I received a letter in response to a script i'd sent to a production company the other week.
The letter said something along the lines of:
'we enjoyed your script and thought it was funny, but it's not for us at this time and we wouldn't wish to take things any further with it, although please do send in any material you write in the future as we would be interested to read it'.
I didn't want to take this as a positive reply as thought it might be standard, what do you think?
Sounds pretty standard.
You must've sparked some interest if they've specifically asked for future material, I'd have thought. It's certainly encouraging.
Dan
I think that's OK, they are happy for you to send more stuff. Not the worst result.
When I first started sending sketches to a BBC radio producer I had the feedback "We're unable to help you develop your writing at this time" which was very clear, ie "Don't send me any more of this shit". He was right, my early sketches were pretty bad.
I like how he put the superfluous 'at this time' at the end...
Dan
It probably is a standard response but it looks to me as if it is likely to be a somewhere in the middle standard response. If I was a prodco, I'd probably have two standard responses:
1) You're shit. Please don't write to me again.
2) We liked it but it wasn't for us, please send us some more stuff in future as we think you have potential
Then there would be the personal one where I actually liked something and wanted to give feedback and enter dialogue.
so I'd guess this is a resonably positive version of their standard response.
The 'at this time' could mean just that. They know they can't sell it at the moment but might be able to at a later date.
I figured that although it's probably a standard letter that if they thought it was complete shite they wouldn't invite me to send further material.
It's a standard letter sent out to those people they see potential in working with in the future. So that's good, right?
Now the next thing - don't leave it too long before you send them more stuff. You don't want them to forget you
It depends on whom you sent it to, I'd say. Yes, it sounds fairly standard, of course...
Go with your gut instinct.
Personally, I'd say the fact that they do say they would be interested in receiving new material from you is a fairly positive sign. Don't rush the next thing out though. Wait until you've got something better than the last script (in your opinion) to send them.
I'd say they're two faced getts and are just stalling and putting you off, send another script in later and you'll get a similar response