#script reader

A major skill that companies look for in interns and assistants is the ability to read scripts and write coverage. The problem is, there aren’t many ways to learn how to write it, even in film school. So, for those interested, I will be running a short class on script coverage this upcoming June/July.

It will function much like a weekly class and will last roughly 2-4 weeks. We will meet using the Coffee Shop Critique’s server on discord, where there will be a channel dedicated to the class. The first meeting will consist of learning what what script coverage is, how it’s used, and how to write it. You’ll be able to ask questions and see templates and examples. At the end, you will be given a script to cover for the week. A week later, we will meet again, review the coverage, see where we can improve, and talk a bit more about the business side of things.

(Watch the video interview here on Youtube)

3 Common Screenwriting Mistakes That Amateur Writers Make by Daniel Calvisi via FilmCourage.com.

Film Courage:  What were some common clichés (at that time) which you were seeing in these scripts?

Daniel Calvisi:  Well, some big mistakes from scripts coming in the door were big, really dense blocks of description, just too many words on the page. The worst is when they make the margins really small so they can fit more on the page because they haven’t tightened the script up enough. So with making the margins tiny and even the spacing, you can make tighter in Final Draft and in other screenwriting software, if you do that the [script] reader immediately knows you are cheating and they know that your script may say it’s 110 pages. But if you went to normal margins and normal spacing, it would probably be like 123 pages or something.

So [professional script] readers hate that.  You know right off the bat because you are taking up more of their time and it also shows that you’re an undisciplined writer who doesn’t know how to write a well-paced script in the proper spacing and format with let’s say the average script being around 105 to 210 pages these days.

So there is that and then it takes too long to get to the inciting incident.  The inciting incident should be between page 8 to 10. Sometimes 12 is okay but we really need a catalyst, you know?  We need an inciting incident to happen.  And then (as well later on) you don’t want Act 1 to be too far into the script.  The break of Act 1 and Act 2 should be probably around Page 30.  It doesn’t have to be exactly on Page 30, but around Page 30.  But in some beginner scripts it would literally be on Page 47 before a really big turn in direction happened and it felt like we were in Act 2.  So those are some examples.

However the on-the-nose dialogue could be one of the worst.  I like to say sometimes talking heads dialogue where it’s just two characters talking to each other (kind of at each other).  And then Q&A sessions are the worst.  That’s where one character keeps asking another character questions and then they just keep answering it.  So it’s almost like a interview.  And if that goes on for too long it really tires out the reader and it gets really what we call on-the-nose.

How A Producer Falls In Love With Your Screenplay (& Attaches Themselves To It)

As a screenwriter, you know that writing a screenplay is a magical process. It is more than a template to film a movie. The first thing screenwriting does is impact a producer. Without this connection, your screenplay won’t move forward. INITIAL REACTION It all starts with an initial reaction on whether they liked it or not. It’s purely guttural and instinctive. As a film producer progresses…

Me: Oh cool. I look forward to reading this.

Script: **has two protagonists, a heterosexual couple**

Script: **hits every single slasher trope known to fucking man**

Script: **features several women, all of whom fight over the boys in the story and who are defined by the boy they are sexually involved with**

Script: **has a token gay couple who both die**

Script: **features one of the "good guys" (a girl, btw) calling the main girl a "c*nt" as a derogatory term**

Script: *is actually just a generally fucking bad script that physically hurt to read**

Me: ....

Me: ......

Me: !!!!!!!!!!

Me: What the actual fuck? How could any woman think this is for other women?!?!?!

Me: **Looks and sees that the script was written by two men**

Like, I have yet to read a good action scene that hasn’t made me want to track down the writer and scream at them. 

Seriously, please stop over-choreographing your fight scenes, guys! If it doesn’t read quickly then it’s just gonna drag the whole thing down to a snail’s pace. I do not need to know every little stabbing movement your protag makes! I just don’t!

Grammar is important and, if used correctly, it means I wouldn’t have had to endure several minutes of confusion trying to figure out why no was freaked by a character being a pedophile (turns out he was asking where the bathroom was). 

Every protag is white. E v e r y   s i n g l e   o n e. 

I have literally read one script that featured POC and they were all stereotypes with Westernised names.

Nobody is gay. 

Almost all of the women have been married or married with children. Apparently those are the only stories worth telling about us (and they’re usually told as part of a larger story about a man having an adventure).