You’ve just finished putting the final touches on your query letter and you’re now ready to send it out to agents and producers to pitch your screenplay.
Your plan is to email as many agents and producers as possible with the hope that you will be able to generate as much interest in your script as possible.
You send your query letter off and wait to see what kind of responses you’ll get…
Does Your Query Letter Grab Attention?
Now imagine you’re a screenplay agent and you’re sitting at your desk and you decide to check your emails.
You scan your inbox and see a bunch of emails from different people. One of the emails has the subject line: “Query Letter” another email’s subject is “Movie Submission” and another one is titled “Movie Script”. Oh, wait. There’s an interesting looking email. The subject stands out: “Query for Inspirational Drama.” That sounds great. You know a producer who is looking for an inspirational and powerful drama at this very moment. The agent clicks on the email and opens it up.
Never underestimate the importance of using a well written subject line to grab a producer or agent’s attention.
It’s the same as writing a killer headline in advertising. You don’t want to have some lame headline advertising your product as it will do little to inspire people and it will almost definitely fail to grab anyone’s attention.
Instead, you want to focus on making your subject lines as interesting and as eye-catching as possible.
A Great Subject Line Generates Clicks
People need a reason to take action. Agents and producers are no different. They need a reason to click on your email and to read your query letter. The subject line is one great way to get people interested in reading your query letter.
I’ve lost count of all the times I’ve seen query letters with a subject line that reads:
“Query Letter”
“Movie Submission”
“Movie Script”
“Query”
This tells the person receiving your email nothing about who you are or what your script is all about. Instead, you want to write a subject line that is short and powerful and generates interest. Don’t worry, this is nowhere near as difficult as it seems.
There are, in fact, a couple of ways to achieve this. One great way to write a powerful subject line is to focus on what kind of genre your screenplay is. For example:
Query for Inspirational Drama
Frathouse Comedy Screenplay
Award Winning Sci-Fi Screenplay
Romantic Comedy by Published Author
Intergalactic War – Sci-Fi Script
Another way to bring your subject line to life is to focus on the type of screenplay and story your script is by comparing it to other successful movies. For example:
Query – Jaws Even Bigger and Badder
Query – Interstellar meets Gravity
Screenplay – 300 meets Saving Private Ryan
A final great way to write a powerful subject line is to focus on what you or your screenplay has accomplished that can give extra credibility to your script and make people want to read your query letter.
War Screenplay by Vietnam Veteran
Prison Drama by Former Convict
Query – Midnight Murder (Award Winning Script)
Historical Screenplay by Published Author
Horror Script by Experienced Writer
(Note: whether you use “Query”, “Screenplay Query”, “Script” or “Screenplay” in your subject line is personal preference and entirely up to you.)
It is, however, important to put a little time and effort into your subject line. After all, you’ve spent many hours writing your screenplay and crafting a great query letter, it seems crazy not to invest a fraction of that time into putting together a decent subject line that will grab an agent or producer’s attention and make them want to read more…