great! You want them to take that time. It means they are giving your script the consideration you want it to be given. So don’t panic if you don’t hear back from someone right away, most likely you are on their ‘to do’ list - Hollywood ‘to do list’s’ just tend to be very long.

Let it Go

A lot of screenwriters want to know how long they should wait to hear back from someone who requested their screenplay, and when they should assume it’s a pass. The answer is, there is no answer. I know writers who have heard back from an executive in a matter of days, and others who have heard back after 6 months or more with an offer to option their work. The real point is it doesn’t matter how long it takes them to get back to you because you shouldn’t be sitting around waiting on them anyway. You aren’t in this career to sell one script, you’re in it for the long haul - so keep writing. Even if you hear back about your script right away and go in for a meeting chances are they’ll ask, ‘so what else are you working on?’ Better to have an actual new project on the go, then telling them ‘oh nothing, I’ve just been desperately agonizing over hearing back from you and sitting by my phone.’ Also, if you never hear back, it will matter less because you’ll already be knee deep in a new project you’re excited about.  

Yes, You Can Follow Up, but…

It is totally acceptable to follow up about your script with a concise, gracious email about the status of your submission. But be smart about when you do it and how you do it. Don’t follow up too early: A good initial wait time is 3-4 weeks, depending on your relationship with the person. If it’s your rep or a friend, feel free to reach out earlier, but if it’s an executive or potential rep you’ve met once (or not at all) 4 weeks is not too long to wait (even though it might feel like torture). But on the flip side, don’t follow up too late: don’t wait so long that the producer, or executive will have forgotten all about you and your project; or even worse, has moved onto another company (you would be surprised how fast people change jobs in Hollywood). Finally, don’t hound them. Never, ever send more than 3 ‘check-in’ emails (and never in the same week). If you don’t hear back after one follow up, a second email roughly 2 months later is okay,  and you can consider sending another push a month after that. But, be realistic. If you’ve sent multiple emails with zero response, it’s probably a pass for right now. If someone does love your work, they will get back to you - whether it’s now, or 4 months down the line.

Whatever you do, breathe, keep writing, keep your feet on the ground, practice patience and eventually, if your work is always improving, something will get through.

What do you do while you’re waiting for Hollywood to read your script? Let me know @CaroleKirsch!