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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … 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 … Read More
Social Media for Screenwriters – The Basic Rules
Aspiring screenwriters can and should use social media. But keep in mind — there are a few “best practices” you might want to put into action when using social media as a screenwriter.
