Sample Query Letters

If attempts to find a willing agent are not successful, consider a rewrite. Then if you are convinced your script is as good as it can be, the carefully crafted query letter to targeted companies is the next strategy. Because a company may receive hundreds or thousands of queries, as much thought should go into writing a query letter as went into your script. The development executive who reads the letter will be making judgments about you and your script based on the skill with which you write your letter, much as a potential employer reads a cover letter accompanying a resume. Below you'll find two samples of query letters using the best and worst elements.


"DON'T" SAMPLE QUERY LETTER

Jan Knowitall
666 Desperation Pl.
Seattle, 98000

October 23, 1997

Script Acquisitions
Last Chance Films

Dear Sir,

As a great fan of Roadkill IV, I'm writing you because I respect your company and want to give you the opportunity to be the first to see my new screenplay Illegal Entry, guaranteed to be your next blockbuster. It's a cross between Hudson Hawk and Romeo is Bleeding. My better half read it and cried, my mother thinks I've finally made something of myself, and my grandmother, who's only been given a month to live, took time out of her last needlework project to give it a read. Please, if my grandmother can take the time, so can a healthy, young individual like yourself. But please hurry, it would mean so much to my grandmother if I could start directing the picture by the end of the month.

Sincerely,

Jan Knowitall


"DO" SAMPLE QUERY LETTER

Chris Writer
1333 Experience Road
Seattle, WA 98000


October 23, 1997

Joe Storey
Director of Development
Last Chance Films

Dear Mr. Storey,

I've recently completed a screenplay entitled Illegal Entry I would like to submit to your company for consideration. It is a thriller about an illegal alien who witnesses a crime but is afraid to come forward because she will be deported. A police detective takes a professional interest in her which turns romantic, and he is torn between pushing her to go on the record and getting sent back to the country she fled, or following his heart and helping her to protect her anonymity. The criminal the illegal alien can finger finds out there's a witness and comes after her...

In addition to my years of social work during which I counseled illegal aliens, I've researched immigration laws and the itinerant worker culture to provide a colorful and accurate backdrop for the story. I've had several articles published in the local papers, and have published a short story in a national magazine which was well received. I've provided a self-addressed stamped postcard for your convenience. I look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,

Chris Writer

encl.; SASE postcard