Prep a Screenplay for Mailing
While more and more competitions, producers and agents accept online submission of screenplays, many still insist on the old-fashioned hard copy. How you present and package that screenplay makes a difference to both the recipient and to your budget.
Instructions
1. Read any instructions or rules.
This one may seem obvious, but sometimes a particular competition or person has one thing they want you to do differently than everyone else does. With competitions, you should pay special attention to how they want you to handle the title page. Most competitions don't want your name and address on the script itself, so it won't prejudice the judges. But they do need your name and address for their records so they can contact you. Some competitions have you print out two title pages - one with just the title that will be bound with the script, and another with the title and your contact info, which will be loose so they can put it in their files.
2. Print on one side of the paper, in proper screenplay format. Use 3-hole punched paper.
Some competitions allow double-sided copies, but most screenplay applications have all your text shifted to the right, so if you print it double sided, your text on the left-hand pages will be shifted over into the binding, and may be hard to read.
3. Bind the screenplay with two brads and a plain cardstock for the cover.
Brads are strangely important in Hollywood. It's one of those things that are a sign of an insider (although more and more outsiders know about it now). Always use Number 5 sized brads, and they should be real brass brads. Smaller ones and cheaper ones fall apart. Always use two - top and bottom hole of the three-hole punched paper, and never put a brad in the middle hole. Why? Well, there a many little nit-picky reasons (some people like to take the brads out while they read, for instance, and thre brads slows them down), but the main one that is important to you is that nobody who knows what they are doing uses a third brad. It's a waste. So resist that compulsion to put a brad in the third hole and show everyone you know what's what.
4. Place cover letter or entry form on top, and slip the screenplay into a 9x12 envelope.
If your screenplay is not more than 115 pages, use the 9x12 flat rate cardboard sleeve from the post office. Most screenplays will just fit in this sleeve, and the postage is cheaper. It's also a stiff envelope, so it will protect your script's corners better. (Put the screenplay in so that the brads go in first, away from the opening, and you will have an easier time of it.)
5. You may enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard that says "We have received the script YOUR TITLE" that they can just pop in the mail, so you know that they got it. Otherwise don't include a SASE for them to respond (unless they specifically ask for it). While a SASE is the norm in publishing, it isn't common in the entertainment industry. One reason for this is that producers and agents in film just don't send out rejection slips. If they are not interested, they won't respond at all.
