Hot Tip For Screenplay Contest Entrants From Creative Screenwriting Magazine

Market Your Script With A Great Filename

While looking through the scripts entered so far in the 2009 AAA Screenplay Contest, I noticed something You know that the title of your screenplay should catch the eye. Or do you? Judging by some of the titles we receive, some writers do not understand that the first step in “selling” your script is marketing it to the reader or judge with a great title.

But what does the reader or judge see first these days? Not the title, but the filename. So here’s the tip: make the filename the same as that catchy title. Not an abbreviation of it – exactly the same.

Judges and studio readers see hundreds of scripts. Start marketing your script to them the moment they get it.

Many writers miss that opportunity. For example, I’ve seen these file names recently for scripts entered into the AAA contest:

• AAA.pdf. Thank you very much for pluggingr contest. But don’t you want to draw the judges’ attention to your story rather than the contest?
• Final_Draft.pdf. I’m sure Final Draft appreciates the marketing boost.
• Script.doc. So generic, it might as well have a barcode on it.

Is this really important? Put yourself in the position of a contest judge who has just received 50 scripts to read. Suppose the judge has been assigned the titles below (These are actual titles of new AAA contest scripts):

The Cave Where The Water Always Drips 09.fdr.
The Porcelain Girl_byWriterName.pdf
The Tortoise And The Heir.pdf
Garysaurus Rex Rewrite 3.fdr (good title, but leave out the “Rewrite.” See the Bonus Tip below.)
Oganic Svengali.pdf
In The Heart Of The Rain.pdf
Love Me Dead (new beginning).pdf (Again, see the Bonus Tip below.)
Script.doc.

Which is the judge LEAST likely to open first if he/she goes by titles? That should be obvious.