Is Scriptblaster worth trying?
Blah blah, your site is entertaining and fantastic, blah blah I’m a new screenwriter trying to get myself out there, blah blah, I have a quick question.
The services provided by Scriptblaster sound pretty great and are offered at an affordable (to me) price. I realize there are loads and loads of “services” and companies out there that make their living off the aspiring writers of America (AWA) and this certainly seems to be one of them. But still. My question to you, who needs not a service such as this, is whether you know anything about it, have heard anything, or could just tell me your thoughts on using Scriptblaster to get my queries out there?
– Eric
Boston, MA
“Dear John — This seems like a scam, but it’s soooooo reasonably priced…”
I’d never heard of Scriptblaster, but a quick look at their website leads me to believe your money would be better spent elsewhere. Such as Vegas.
Let’s start with the testimonials. There are a lot of them, such as…
After beating my head against traditional Hollywood screenplay agents’ doors for almost a year, I tried your Blaster Package. Within three weeks, I optioned an original screenplay and have another producer looking at my novel, “Five in the Future”. You guys are simply super! — R. Malcolm Dickson
I’m happy for R. Malcolm Dickson, but who the hell is he? I’m not saying he’s made up; his testimonial could be completely genuine. But without details, how are we to know? For instance, which producer optioned his screenplay, and was it a free option? Has a single movie gotten made that was set up through this service?
Looking at the “blast” part of Scriptblaster, I go from dubious to a little bit outraged:
The Blaster Pack combines the Full Blast & the Agents Blast for just $89! When you choose the Blaster Pack, your query letter will be emailed to over 900 producers, agents and managers. A great saving - and a great way to get connected!
Allow me a quick rewrite…
When you choose the Blaster Pack, your query letter will be spammed to over 900 producers, agents and managers. What a great way to piss off hundreds of potential employers and representatives for less than $90!1
What Scriptblaster is selling is a mailing list of producers and agents, and a web script that generates email from what you type in a form. Yes, it’s affordable, but it’s essentially a query letter mailbot. I don’t know any reputable agent or producer who would bother to read one of these emails.
If I’m wrong, I’ll happily be corrected. So write in if you’ve had a good experience with this service. But please provide some independently verifiable facts to back up your praise.
- For the record, I don’t know that Scriptblaster’s emails are unsolicited — maybe they really do have legitimate opt-in process for agents and producers. But I see no link for it on their website, which leads me to believe their email addresses are culled from other sources. And are therefore spammy. ↩
Articles
December 18th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
If you aren’t endorsing Scriptblaster, you should put rel=”nofollow” tags in your links to them. Else you are acting as an endorsement of them to search engines, which will in turn rank them higher.
December 18th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
I never used this script blaster, but I did try e-query.com; they recently wrote and asked for my evaluation of the service. This is what I said:
I had about twenty five responses to the submissions. I sent the scripts out. So your end of the deal was fine. It works; I’m satisfied. It was fun to have a rush of interest in my work — exciting to have an in-box full of requests for scripts. It’s also fun to buy a scratch ticket … the jolt of reflexive optimism as you reveal the numbers under the little pots of gold. But the final results are much the same — as are the odds. I worked in Hollywood as an agent’s assistant and story analyst so none of this was a shock … but it is sobering.
Here’s the thing: too many people have to like a script for it to get made.
I mean a script like mine, which has no stars or foreign money attached. If one person likes it, the script goes to the person above them, and so on — and the stakes are higher for each reader. It gets safer and safer to reject something, riskier and riskier to say yes. A script like ROCKY, with its compelling sports theme and bittersweet uplift might make it through that process. Would a script like CHINATOWN? I doubt it. I can hear the notes already — too dark, too depressing — no one wants a period piece … too talky, too complicated. Which is not to say I’m comparing myself to Robert Towne! Just the reverse. I mean … if CHINATOWN can’t make it through that gauntlet how will my paltry efforts survive? Well, they probably won’t … and as far as I can see right now, they didn’t. Of the people who requested my stuff, only a few even bothered with a formal rejection. I had a flicker in interest from one production company … but it was an assistant and his boss passed on both scripts. It’s been radio silence from everyone else.
At the same time I’ve been working slowly and methodically with a prominent New York agent on my novel. I’m curently doing what we both hope will be the final set of revisions before he starts sending it out to publishers in January. We’ve been at it for almost a year … it will be at least another year before the book comes out, even if it’s accepted quickly. The advance will be small; probably 4500 dollars or so. I won’t make real money until the paperback comes out , timed to bolster the sales of the second book (it’s a detective series). That’s what? Two, three years away? … if all goes well, and most books can’t boast such a lucrative performance. It’s not the potential easy money of a film sale, but it’s real … a job, rather than a scratch ticket. So I think I’ll stick with that for now.
Once again –this is NOT a complaint about your service, which was reasonably priced, well-organized and efficient. Your job was to get my scripts to the Hollywood battlefield. They couldn’t survive there but I don’t blame you for that. I may even try again next year. I’ll buy more scratch tickets, too, because win or lose, it’s fun.
As long as you keep your day job.
December 18th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Along the same lines can anyone tell me if professional script reader services from ScriptMag/Final Draft of Script Shark are of any value? Or, is this just another way to get money of writers?
December 18th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Allen –
Great point, maybe I should “nofollow” the link. But would the nofollow make it harder for someone to find this article? For example, let’s say someone is wondering whether Scriptblaster is legit, so they Google it. Given my pagerank, my (largely critical) argument is likely to show up high in the search results. Which could end up stopping someone from dropping their $89 on it.
My instinct is that you’re right, though. I’m going check around to see how other bloggers handle links to shady places.
December 18th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
(geekalert)
Allen, John -
I’ve done some Search Engine Optimization for money, in the past.
I honestly suspect that the “nofollow” attribute doesn’t do (search engine wise) what the conventional geek wisdom seems to think. The short answer why is that nofollow just keys compliant ‘bots not to follow the link. It is used, for example, to keep bots out of pages that are computationally expensive to generate, or that would lead a bot off site inappropriately.
But the bot still knows 1)the content of the linking page, and 2)where the link goes without having to follow the link. And since I’m sure someone has linked to then WITHOUT the tag, then they have the content so ScriptBlaster’s pages as well. In other words, nothing changes.
What you CAN do if you KNOW the site is disreputable is put your criticism in the link’s text. All three major search engines tend to very strongly associate those keywords with the target of the link. So if you link to ScriptBlaster with the words “spammer”, then searches for the word spammer tend to turn up ScriptBlaster.
Uhhh…. okay, sorry. I think I’m done now
December 18th, 2006 at 5:04 pm
(Actually about ScriptBlaster)
I can find nothing in the InterBlag about them that isn’t “Have you used this?”. They’re based in Australia, it seems, only one of testimonials seems to have a writing credit on IMdB (one episode of Malcom in the Middle).
And, for what it’s worth, R. Malcom Dickson can be found, with his novels, on Amazon.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Erik gets today’s gold star for Most Work Put Forth by a Reader. Many thanks.
December 18th, 2006 at 6:08 pm
I’m told Inktip is definately happening. They’re having a record year (something like 17 scripts produced) and I actually know someone whose feature script was purchased and is now in pre-prod.
December 18th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
I have used Inktip in the past. I think they are reputable.
I’ve had requests for screenplays (nothing optioned). Be aware that most of the “companies” that might request screenplays are marginal at best. (If you are a player, you don’t need to trawl the pool of wannabees. )
I got my last project, ALLIE, read at Disney (four companies), Sony (three) , Paramount(two), Warner Bros. Universal (1), and a dozen small to big Independent production companies, by spending a week COLD CALLING almost ninety companies with a good pitch and a SENSE OF HUMOR. Got maybe 45% to accept a written pitch, totaled 17 requests for the script, got on one companies list of possible writers for future work and now have 17 doors open for my next project, a thriller, TAROT 911.
I got only one RUDE assistant on the other end of the phone at a major company. I did get shut down by several companies who would look at nothing if not from a major agent.
Don’t know if this was a good idea, but the next day I called the company with the RUDE assistant and got a his boss’s boss on the line. I let him know how the assistant was representing the company. I didn’t get my script in, but got an apology and the ASSistant got an earfull.
I’m not Robert Towne now….but next year, who knows. No excuse to be rude to strangers.
P.S. Got a star interested in playing the lead in the Allie project by pitching a stranger I was playing golf with.
December 19th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Erik, that is an important distinction. adding a nofollow tag doesn’t stop search engines from knowing about the link, it stops your site from passing on its weight to the linked site. Even if you link to a site with words like “spam” you are still giving them more weight in search engine rankings for the page you link to, which will in turn help their internal pages rank better as well.
Sorry for the side track John!
December 19th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
I work for a production company that produced 6 movies this year for a major cable network, among other meaningful accomplishments. We do recieve Scripblast emails. I would clasify them as spammers, because they are quite polit ein their approach. They make no attempt to hide their identity, or to circumvent spam-blocking techniques. If you don’t want the messages, its very easy to stop receiving them, although they may still count you as one of their 900 if you’re just blocking their messages. They only send 3 queries max per day, its not a flood of junk. Most of the stuff they send is crap, but I do sometimes glance through it quickly. Based on what I’ve seen, my conclusion is that if Scriptblaster is your best chance for your work, the problem is with you, not Scriptblaster. They do what you pay them for well.
However, I much prefer Inktip.com and highly recommend it to all aspiring writers. We’ve actually bought material and hired writers through that site.
December 19th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Thanks, Matt.
December 19th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
As an assistant at a management company that somehow got on the Scriptblaster mailing list, I can say that they are honestly the worst, most grammatically incorrect, most poorly written queries we receive. And they don’t limit themselves to three a day. Try 20 in a day. In the hundreds I have received over the past year, I have not requested one. Most are laughable. And if there actually was a good one stuck in there with the load of bad ones, in all probability it would be overlooked. Don’t waste your money or your time.
December 19th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Based on the accounts here from people receiving the queries, it seems that the Australian company “Entline”(ie: ScriptBlaster) is clearly acting totally illegally.
Australia has an anti-spam law (The Spam Act 2003) which prohibit any Australian company from doing exactly what ScriptBlaster does .. sending unsolicited commercial emails.
As a bit of background, the law makes it clear that it is not enough to simply provide an opt-out method in the email. The three steps to comply with the Australian Anti-Spam laws are CONSENT, IDENTIFY and a method to UNSUBSCRIBE. The types of consent include EXPRESS CONSENT and INFERRED CONSENT. However, you can’t infer consent simply because someone is a human being working in a particular industry .. you need to infer consent based on a business or other relationship with the person - or the other person’s conduct.
So if ScriptBlaster is operating illegally, then there is no reason to expect them to be truthful and honest in their dealings with you, since they are clearly breaking the law in their day-to-day business.
Unfortunately, the Spam Act 2003 in Australia is largely a toothless tiger, which seems to be ignored by much of the business community. Perhaps that is the reason that a number of international spammers run from Australia.
Mac
December 20th, 2006 at 11:08 am
And this is why this website is great. Thanks for all those responses, guys!
I actually didn’t know about inktip.com and it seems that is much more reputable and respected. I’ll definitely check that out if I go down the query-help road.
It’s funny how often you can tell a company’s quality by the quality of their website.
December 20th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
I’m in no way afiliated with Ink Tip, but I do get their weekly newsletter. I probably get one of these per week.
“We are pleased to announce that another feature and another short screenplay have been optioned, and two more shorts have been produced from scripts/writers found through our network!
Jeffrey Harrier of Warring Avenue Entertainment has optioned the feature script ‘Fourth Generation’ from InkTip scribe Foster Marks. Harrier found the script when Marks submitted to his lead in one of our newsletters. They currently have a director attached and plan to begin production next year!
Charlie Freeman with Charlie Freeman Productions has optioned Nathan Williams’s short script, ‘Nightstand’ from InkTip. This is the first option for Williams. Shooting is scheduled for January 2007.
Gregg Watt, an independent filmmaker based in Cape Town, has completed production on the short script ‘Cross The Line’ by Daniel Hughes, which he found on InkTip. Watt’s previous short, ‘The Dashing Diner,’ screened at Cannes Film Market in 2005.
Gena Ellis’s short script ‘Angela’s Decision’ was found on InkTip in 2005 by Australian award-winning director Mat King. The film has been completed and is being entered in festivals, already winning awards for cinematography. ‘Angela’s Decision’ was directed by Mat King, produced by King and Kate Croser, and co-produced by Ellis. It stars up-and-coming actors Rhiannon Owen and Xavier Samuel. Original music was written, produced and scored in London, England by Liam Gerner and in Madrid, Spain by Christopher Slaski. The ‘Angela’s Decision’ website is http://www.angelasdecision.com.”
December 20th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
Here’s the question, though. Are the emails actually soliciting anything? Are they selling anything or offering anything for sale?
My guess is that they’re not. They’re simply saying, “Here’s a script. Here’s how to contact the guy who wrote the script.”
As such, my guess is that while Scriptblaster-the-company is commercial (and definitely one not worth using from what I can see), the emails they send probably aren’t.
C.
December 20th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
John,
This may help you out with the link:
At the beginning of 2005, most of the major search engines including Google started recognizing a new attribute called the “rel” attribute. You’re already using it when you tag your posts…
However, in addition to using for tagging your blog posts, you can also use it like this:
{a target=”new” href=”http://www.scriptblaster.com/services.php” rel=”nofollow”}Scriptblaster{/a}
*NOTE: Simply substitute the “{ and }” for “< and >”
Using the “rel” attribute outlined in the above example causes Google as well as the other major search engines to completely IGNORE the link. Even better, you’re not helping bolster Scriptblaster’s pagerank OR its search engine rankings.
Something you definitely do not want to do because yeah, they SPAM.
Unk
December 21st, 2006 at 10:32 am
Wow! This is a great, great thread. Good information.
Kudos to David O’Hara for having the balls to cold call the studios.
December 22nd, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Hey John, Do companies actually produce shorts now?… I always assumed that shorts films had gone by the wayside, now only the domain of animation companies looking to test new programs…
Adam mentions a few that got signed… I have only recent begun writing and have a bunch of shorts that I felt I had to get out of my system, plus I needed to keep writing too… I just can’t believe that they still do shorts… where do they profit from these?
December 23rd, 2006 at 7:28 pm
Chris:
I don’t know of any companies that produce shorts. Shorts are really a showcase for the director and/or writer so 99.9% of the time, they’re produced independently. Ultimately, there really is no profit margin from shorts (with the small exception of an acquisition from a cable network like IFC and The Sundance Channel).
December 26th, 2006 at 9:56 am
Hey John, what’s your opinion about Triggerstreet.com and Zoetrope.com? Have you checked these websites yet? They have this peer review system that seems like a valuable tool (to me, at least).
Please, go there and tell us what you think!
December 28th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Hi Guys,
Thanks everyone for posting notes about InkTip. I’m an employee of this company, and while I’m just a grunt, I’m engaged in some very interesting grunt work. I spend my days checking references on producers who register to gain access to the database, researching and compiling notes on these registrations, and developing and maintaining cursory relationships with producers, agents and managers who gain access. My writers’ department uses my notes to answer questions from writers (the most common of which is along the lines of ’so-and-so just downloaded my script; who is this person, and why did you give him or her access?’).
If anyone is curious about InkTip, I’ll give you a brief overview of how we work. (Just bear in mind that I’m an employee!) We charge writers a 50 dollar listing fee to place a script on our site for 6 months, and then we allow producers who register with references and industry experience to search the database by specific criteria. Producers then download scripts they want to read, and options take place. We’re averaging about 3-5 options per week, and 19 films were produced in 2006 that we know of.
You can see a list of recent successes by going to: http://www.inktip.com/success_new.php
Thanks, and Happy Holidays!
Best,
Jared
December 28th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Sorry, I just realized that I’d forgotten to post my last name, with that last comment. Thanks!
Best,
Jared Wynn
January 11th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
CORRECTION
A correction to my post above. The company that politely submits a maximum of 3 queries per day to us is NOT Scriptblaster. It is a service which can be found at SellAScript.com . I thought the 2 were the same company, but it seems I may have been wrong. Apparently, most of the Scriptblaster queries I receive get rerouted by my spam filter. Go figure.
I still recommend Inktip first of all.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:16 am
Hi,
I’m Gena that Kevin included a blurb about my InkTip script that was found on that site in 2005. Yes, this site is worth it and i have to say that Kevin, in reference to shorts is wrong about writing shorts and having them produced. I’m living proof. I entered contests, I peddled my scripts to H’wood, I attended conferences. But lo, and behold, a short (almost 50 pages I’d written for a TV pilot) was listed on InkTip for two years. I’d forgotten about it. I don’t usually write shorts. But I was contacted by a handful of producers requesting it. No bites, then I get a crazy email from Australia. Not because producer was crazy, but crazy that someone in Australia wanted my script. I was able to check this director/producer out on his website and with others. He had film selected in amazing festival, did amazing commercials and other TV work. So I went with it and now I have an amazing film that’s already won an award.
AND it’s not only a calling card for the director, producer and actors, but for me, the writer, also. One of the actors has gone on to sign with a major agent, another actor went on to do his first feature, the others are working in film and theater.
AND I am getting some serious reads, from companies such as Hallmark and Anonymous Content (how’s that for name dropping) from my listings on Inktip. I can now list myself as a produced writer. Just did another short in Nashville that won awards also.
SO shorts do lead somewhere. Now, I’m not talking about a short shot in my garage with my own video camera. I’m talking about a professionally made short with pro actors and crew in AUSTRALIA. What are the chances of that? Someone living in Alabama has a film made in Australia. And guess what my director/producer is living/working in LA now, busy with lots of work. ANd the musicians from my film (music scored in London and Madrid) want to work on my next project.
SO, it’s all about connections, making films, no matter what route you take. I couldn’t have done this without InkTip. My husband is in the Army. I’m not moving to LA for at least another couple of years. This was a great thing for me.
Now will your scripts have the same success? I don’t know. If you are a good writer, then anything is possible. So use all opportunities available. I did the 48 Hours Film Project in Nashville. I met amazing film people, we’ve kept in touch. An actor is passing my scripts around also.
So there, that’s my testimonial. I’ll never be able to advise film students at NYC or UCLA on a career, but those of us living elsewhere just have to make it work another way.
Hope this helps!
Gena Ellis
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:18 am
Oops. Sorry, it was Adam that mentioned me in his post about inktip. and then Jared mentioned inktip again. but kevin, by all means, if you are a writer, post your short. I don’t direct, so I knew it wouldn’t hurt to post the one short I had on inktip.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:23 am
One more word about shorts, the ‘return’ is not financial but in the experience you’ll gain and in the people you’ll meet that really, literally change your life. Yes, I may write a book about this experience. YOu never know who you’ll meet or the places you’ll go. I now have a film festival director contact me during the judging of this film to tell me it was well liked. Will it be selected? Don’t know, but that is pretty wonderful to me.
So go for the short. I finally learned how a film is made from beginning to end during the fun and exhausting 48 hour film project in most major cities across the county every year. check it out on the web.
take care,
gena
January 26th, 2007 at 10:16 am
I just want to say thank you to you all, especially John A. having this website and this discussion. It was most enlighting and I have recieved lots of idéas and no-no’s. By the way, I found your discussion by checking out the company in Google, so they didnt get an extra click by your website - you got one thanx to them.
Thanx again
Mikael Falk
February 8th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
I work in the I.S. department at a minor-major studio, and have set up specific mail filters for four or five executives that move submissions from ScriptBlaster right into the trash. So unless you’re hoping to show up on something like “Query Letters I Love,” you would do better to set your screenplay on fire and hope the ashes magically reassemble themselves on someone’s desk. I hear that’s how Robert Towne got started.
June 10th, 2007 at 6:25 am
hi, i would like to know then, wich way is the best way for me to show my work? i’ve heard of all this litrary companies and this blast one and inktip and such. wich way is the best way to go? thanks.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
This is really great feedback from everyone–I just got an email blast from Slamdance with the following subject line: “Slamdance Supports: Scriptblaster.com - Pitch Your Movie Script to Hollywood by E-mail!” Slamdance obviously tries to help aspiring whoevers get noticed, but having them endorse something that may not be very effective or legitimate and that a lot of producers get their IT departments to spamblock, under the guise that “they endorse it”, is irritatingly misleading. I support John’s theory that producers and agents who get 20 emails a day from some commercial company with a bunch of query letter loglines have better things to do and wouldn’t waste their time. It seems like a great way to take advantage of screenwriters. It “appears” inexpensive but for them it’s probably a great business. Even I was curious enough to look up the company and by the way, did a Google search, and found this site high in the results (maybe even first), and it says some negative things. I say don’t do anything with the html tags–because it was worth coming here. And those testimonials are so silly. Especially so many. I don’t know many legit agencies who can brag about as much success as the Scriptblaster site does. They were probably trying to come up with names of people who have not produced anything so they can’t get reference checked. As long as they use false names or obscure names, they can stay out of trouble.
I call this “light” scamming–it’s a way to say, hey, it “could” help your career, so just pay a “little” money and see if it works for you. I have enough common sense to know that the agents I want to work with are not trolling through emails and reading loglines all day. What’s a logline anyway? It’s stealable and flimsy and any company that would show interest for an unproven writer based on logline alone is not a company that has any real clout.
Out of curiosity, what makes Inktip much better than Scriptblaster? Jared, I’m curious why you came to this blog — is it to push out Scriptblaster as the competition–sorry doll, I’m a little suspicious, can you tell?
July 16th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I’m glad I came to this site. I too was sent an email for scriptblaster, and being new, and overwhelmed by the thought of trying to get in , and not knowing anyone and blah, blah, blah…I thought well, it’s cheap, and well i didn’t think much past that. It’s just there is so much out there, that is supposed to help, and i know most of it is just a scam, but some of it has to be for real, Right? I just have no idea how to sort through it all. Who has the answer? anyone?