Martin Eden, Meet the Hollywood Screenwriting Directory...

It has arrived!  I just received my Spring 2013 Hollywood Screenwriting Directory from The Writers Store.  This directory is said to contain more than 2500 listings for prominent industry insiders, both from studios and independent financiers for film projects. The HSD also includes how-to instructions on preparing query letters, treatments and other formatting guides.

It appears to be a very nice tool.  It should be, at the tune of $49.95 U.S.  In flipping through the 300+ page resource, it appears to be neatly organized.  It begins with 2 pages on how to best use the directory. It then describes and illustrates very nicely, how to structure a screenplay to comply with industry standards. Though in my mind, if you don't already know this, you should not have this directory.  It takes many months, even years to write a screenplay that is fit for the marketplace. If you don't know the basics of screenplay structure, by the time you craft your script and drag it through the many revisions that are necessary to get it near perfection, then a directory like this will have become obsolete. Things in Hollywood are changing  constantly - industry people are moving around all the time, while new production companies emerge. I feel like much of the information in this directory will have changed by September.  I suppose that is why this volume is called "Spring 2013".

Moving on through the contents is a section on writing query letters.  The well crafted query letter is essential in getting your foot in the door of industry professionals.  In fact most producers, agents, managers, will not even look at your script until they first see a query letter that briefly introduces you and your idea.  I know this to be true as I have had a half-dozen requests for my script Martin Eden as a result of a query letter submission. I also think it helps that Martin Eden has done well in the screenplay competition circuits. Any awards or accomplishments that you or your work has achieved should be leveraged and showcased in your query letter.

Before the directory of industry insiders begins, the directory has a final section on treatments and log lines. A logline is a very brief description of your story its most bare essence - and I mean very brief, like one, at he very most 2 sentences.  My last logline reads:


Martin Eden is an impoverished sailor whose ambitious pursuit of love, fame and fortune ultimately leads to one final voyage, to the very brink of his own self-destruction. 

or

Martin Eden is a rough, working class sailor whose ambitious pursuit of self-education and personal refinement, for the sake of love, eventually elevates him to a new class status. But Martin’s view from the top was far from what he had ever imagined. 

or

Martin Eden is a working-class sailor whose love for an upper-class socialite and pursuit of literary fame ultimately brings him on one final voyage, to the brink of self-destruction.

I've used each of these with varying degree of success. 

Lastly, the treatment is described in the same section as the logline. I have never put together a treatment and I need to look at this more closely, before I begin casting my nets. A treatment is a summary of the major themes and elements of your story.  I need to do that soon... very soon.  

I want to begin getting into the directory and sending out my query letters. I will likely do this in small waves. I do have a full time job as a logistics manager, I do have a family and children.  And at this moment, with 70 degree temperatures finally here in Chicago, I have a backyard calling. I have a vegetable garden to plant and some clean-up yet to do...