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Using the "Writer's Market"

© Dave Brandl

The 2000 edition of the Writer's Market contains over 150 listings of production companies, publishers, producers, and other venues for playwriting; about 20 of them are publishers. There are also some 80 listings for screenwriting, and an additional 116 contest and award listings for both. Add another dozen or so business and educational outlets, and it totals more than 350 opportunities for people who can envision scenes, write dialogue, describe settings, detail action, and present information; in short, scriptwriters. All for less than $30 ... a pretty good bargain considering what it can reap in financial and publication rewards. I now work with five publishers, and I first reached each of them by using this book, published by Writer's Digest.

But where do you start with this treasure trove of target markets? With so much to choose from, what's the best way to begin? To paraphrase an old adage, "The journey of a thousand submissions begins with small steps."

First, peruse the book. Get familiar with the contents and locations of the sections. The front 100 pages contain a lot of good information about the markets, writing query letters, presenting your work, writing synopses, and handling copyrights and taxes. Throughout the book are interviews from all kinds of professional writers giving tips and advice.

The 2000 edition lists a major section, Scriptwriting, with subsections of Business & Educational Writing, Playwriting, and Screenwriting. Under the major section of Contests is a subsection of Playwriting & Scriptwriting. I locate these and mark them with a post-it note. (Personally, I think 3M should have just called them "yellow stickies.")

Next, I start identifying likely targets for submissions. And the only way to do that is to read each listing, one at a time. There is quite a bit of information about each listing, including

• Their specific needs
• What they pay
• How long it takes for them to report back
• Who their audiences are
• How long they've been in business
• Whether it's a new listing in the book
• The name and title of the person to contact
• Whether to query first before submitting the script
• Any tips they may offer

So I go through these one at a time, performing several tasks:

• I mark all the publishers
• If a particular play of mine seems like a fit to someone's description, I note the play in the margin, using a 2 or 3-letter abbreviation.
• I use a highlighter to note whether a query letter is preferred before submitting the script.
• I note the general geographic location (some production companies are looking for regional premieres)

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