Smart Girls Policies
For your peace of mind, screenwriters are urged to copyright their screenplay before sending it out. Following a rewrite, the new material should be registered in a revised secondary copyright.
The Writer's Guild Registration Service DOES NOT grant the screenwriter the statutory rights of ownership which a formal copyright grants.
Information on copyright is contained in Circular 1 at the Library of Congress Copyright Office.Legal Disclaimers and Policies on Smart Girls Services
Smart Girls has a standard estimated turnaround time for completion of each service but does not guarantee that time unless specifically stated in writing for your project. Every effort is made to complete projects in a timely manner and to satisfy clients with the completion time.
Smart Girls does not accept unsolicited scripts for production, and any scripts received without payment and request for services will be discarded upon receipt. All scripts sent to Smart Girls must be accompanied by full payment for the service requested to be scheduled.
Most Smart Girls mailings come with a number of free packages beyond the quantity purchased to cover, in advance, any that are deemed inappropriate or unusable for any reason. Smart Girls researches extensively but cannot guarantee that any one given company or individual will respond in a particular way to a given client. While the integrity of the Smart Girls data is maintained at one of the highest levels available in any industry, returned packages are not replaced on an individual basis, however, if more than 10% are found undeliverable, they will be replaced at one time if all the envelopes are returned to Smart Girls and are shown to have been postmarked within 14 days of the Smart Girls printing.
Query letters created by Smart Girls are based on materials provided by the writer. The letter is drafted and returned to the writer for one review, at which time the writer should make all desired changes; if necessary, the letter will be sent one additional time to confirm that the noted changes have been made. All changes must be made on the copy of the letter that is sent--not retyped--to provide for time efficiency in modifying the letter as requested. If the letter is retyped by the writer instead of editing on the copy of the letter as required by Smart Girls, a charge of $35 for retyping and re-faxing will apply. If the writer makes significant changes after the first review, additional charges will apply also.
For actor mailings the client is given an opportunity to review, modify, and approve the cover letter and to discuss appropriate people to target before final printing. Once the actor leaves with the mailer materials, the service is considered completed and accepted with satisfaction. Further services require additional fees.
Smart Girls makes no guarantees on the results of any of its mailing services.
Execution of Cover Letter Agent Mailing: Smart Girls agrees to provide a standard agent cover letter mailing as described in the literature, and the quantity of letters will be between 75 and 125 as agreed by myself and Smart Girls is appropriate for my needs. Should I wish to repeat an agent mailing during the course of this agreement, I may do so for $175.
Execution of Casting Director Mailings: Smart Girls agrees to contact the client either by mail (postcard) or phone during the first week of each month as appropriate for arranging for the preparation of the casting director mailings, and it is the client's responsibility to keep in touch with them regarding the same. The date of the call and the date of the mailings can be flexible for either party as needed, however, the expiration date remains in tact. It is understood that the effect of the multiple casting directors is most greatly maximized by doing the repeat mailings within a time frame that creates an effect of "recognition" by the casting directors, therefore it is in the client's best interest to actively keep the mailings going out. The client is entitled to complete mailings sooner than 30 days after the previous one, should that be chosen.
Sets of casting directors for the Big Plans are pre-selected and there is an additional fee to modify these lists. Each month the addresses and lists are updated with the most current information.
Execution of Career Strategy Planning & Guidance Sessions: Career strategy sessions will be set up at an agreed upon time. The client agrees to keep set appointments and to complete the actions I commit to in the sessions. Any appointments missed without giving a 12-hour notice will be considered delivered and the client will not be entitled to reschedule that coaching appointment.
Oral Script Consultations: For any bundle containing an Oral Script Consultation: Smart Girls agrees to read the script one time through and discuss it for one hour (or other set length of time according to the specific bundle) with the writer, either over the phone or in person. The writer may record this session if desired.
Market Ready Sign-Off Review: For any bundle containing a Market Ready Sign-Off Review: Smart Girls agrees to read the script one time through and follow up with 15 minutes of feedback regarding the script's readiness for the market. Script for this should be at the level of needing only a final sign-off or very minor polish notes.
Query Letter Mailings: For any bundle that containing a Query Letter Mailing: Smart Girls agrees to work with the writer in developing a final query letter and identifying the appropriate industry executives to send the query letter to. The writer receives the personalized letters, printed envelopes, and listing of the executives.
Synopsis Development Coaching: For any bundle that containing Synopsis Development Coaching: Smart Girls agrees review a one to two page synopsis written by the writer, followed by a one-hour phone consultation. This may be used on an existing script, or it may be a synopsis written for the purpose of developing a script.
Pitch Development Coaching: For any bundle that containing Pitch Development Coaching: Smart Girls agrees provide a one-hour phone consultation to coach the writer in pitching one or more scripts or the writer himself/herself for assignment work. Pitch coaching may be used for creating a pitch for an existing script or for developing a pitch for a new idea. Smart Girls reading the script is not included in this service.
For the duration of the bundle agreement, the client is entitled to receive 10% off the listed rate of any services and products provided by Smart Girls. These discounts are not available in conjunction any other special discount programs.
Bundled services with term agreements (i.e. six months, one year) expire at the end of that time period. Any mailings unused by that date for any reason, will expire and no credits nor refunds will be given by Smart Girls. Those plans are not transferable for credits to other services and no part of it is refundable.
Due to the nature of the film industry, Smart Girls does not guarantee specific results from any of its services or plans. Results may vary from other Smart Girls clients through no deliberate act by Smart Girls. Smart Girls makes no warrants, promises, or guarantees that you will sell your screenplay, get work, or get representation through the services provided.
Smart Girls keeps the contents of your screenplays confidential. The client retains rights to their material at all times regardless of any creative contributions made by Smart Girls, unless another written agreement supersedes this one.
The client is responsible for keeping a master copy of all works submitted and Smart Girls accepts no liability with regard to original copies.
Smart Girls recommends that submitted material be registered with the Writers Guild of America or copyrighted with the Library of Congress Copyright Office.
All screenplay material should be in a standard screenplay format (i.e. 12-font courier and screenplay layout). Scripts in other formats may incur additional fees for services, but the client will be notified of the additional fees prior to the start of the project.
Should any dispute arise between a client and Smart Girls, it is to be settled through binding arbitration by the Better Business Bureau.