(Even if you don’t think you’re ready)

I want to start out this post by clarifying that I do NOT mean querying manuscripts for agents. Often times we only get once chance when querying agents. As such, I fully believe that you should take as much time as you need before querying agents either for film, novels, or poetry collections so that you can put your best foot forward.

What I AM talking about are smaller forms of querying: short stories and singular poems (querying literary magazines/journals) or independent films and screenplays (submitting to festivals/competitions).

I don’t often talk about my film work on this blog but, on this particular topic of querying, I believe that it’s worth talking about it in conjunction with the usual writing topics.

I will, however, begin with the literary side of things. There are an endless amount of literary magazines and journals that take short stories, poems, and novel excerpts out there. Thankfully, the majority of these offer free submissions which offer a level of accessibility that, unfortunately, doesn’t happen often in the pursuit of creative professions. One thing that does make querying less accessible, though, is the amount of time that it requires.

As I said, there are an endless amount of magazines and journals. There are also an endless amount of people submitting to them. Between the overwhelming number of submissions each magazine receives and the often long response times, it’s recommended and expected that writers submit to multiple magazines at a time. However, every magazine has different requirements for submission forms, query content, submission length, etc. which makes it extremely time consuming to prepare all of those materials for every individual journal.

It’s time consuming and not everyone has the time to commit to that. Working in small steps to gather what each journal wants can help but, unfortunately, there’s little we can do about the time investment. If you do have that time available, though, then I believe you should use it to query. Submitting work to literary magazines and journals cannot—unless there are extreme circumstances—harm your professional career. If you are able, why wouldn’t you want the chance to showcase your work? Unlike with agents, you can submit short stories and individual poems as many times as you like (to different magazines, of course) and the more you query the higher chance you have of getting your name out there. 

Basically, by querying literary magazines, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I want to add a bit of a caveat to that advice, however. Many literary magazines accept novel excerpts. Though I admit I have not done extensive research into the pros and cons of publishing excerpts I do advise caution in doing so. Often times magazines require first publication rights (either in general or for a certain geographic area). If you’ve published your manuscript or have intentions to do so then this issue of rights can get into a grey area of sorts. The same can be said if you intend on querying your manuscript to agents. Most agents only accept previously unpublished works. If you’ve submitted an excerpt from your novel and it’s accepted then there may be grounds for an agent dismissing you query regardless of how great your writing is. Again, I’m no expert on this particular type of submission, but it seems to me like something that may not play out in your favor (if you’re not planning on publishing your manuscript yourself).

As for films and screenplays, things are a little more cut and dry.

The majority of film festivals and competitions are pay to submit only (I’m more familiar with festivals so I’ll be focusing on them). It’s unfortunate and only exacerbates the lack of accessibility in the film industry. However, for now, that’s how it is. I’ve found that setting aside a portion of a film’s budget for submissions helps but sometimes it’s just not an option—I’ll talk about that later.

In general, the more expensive the festival the greater the recognition if your film is chosen. I say film because, personally, I think that 9 times out of 10 submitting a film is more beneficial than submitting a screenplay—again, I’ll talk about that later. With cheaper festivals there is more competition but that shouldn’t deter you from submitting. I don’t care how “worthy” you think your film is or who else “might” be submitting, if you don’t submit then you won’t be seen. Submit your film to as many festivals as you are able. It will increase your odds and will be worth it. Like literary magazines, some festivals require “premier rights” either in general or for specific geographic areas. Make sure to order your submissions to account for this that way you’re not showing at a festival with state premier rights before you try to show at a festival with national premier rights. Also, if you can attend festivals that you’ve been accepted to, you’ll build countless essential connections for your future.

Now, back to the “later” points: film is not a very accessible field. Unlike literary magazines, most festivals have fees for their submissions. However, there are many free festivals that are available for filmmakers to submit to so paying a fee isn’t always an unavoidable expense. Additionally, if you make a free account with FilmFreeway you can sign up for notifications from various festivals. These will tell you not only when submissions open and close but also when submissions go on sale. A lot of festivals reduce their submission fees for special events and having access to those deals can help greatly cut down the cost of submissions. 

Earlier, I said that I recommend submitting a film rather than a screenplay. This plays heavily into the idea that film tends not to be a very accessible field. Not many people can afford to budget and produce an entire film AND submit it to countless festivals. It’s more common for scriptwriters to write their film and then use even the equivalent of a full film budget to submit that screenplay to festivals. In this way, the screenplay gets more recognition and the writer then has the chance to put the onus of production onto someone more qualified. It’s a good route, if you can afford it. However, the competition and cost is steep.

Technology today has advanced to the point where anyone with a smartphone can produce a film that would have been leaps and bounds the quality of films 20 years ago. Take advantage of that.

Anyone can write a screenplay. Not many people can write a screenplay that actually translates well on screen.

If you are able to submit a film that garners good attention then you can prove immediately that you are able to write well for screen not just well on a page. There’s also less competition for actual films than for straight screenplays (even though both are extremely high-volume fields). Personally, I recommend writing a short script (or, ideally, several) for the sole purpose of production/festival submission. Gaining attention with that and then being able to query a feature film with an agent or producer will be an easier route than learning how your work translates to screen the first moment you try to sell a script.

As a quick side note, lots of festivals also have the option to submit film trailers. If you’re dead set on using festivals to sell a feature script then you can produce a trailer for it and then potentially catch the attention of someone who is willing to invest to see more.

I really want to go into more about micro-budget filmmaking (it’s a favorite topic of mine, honestly) but I’m afraid I’ve already gone on a few too many tangents for this post. If you’d like to know more about my experience with micro-budget films let me know, though, and I can make a post or series of posts on the subject!

Until then, happy querying!
Sarah E.