It's even worse with literary agents. I finished writing a novel in December and I've been writing to bloody loads of agents and publishers ever since. A lot of them state on their website, "We get so many submissions that if you've not heard from us in 8 weeks then take that we are not interested" basically saying up front that they are not going to reply to you but just hang around expectantly for 8 weeks just in case.

It is so frustrating, what is wrong with spending seconds to send a simple email?

You're also only supposed to send to one agent at a time, aren't you? So, send to one agent, if no response after 8 weeks, then assume you're free to send to the next. I remember reading somewhere that agents don't like it when you also send to the competition at the same time. Probably because they want to fleece you on a 'deal'.

Mathew

As the responses on this thread have shown, it's a common story. Most of us have been through it. It is what it is.

They are not obligated to produce your script. Some probably think they've given you an ego boost and that's enough.

Also, most would rather ghost and save face than send that "I'm sorry but" email.

Thanks to Scriptrevolution, I get emails from producers/directors about short scripts way more than I used to.

To be completely honest, I just don't respond, or immediately respond "no thanks", to emails that seem to be part of a "shotgun effect" approach where they've sent emails to the writer of any script that fits their criteria. This includes a clear copy and paste email body, or the fact that the email is about two lines and they offer no information about themselves or their plans(to be clear,  I've never said no to any producer based on their experience or lack thereof. I'm always happy for students/young people to do whatever with my scripts, I'm not special).  That seems to avoid the complete timewasters.

Every other experience I've had has been positive, even if they don't end producing what I've written