Letter Campaign

Hints & Tips

These hints and tips are merely meant as a guide to writing your letter, as well as helping you to focus on writing your letter, if need be. If you are interested in submitting a tip of your own that you found helpful, by all means feel free to do so.

Also, we have been given tips by Bjo Trimble for letter writing, and they can be found here.

  1. "Keep It Simple, Stupid"
  2. No More than a Page
  3. Absolutely No Trek Indicators on Envelope
  4. Postal Over Electronics
  5. Speak In Paramount's Language
  6. Don't Insult—Be Mature and Direct
  7. Check Your Letter
  8. NO Story Pitches!
  9. No Need To Mention The Movement

Tip #1: Keep It Simple, Stupid

An edict of journalism is the rule known, in its simplistic form, as KISS -- "Keep It Simple, Stupid". (Not meant to be an insult of any kind.) You want to keep on what you're writing about, which is in this case the return of Kirk, and you want to be persuasive about it. However, you also want to keep it concise yet direct and to the point. You want to be able to cover key items in the letter. Don't talk about anything outside of Kirk or his affect on TOS. Stay on task, say what you need to, and bow out.

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Tip #2: No More Than A Page

Keep your letter on one page. This is especially important as Paramount's office get large amounts of mail. Letters that are more than one page will not even be acknowledged. Like résumés, if it isn't one page the employer will place it with the refuse.

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Tip #3: Absolutely No Trek Indicators On Envelope

Avoid any mention or drawings related to Trek on the envelope. Why? Unfortunately for us, there are those that think that Star Trek fans are nerds and geeks who have absolutely no lives whatsoever, that we live in our parent's basements and are too "geekish" to have relationships. All of this in accordance to the highly untrue stereotype. Putting anything Trek related outside the envelope doesn't increase the likelihood of the letter being read—it decreases it. Additionally, they look for professionalism, especially in letters concerning a movement like BBK, Space: 1999, or Battlestar Galactica.

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Tip #4: Postal Over Electronics

E-mail is convenient and easy. This is one of the reasons that they're not recognized well. E-mails simply don't work. Anyone can write an e-mail, and it doesn't take much effort to do it. Anyone can write e-mails in their sleep, whether they're good or not... well, that's debatable.

Postal mail, also referred to as "snail mail", is more effective. Simply because there is substance to it. They handle the paper, they look at it and say that you paid money for the paper, the ink, the envelope, and the stamp. They also look at it and see it representative of 1,000 people. One postal letter is representative of 1,000 people. They also know that you took time to write and send it in, therefore they'll read and absorb it more than they'll read and absorb mere e-mail.

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Tip #5: Speak In Paramount's Language

Money talks. Simple as that. Tell them that they're losing money by not returning Kirk. In fact, there's already some wariness in the Paramount camp, if we're to believe the reports arriving to the fan base about Trek itself. So let's use that to our advantage. They'll perk up when they hear that they're losing money by doing this instead of that. In this case, they're losing money by smearing Kirk like strawberry jam on a mountain side. Quote them numbers too. They'll love to know that they're losing money by not acceding to the demands of their customers. Speak ratings of the active Trek out there right now, mention that there's a correlation, however strong, between the death of Kirk and the slow and reported death of Star Trek as well.

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Tip #6: Don't Insult—Be Mature and Direct

In the heat of passion, we know that we can do some things we didn't mean to. Most notably, I'm talking about firing off insults and profanity. First and foremost, Paramount looks for professionalism. If you're not professional or mature in what you say, then that lessens the chance for your letter and what you are saying to be considered. Just make sure you persuade Paramount to Bring Back Kirk, "let them have it" in a mature fashion, and state why you feel the way you do and how bringing back Kirk will benefit the franchise and Paramount.

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Tip #7: Check Your Letter

You probably want to check your letter over again, rather just saying "I'm done," and firing it off to whomever you intended to mail. Check it for grammar, repetitive statements and the like. It's always a good idea.

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Tip #8: NO Story Pitches!

Forget about pitching your ideas on how Kirk should return—just state why you think it's in the best interest to have Kirk returned into the canon and his death corrected. A mere sniff that there's a story pitch and they'll throw out your letter. Therefore, don't waste your time with giving your pitches on what the next Trek movie, series, book, episode, etc. should be. They're obligated to dispose of the letter for legal reasons.

As it is said, if they want you, they'll have your number... or they will shortly.

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Tip #9: No Need To Mention BBK Movement

There's little reason to mention that you're a member of the Bring Back Kirk campaign. They'll figure it out soon enough, and it's really miscellaneous information that won't really aid in their overall decision. By your actions in supporting the return of Kirk, of course, they'll probably consider you a supporter of the campaign.

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