Actual marketing. Make sure to have at least a few low budget scripts available because you will not likely be able to get to the big guys when you're unknown. You will have to target small producers who are willing to read work from non-credited writers.

There are various web sites where low budget producers sometimes post ads for scripts - Done Deal, Craigslist, Rosa Ashley for a few. These will accept equeries. Keep your query short and to the point. Follow directions in the ad perfectly. You want to show up front that you are a professional in every way. Producers receive a lot of queries so it doesn't take much to run them away from yours. Give the producers the information they want as short as possible.

Eventually, the first option comes if you keep at it. You may have dreamned of the 6 figure deals we hear so much from Hollywood, but realistically, that isn't going to happen. You may not even see a 4 figure deal for a while. You may want theatrical release for your baby. It will likely go straight to DVD. I know writers who say it's theatrical or nothing. Well, they still have nothing. I know writers who say 6 figures or nothing. Yeah. They still have nothing. It's great to be paid for doing what you love to do, but don't be too greedy. Yes, you want to be paid for all of your hard work, but like with anything, it takes time to climb up the ladder to success.

If you keep selling scripts, you should make more doing so. You may get very little for your first sell, but you have to ask yourself which is more important - the money or the credit? Are you only writing screenplays to get rich, or are you writing them because you want to share your ideas with the world? The latter indicates a real screenwriter. Credits first, money second.

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Also know that you can't take feedback too seriously. If you try to follow all advice given, you will be all over the place, chasing every suggestion given, finding that you end up undoing something you just did. Look at what the majority says. Also look at whom is giving the advice. If they are an advanced writer, they might have a better leg to stand on, but advice is subjective. Two professionals can disagree on one thing. You need to develop a gut feeling to tell what is the best thing for your scripts.

Now that you have finished one script and polished it, whether it be a short or a feature, write another, then another. Have at least a few ready before you start to seriously market your work. It's a good idea to write in a variety if genres and budgets if you can so your chances of having that right script at the right time will be better.

I would say horror is my main genre. There was a time I never would have believed I could even write a horror, but once I did and received favorable reactions from readers, I realized I could do it. More ideas started coming to me. I loved watching some of the better horrors so I understood them. I still wanted to do better, making my horrors more intelligent than the standard fare. I like to play around with the reader/audience, giving them false leads and sometimes using an ending that shocks people.

But I have also written studio fare in different genres. It is best not to limit yourself in any way. If you only write horror, you can't branch out even more into other markets. There are few genres I can't see myself writing. There are genres I never thought I could write, but I came up with a great concept and wrote it, or a producer has hired me to write something I didn't think I could. Learn to believe in yourself without being too cocky.

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