This isn't to discourage you. The last thing I want to do is discourage other writers. It's good to be aware of what's to come, if for no other reason than to steel yourself against silence, which can often be mistaken for rejection. Take my post-Apocalyptic spec, for example. It's been over two years since I first signed an option with my producer. We have - in the meantime - renewed it twice. A second producer has joined our team (which also included a manager from the point of union). And an agent. And a lawyer.
A big producer with the backing of a major production company kind of came on board. Then went away. Then came back. Sort of. Then left. We sent to a (large) handful of other producers. They all passed, some providing general reasons why; others didn't. We're not waiting on another group of contacts, these direct buyers at studios. My producer keeps assuring me that something will come of it, and that all we need is one "yes' in a forest of "no thank yous." This part is very true. One yes, and all things can change.
Until we get that head nod, though, we wait. There's little we can do in the interim. Not everyone reads immediately - though for a hotter project or in a better spec market, they would probably read more quickly. It might take a week or two to make it to the top of an ever growing read pile on some poor (well, not financially), over-worked, stressed producer's desk. We just have to hope that when it does rise to the summit of that pile, it does so when the reader is in a good mood, his/her studio's latest action or Armageddon flick has done well for them, and he/she hasn't just read something else that is equally (hopefully not more) equipped to fill the necessary action tentpole space in the slate. If all those things come fall into place, and he/she likes the script, and everyone else who has to weigh in likes the script, then maybe, just maybe, we'll get that yes.
I'll be typing with my fingers crossed until then.
