I get it. When you finish a script, your likely next goal is to get it read. You’d probably prefer that someone who can do something with it read it. That means a producer, director, financier, or something similar.
But you should know that you can’t just send your script to a production company or to Warner Bros. executives. Sorry!
It sounds like a wall built specifically to keep you out. Producer Nick Morton, whose credits include Ray, Sahara, and the AMC series Cooper's Bar, recently talked about what “no unsolicited scripts” means with Film Courage. It has nothing to do with your talent.
"Not accepting unsolicited submissions just basically means that you can't just send me a script without me asking to see it," Morton said.
The policy exists for two boring, practical reasons. First, there's simply too much material for any one person to read. Second, it shields companies from lawsuits when they make something that resembles an idea a stranger once mailed them.
Morton is honest in revealing that the rule is constantly bent. Agents send him unsolicited material all the time, and he reads plenty of it. The real function of "no unsolicited scripts" is to give people a polite way to decline strangers and protect themselves.
Our breakdown of why query letters rarely work covers a similar dynamic. The stated policy and the actual path into the industry are two different things.
Let’s learn more together.
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You Have to Have a Career
If you're hoping for a shortcut, Morton doesn't have one.
"I mean, that's a career. That's a career right there. You have to have a career, I think, is the most important thing," he said. "You know, you have to really be in it for a lifetime."
Screenwriting isn't a single sale. It's decades of writing new material, submitting it, meeting people, and doing it again when nothing happens.
That commitment doesn't end once you've had success. Morton described a producer interested in adapting his book, who later told him, even with two produced TV seasons and a pilot already behind him, that he still needed another writing sample.
"She was like, you always need another sample," he said.
The industry is even more turbulent these days. So even more so now, the goalposts don't disappear once you clear them. They move. You can be an Emmy-winning TV writer and not get staffed. You can have a critically acclaimed film and struggle to find funding. Everyone is working incredibly hard.
Hollywood Isn't Buying Screenplays
Big surprise here if you’re on the outside. But I know, as a former professional reader, that people in Hollywood hate reading.
"Nobody wants to read a screenplay in Hollywood. I think that's the truth, is that people really don't want to read screenplays," Morton said.
Look at what actually gets greenlit now, and it mostly traces back to novels, podcasts, and magazine articles, not cold specs. It’s all about that IP, baby.
As Morton put it, "the stories for the stuff that's getting made seem to come from other places."
That's a shift in where the industry looks for proof a story works before committing money to it. A produced podcast or a published piece already comes with an audience attached. A screenplay sitting alone on a hard drive doesn't. If you want your work read, it helps to build something around it first.
We’ve got advice for how to create intellectual property.
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Turn Your Script Into Something They're Allowed to Read
Along those same lines, Morton mentioned toying with the idea of adapting his own scripts into comics to get around the submission wall.
"There is something intriguing ... I should turn these into comics so that I can then sell the screenplay," he said.
He never followed through, but plenty of writers have. Screenwriter Lisa Joy self-funded a graphic novel called Headache before optioning it, according to ScreenCraft. And producer Tony Panaccio has argued that a published comic, unlike a script, comes with copyright already attached, which is exactly the liability problem "no unsolicited submissions" exists to avoid, per From the Heart Productions.
If building out a pitch deck feels more realistic than a full comic, our pitch deck guide is a good place to start.
Don't Ask Someone to Read Your Nephew's Script
The fastest way to burn a relationship, according to Morton, is asking someone to read work they have no stake in. That means using a connection to forward your neighbor’s kid’s best friend’s screenplay just for the heck of it.
"The assumption that my time is less valuable than yours is really demoralizing and discouraging," he said. This isn't a new complaint, either. Screenwriter Josh Olson wrote an entire, famously blunt essay on the subject for the Village Voice back in 2009, and Morton's version of the same frustration shows it hasn't gone anywhere.
It all comes down to a lack of respect, Olson wrote:
"Screenwriting is widely regarded as the easiest way to break into the movie business, because it doesn’t require any kind of training, skill, or equipment. Everybody can write, right? And because they believe that, they don’t regard working screenwriters with any kind of real respect. They will hand you a piece of inept writing without a second thought, because you do not have to be a writer to be a screenwriter."
LA Isn't a One-Company Town, and Everyone Feels It
Morton pointed out that Los Angeles isn't the single-industry town it used to be, which means people who don't work in film still constantly ask industry folks for favors.
"Everyone has to respect your time as well."
That cuts both ways. If someone passes on your script, don't keep sending revised drafts hoping for a different answer.
Take the pass and go on to the next thing you're writing.
Learn to Read a Pass Correctly
Morton advises that you should get good at accurately reading rejection. A genuine invitation to return sounds specific. It will be notes on exactly what to fix and why. A vague, friendly brushoff doesn't.
"If they pass, just take the pass and move on," he said.
He's skeptical even of soft encouragement, describing most polite "maybe come back to this" responses as empty. Someone who wants you to try again will be explicit. Like, "If you make these changes, I will forward your script on."
I would add to this. Don’t send another draft for review unless the reader has said, "I will read another draft of this." It’s presumptuous to make changes and then send a new version when they haven’t said they will give you that time. It’s very likely you won’t get a response to that.
Most importantly—never, ever fight with someone who’s given you feedback you disagree with. Just thank them and keep going.
