Interesting conversation...

This happened back in September, but (obviously), since that was the beginning of the school year (and the Halloween season, which those of us who are horror obsessed start celebrating in late August) I never got around to blogging about it.

At any rate an aspiring screenwriter (who says that they have had representation in the past) reached out to me to ask me about Greenlight My Movie and my experiences with them. 

Apparently, he happened upon my blog and read some of the GMM submission stories I detailed. He noted that the testimonials on GMM's site are really old, in some cases several years old. He noted that there are a lot of red flags with GMM. 

He hadn't received any actual requests yet for his material, but the main thing he wanted to know is: when you do get a request for your material, do you hear back from someone specific at these companies, and if so, do they tell you to e-mail them directly, or do you have to continue to send it via GMM?

I sent him a detailed email about my experiences with GMM and FadeIn Magazine, how some were positive, some were negative, but (no matter what) nothing resulted in my finding representation or getting my scripts produced.

This writer also pointed out that there were so many questionable things with GMM and that some are obvious red flags. He said that he had sent all his submissions, that they were all passes so far, and that he was not holding out hope and that it was a one-time experiment. 

He noted that one of the most concerning things is you can't find any testimonials outside of the GMM website - nothing about a writer finding success through GMM.

Valid point.

He also shared with me the following article:

https://www.thewrap.com/are-aspiring-writers-being-lured-promises-fade-cant-keep-1812/amp/

He also informed me that every major company, whether it's an agency, mgmt. co. or production co. -  all have unsolicited files and that once a writer has queried them more than once, their queries go into this file. Maybe if the writer sends them a script unsolicited they might delete it, as they say they do, but an unsolicited query gets put into this file/folder, and the writer basically gets red flagged, and pretty much never have a chance of them requesting the writer's material. 

Now, that last part I have to raise an eyebrow at. See, in 2007 Circle of Confusion requested one of my scripts (it was the first screenplay I had ever written and it wasn't very good... but I made it sound good in my query letter). They promptly rejected it. However, I then (naively) decided to fill out the boilerplate submission form (a legal document that basically says that I won't sue them if they ever produce anything remotely similar to the script I submitted to them) for all of my other screenplays and sent them to COC. Despite this, in early 2009, I sent them a query for a script I had written in late 2008 and they requested it. Sure, they sat on it for several months and I had to reach out to a former screenwriting professor (Michael Amundsen, who is a jack of all trades in Hollywood) to see what I should do. He told me that they had grossly overstepped the industry minimum for a response time and that they owed me an answer. I pressed them, they rejected me. But if a major player like COC (who were responsible, if memory serves, for getting the Wachowski siblings' Matrix made) can forget that I submitted a bunch of unsolicited scripts to them and still request my latest script, well, then perhaps unsolicited submissaions aren't such a red flag that will get you barred from further requests.

This writer claims that the agency directory that Fade In has is just another way for them to make more money from writers, knowing so many of those companies don't take queries unless it's a referral anyway.

Another (semi) valid point.

At the end of the day, I have 4 recordings left to use on GMM.

Will I use them?

Depends.

Seems as if, with all the negative attention surrounding GMM and FadeIn, it may be a waste of my time.

On the other hand, it's never a bad idea to have video pitches for your scripts filmed and ready to submit. 

I also have 7 VIP submission left (from winning that horror screenplay competition in 2018).

Will I use them?

Sure.

They're free, after all. 

But I'm not expecting anything.

And after I use them I have a feeling I will promptly forget about GMM and FadeIn... unless I decide to attend their Hollywood Pitchfest at some point in the future.