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To Pitch An Article Idea,
Start With This Page; Study
The 'What We Need Most" List |
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Do
You Want To Write For Creative Screenwriting Magazine?
An
Invitation From The Editors To Pitch Article Ideas
THE ''WHAT WE NEED MOST" LIST
Our
original blast drew a lot of "interview with a writer" and
scriptwriting tip proposals. We're currently overstocked with
ideas in those two areas. Here is...
What We Need Most -- See Below For Details:
- #1 A reporter to cover new script sales, hot scripts, and script subjects being sought
- A regular "Know Your Show" reporter/writer... or two
- Short "People And News" Articles; "The Buzz" Articles
- Reporting On/Analyzing The Niche Scriptwriting Markets
- What Scripts Producers Are Currently Looking For And Talking About
- New
resources: someone to write brief descriptive reports (not reviews) of
new books, software, and other resources
Your best chances of writing for us lie with the subjects above. Also, be aware of our deadlines.
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To pitch an article to us,
please read all of this page, then fill out the pitch form. (Why a pitch form?)
Please do not email article pitch ideas to any of our editors unless specifically requested! The reasons we use this form are discussed at the bottom of
the page.
Have
the following ready to cut and paste before you start to pitch
an article:
- A synopsis/synopses of
the article you are pitching.
- The lead
paragraph of your article
based on the facts as you know them
today or what you think they are. The facts may
change as you research, of course. We're looking for
adherence to
our style and ability to write a magazine lead paragraph.
NOTE: in the story pitch form, there is a field for your
suggested lead paragraph. Do not write
anything in that field other than this lead paragraph. Do not give
us a note or
an explanation in this field -- put only the lead paragraph itself in this
field. This is THE most important field in your pitch to us.
If you choose not to follow this instruction, or if your
lead paragraph is not a reasonably good magazine or newspaper-style
lead paragraph, you are wasting your
time pitching an article idea.
- Your bio, in our style, as it
would appear on our "Contributors" page. (Download an issue below and look at the format; do not give us a 200-word bio.)
- A working knowledge of our
magazine and the types of articles we seek, as outlined below.
You'll need an issue or
two of the magazine for guidance on our style. You
can download these three issues:
November-December,
2008 issue
January-February
2009 issue
January-February 2008 issue
Know Your Show, Part 1 of the original series
Know Your Show, Part 2 of the original series
Read the
contract summary and the terms under which you are pitching an idea. Don't submit if
you don't understand or if you don't agree with the contract terms.
Kinds
Of Articles We Want And Don't Want: Please Read Carefully
We urge you
to also study the content of our magazine for the
kinds and quality of information we seek.
We Very Emphatically and Definitely DO NOT Want:
- "My
story as a struggling, aspiring screenwriter" or variations thereof,
such as "the Unknown Screenwriter Speaks For All Unknown
Screenwriters." Yes, your
struggle IS a worthy
struggle. And yes, we DO know it is difficult. But it is
not news to our readers. They've been there, done that, and they are
there, doing that.
- Advice from sources
without the credentials to give advice. Producers, produced
directors and writers, agents, screenwriting teachers, script
analysts,
studio execs, and studio readers have credentials. If you're an
unproduced writer, your credentials will not "sell" your story to
our
readers.
- Interviews
with movie screenwriters -- especially press-junket
or press-conference interviews with writers. We
assign one-on-one interviews to writers already on staff.
(But see the sole exception, "Writers Of The New Movies We Missed.")
- Scholarly
journal articles or film theory. Our principal audience is
working and aspiring film and TV writers, not scholars.
- Fan-magazine
articles or articles that read like fan magazine articles. Our readers
are writers who seek professional insights on every topic that will
help them improve and advance. If a sentence does not meet that
standard, it shouldn't be in the article.
- Your
opinions on Hollywood, writers,
directors producers, or movies in general, especially not adoring
treatises on why Writer X is so brilliant, or the opposite, why
everything Hollywood makes is, in your view, crap. Our readers do not want
YOUR opinions about filmmakers or TV writers. Readers want THEIR perspectives, THEIR how-it's-done ideas, and THEIR artistic choices.
- Movie reviews, long book reviews, software reviews, or DVD
reviews. (However, see the item about a "Resources" column.)
- Weak
writing, poor grammar, spelling mistakes.
This is a magazine
for
writers. They get upset with us if they see bad writing. If the
grammar is bad in your pitch, then you will not stand a chance of writing for
us.
- Poorly written articles. You will need to know how to
write a magazine or hard-news article, and especially the lead paragraph. The pitch form asks for your
first draft of a lead paragraph. This field is very important.
It
shows us very quickly whether you are a capable writer of a magazine
article. Please re-read item #2 above. We mean it.
We Do Want These Kinds Of Articles (Gold-Starred Items Are Highest Priority):
 #1--Script Sales, Hot Scripts, Hot Markets:
a reporter to cover new script sales, hot scripts, and script subjects
being sought. You will also need to know how to capture this
information in a spreadsheet or database.
How-To
Articles 1: anything about the art, craft, business, and
legal issues of screenwriting and the screenwriting life.
Caveat #1: it must be a
new subject we haven't covered or a new angle or useful
expansion on what we have covered. Caveat #2:
Either you will need what we deem to be solid credentials (teacher,
produced writer, agent/former agent, producer, etc.) or you must
interview someone with solid credentials for a how-to piece.
People & News
Articles ("The Buzz," etc.):
short (200-500-word) news articles about screenwriting and writers, events, what people are talking
about. New ways to gain exposure and sell.
"Breaking in"
articles up to 500 words.
"Know
Your Show" Articles On TV shows: We want more articles on what
individual TV
shows want and how to scope them out and spec them. Important:
study prior "Know Your Show" articles in our Jan-Feb. 2008 and Jan-Feb 2009 issues so you know what we want.
A Regular "Books, Software, And Other Resources" Column: The
key differences between traditional book reviews and what we want
are: (a) We want to inform our readers briefly and factually
about what
is there and what is not there in a book, not give your
opinions on
quality (If it is not useful, we don't want to cover it); and
(b) we are looking for a reporter to cover the field, not just
review a book here and there.
Writing For Niche-Market Movie Audiences.
What is a niche? Here's a rough definition: if a
movie is
on only one screen in town or in your part of the city, it's probably a
niche movie. Straight-to-DVD is a writing niche.
Other
niches include gay-themed films; films aimed principally at
the
African-American or Hispanic middle class; indie films on "serious"
subjects aimed principally at an over-30 audiences; low-budget
sci-fi, horror, and comedy-horror (some of Roger Corman's
output,
and much of that of Troma Entertainment, for example), and such markets as direct-to-DVD horror.
What
Producers and Bankable Actors And Directors Are Looking For And Talking About:
We don't mean yesterday, and we don't mean "in general." We
mean
what kinds of scripts, or which scripts in particular, are hot
RIGHT NOW with producers, directors, and top actors. We would love to have a regular report or blog on this. Important detail: see the "Reporter pay"
section of the contract.
How-to
Articles 2: excerpts from your book. Important: see the "Excerpts from your book" sections of the
writer contract.
Writers Of Foreign Films.
If you can land an interview with the writer or
writer-director
of a significant foreign film which did or might influence the U.S.
film market, by all means pitch the story to us. Caveat:
be prepared to deliver what you propose.
Writers Of The New Movies
We Missed: For example, if an indie film
is a surprise hit or highly acclaimed, and we didn't
cover it in a feature or one of our "Now Playing" articles,
then we might run an interview with the writer.
What
Went Wrong With This Movie? Was It The
Script?
This is a potentially new topic for us, but a difficult
"sell." Many
movies sink both critically and/or at the box office. There was
plenty of time to fix them, but they weren't fixed. If the story was
the problem, interview the creative participants and tell what went
wrong.
Again, Know What Deadline You Are Writing Against
Here are the deadlines.
Next: Read The Summary Of Our Contract And Article Pitching
Terms, Then Pitch
Use the "click to pitch" button below or the headline above or click
here
to read a brief summary of our writer contract and our terms for pitching, then go to the Article Pitch Form.
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Why
Do We Require This Annoying Form Instead Of Letting You Email
A Pitch? Here Are Nine Reasons:
1.
By going through this process, you will have a much clearer
idea of what we want and don't want. Why waste your
time writing up and emailing your great idea if it isn't what we are
looking for?
2.
This process captures all the information needed to evaluate your pitch, all at
once. That saves multiple people here from multiple emails with you later.
3. Your pitch becomes available immediately
to all our editors when you submit it.
4. This form collects the information for our
bookkeeping department to pay you, our advertising department, and our
legal advisers for contracting purposes.
5. Your pitch won't
get lost or buried in email, and our editors will have
access to it 24 hours a day.
6. It spells out the contract
terms. You will know what the deal is before you
pitch.
7. It will show us that you can (or can't) write a
magazine lead in our style.
8.
It captures your bio for the "Contributors" page of the magazine so we
don't have email you later when we're on deadline.
9.
It eliminates those exchanges of email seeking whatever
bits of information might be left out of an emailed pitch.
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