What does Hollywood even want?
What kinds of screenplays does Hollywood want? What screenplays are getting made? We can tell you this much: agents and producers are looking for three key elements in scripts right now…
Stop Telling Me Your Characters Are Attractive
Tom is attractive. Beatrice is beautiful. Their dentist is gorgeous. Their mail-carrier is a MILF. Having read hundreds of scripts in my career as a script reader, I’ve encountered these sentences and many others like them. In the world according to screenwriters, the universe is an attractive place. Unfortunately, in many scripts, that’s all the … Read more
Screenplay Readability — A Few Quick Tips
Script readers read scripts. A lot of scripts. Sometimes a reader at my company will chew through 10 or more in a week. (Overall at Screenplay Readers, we’ve read over 21,000 scripts since 1999.) But what is it like for a script reader to read so many scripts? Exhausting. Fact is, most of the screenplays … Read more
Loglines — How To Write Bad Ones (and Good Ones)
What is a logline supposed to do, really? Wikipedia’s illustrious hive mind defines it like so: A brief (usually one-sentence) summary …that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story’s plot and an emotional “hook” to stimulate interest. Yeah, yeah, but what’s the purpose of a logline? What’s a … Read more
Is there a standard approach for doing script coverage analysis?
A writer in my class the other day asked me “Is there a standard approach for doing script coverage analysis?” The short answer is no. There is absolutely no standard approach for doing script coverage analysis AKA notes AKA comments AKA evaluation AKA feedback section of a coverage that readers take when preparing their analysis. … Read more
The Script Coverage Buyer’s Guide
Script coverage, in a nutshell, is really just a short document that offers an opinion on a screenplay. When script coverage is good, it offers helpful suggestions and pulls no punches with its critique, and the writer or filmmaker receiving it can make improvements to their material. But when it’s bad? Well, it can be … Read more
Screenwriting Gurus — Why Most of Them Suck and How to Avoid
“Screenwriting gurus.” Ick. If those two words don’t make you nauseous, you’re either not a screenwriter, or you’ve sniffed too much glue. Over the two decades of running my script coverage service, I’ve seen a lot of self-appointed screenwriting experts come and go, and it hasn’t always been pretty. At Screenplay Readers, we’re just script readers. … Read more
Writing Authentic Dialogue — 7 Things Savvy Screenwriters Must Do
Writing dialogue is easy. Writing strong dialogue — dialogue which an audience will consider authentic-sounding and believable — is an entirely different skill.
Writing More Interesting Characters – 5 Quick Fixes You Can Do Right Now
Write more interesting characters. Yes, you. You should be writing more interesting characters. Here’s a few things you can do to your draft right now. Don’t think about it. Just do it. Your characters are boring and that makes you boring and that makes us bored. Don’t be boring. 1) Delete the scene where you … Read more
How Do I Sell My Screenplay? — Here’s 4 Things You’re Doing Wrong
“How do I sell my screenplay?” “My screenplay is done. Now what do I do?” “How do I get my script produced?” These are the eternal questions asked by aspiring screenwriters everywhere. But, as you might’ve noticed, get paid for writing for the film and tv industry is not an easy thing to do. Why? … Read more