20 Ways To Impress A Script Reader With Your Writing

20 Proven Ways To Impress A Script Reader With Your Writing

 “Script readers are the gatekeepers of producers, studio executives, financiers, directors and actors. If you want to get your screenplay into the hands of the influential people in the entertainment industry, you first have to impress a script reader.”

When people ask me who I recommend to provide script notes, my answer is always the same: Amanda Pendolino. I have known Amanda for many years and she is not only a professional script reader, but a talented writer. Her book “Wedding Planning for the Busy Feminist” received this accolade from Brides magazine:

“There will come a point during the planning process when you just need a laugh, and if that laugh comes with some actual advice, all the better! With anecdotes along the lines of ‘nothing sexes up a ceremony like a hot usher,’ Amanda Pendolino’s witty read caters to modern brides who want to steer away from certain dated wedding traditions. Plus, the book comes loaded with humorous tips and stories from real couples and vendors.”

Recently, Amanda posted an article at No Film School: 20 Proven Ways To Impress A Script Reader With Your Writing. Here is that list:

1.     Create an Original Concept

2.   Value Concept Over Execution

3.    Stop Referencing Other Movies and Shows

4.   Include Specific but Efficient Visual Details

5.    Know Your Genre and Audience

6.   Find The Most Interesting Angle

7.    Run Away From Clichés

8.   Include Women

9.   Aim For Polished Clarity

10.       Work On Your Character Descriptions

11.Cut Things Down

12.        Don’t Take “Write What You Know” So Literally

13.        Create an Active Protagonist

14.        Create a Starring Role

15.        Establish Relationships

16.        Read Professional Scripts

17.         Take a Position

18.        Surprise Me

19.        Study Structure

20.      Aim For Tonal Consistency

Here are a few highlights:

Create an Original Concept
Around 80% of the scripts sent to me by amateur writers would earn a conceptual PASS. Many writers do not clearly establish their script’s premise at all; others choose concepts that are familiar and predictable. If you can make a reader say “Oh, I’ve never seen that before,” you’ve won.

Work On Your Character Descriptions
The phrase or sentence you use to introduce your character will stick with the reader. Is hair color and eye color really important? Some physicality can help me envision the right person, but I’m more interested in the person’s essence or vibe. Action can also help; instead of telling me someone is “the kind of person who would drop everything to help you,” you could SHOW me a scene of this instead of TELLING me about it.

Read Professional Scripts
WE CAN TELL if you’ve never seen a professional script. Now that there are so many available online, you have no excuse! Everything — from how to format an indoor/outdoor flashback to how much description to include for a sex party scene — will be easier once you’ve read a lot of pro screenplays. Eventually, you won’t even need to think about format.

7 TIPS THAT WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER SCRIPT READER

Script reading is a lot like screenwriting, you can’t just sit down at a desk and expect great results. It’s like taking stepping stones across a river. If you try to skip some, you might make things a lot harder for yourself. Mindset and comfort are factors of reading and writing that are often taken for granted.

With these seven tips, hopefully, you can improve your time script reading and the writers will thank you. 

1. Read O’Clock

Are you an early bird or a night owl? When do you feel the most energized and prepared to write? For me, it’s the early morning, refreshed from sleep with a nice hot cup of tea. For some, it’s when everyone else is going to sleep and the world finally feels quiet or during the bustle of the day, feeding off the energy of everyone around them. Whatever works for you and makes you feel the most present, will give your writer’s work the attention it needs. 

If you’re busy and only have a specific time to work, really break down your schedule to make sure it’s optimal for you. If you have a day job and can negotiate going to work earlier or staying later to facilitate your reading, you may find it could improve your attitude toward reading the scripts. If you find yourself to be ambidextrous with your time, that’s fantastic! The world is your oyster. 

Sometimes, you may find that you were a morning person, but it’s no longer doing the trick for you anymore. There’s no harm in trading off different times or experimenting with reading on different days. Maybe you like early mornings Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, but the other days of the week you are a night owl. Find your schedule and you’ll find unknown energy reserves that will make reading more fun and enjoyable. 

2. Pillow Time

It can be hard to get the right amount of sleep when inspiration comes knocking on your door in the middle of the night or when you go on that exciting night out you’ve been waiting for. Don’t sacrifice your social life so you get ten hours of sleep every day, but if you know you have to read five days of the week, make sure you get a good seven to eight hours before then. Minimum. 

Being tired can affect every aspect of script reading. It could make it harder to understand what the writer said or remember what you’ve already read, words could get jumbled, it’s a recipe for disaster. The worst part is when the writer receives the feedback and it raises more confusion rather than clarity. This is, of course, description of an extreme case, but even little trickles of sleepiness can cause problems when giving clear and concise feedback. 

3. Schedule 

Script reading, especially if you’re working from home, can feel like you’ve got all the time in the world. Schedule. This goes for writing too. Even if you work from home and you set a word or page count to complete in a day, block off the time. If you have time scheduled that you know that you’ll be sitting at a desk, treating your work like – well – work, it will show in your feedback. It’s a job, so treating it like one will give professional results. 

It won’t just show in your feedback, you’ll find yourself less rushed when you do get around to reading. When you make it a habit to sit down and read scripts, you’ll notice that you become more prepared to get work done. Blocking time out for reading can also help when planning social events and other gatherings. Without a schedule, there isn’t a clear time when you’ll be available. If you’re scheduling your reading around other events, you’ll find reading to be less like a fun job and more like a chore you keep pushing off. 

4. Be Open

Not everyone likes horror or science fiction, but you never can be sure what script might be given to you. Keep an open mind and a healthy curiosity for different topics. Branch out a bit and watch some films you never would. At the heart of all stories is the same purpose: to entertain. Try to find what entertains you about a script, even if it’s not your favorite genre, and focus on that with your feedback. Never make something up just to fill out the pages.

One of the best approaches to learning more about a genre is to find someone who loves it and watch some with them. Whether its a romantic comedy or a spy thriller, you can learn from them what these stories need and what works in them. With this insight applied to the scripts your reading, you can properly give feedback based on these points. The more variety you try in a genre, there are more opportunities to find what you might actually like. It’s never too late to get into a children’s cartoon or to find a subgenre you like that can inform you of the rest of the genre. 

5. Comfort is Key

Work is sometimes something you have to tough though and sometimes script reading is work, but comfort can make the difference of a two-hour script struggle and an hour script experience. Find a place to do your reading that makes you feel comfortable and secure. An aromatic coffee shop, a quiet garden, a stocked kitchen, you name it. No matter how weird it may look, working on the floor in the living room or taking round trips on a local train, if it makes you the most productive, use it. 

The hardest part of script reading and writing is focus. If it’s too quiet or too busy, these can make hours of difference when the rubber meets the road. Figure out what works for you and don’t forget to budget the time it takes to set up and get to optimal comfiness. Scheduling your reading time can also help remove the distractions of other plans if that becomes an issue. When you sit down at your workspace, you should be comfortable for the whole block of time set aside. It may take some tweaking in the beginning, finding the right location and keeping it stocked with the items you need, but as you stick with the routine, you’ll start to enjoy sitting down for work and the writers will thank you. 

6. Read, Read, Read.

You read scripts all day, why should you read even more scripts? It’s good to keep up with script writing trends. Storytelling evolves and not as slowly as you may think. If you watch some of the old movies, you’ll notice pacing and exposition issues that wouldn’t fly in this day and age, even with Alfred Hitchcock movies. 

That’s just scratching the surface of formatting and writing differences, the trends in films like big-budget action films with huge battles are on the rise. Knowing these statistics and reading the scripts that do it well can help when you receive scripts trying to emulate the same thing. You’ll also have examples to point the writers toward to help them improve faster. 

7. Basics

This should go without saying, but you need to know script formatting, proper spelling, and grammar in order to read. This may sound like the obvious for writers and readers, but everyone makes mistakes. The reader’s job is to make sure they aren’t sent in a final draft. The best way to learn the basics of formatting is to read well-written scripts. Sometimes good writers will break rules, but they first had to start following the fine print. With story credits to your name, one can afford to bend the rules a bit. Readers should be able to gauge just how much is too much and offer simple solutions. 

Spelling and grammar are a lot harder to master if it was a difficult topic growing up or even if the language you’re reading is your second language. A great way to get a quick jump ahead is to look at a list of commonly misspelled words. You can bet you’ll see a lot of those. Things as simple as which form of “there/their/they’re”, “your/you’re”, or “it’s/its” are incredibly common to mess up, especially for writers trying to meet a deadline. If you keep a regular pace while reading, catching these mistakes should be no problem. 

Finally, remember that the writer is human, just like you. They’ll make stupid mistakes or forget to put something in they edited out three drafts ago or write a storyline that has been overdone. As a reader, you have to set personal judgment aside and work together with the writer to help them create a story that they can be proud to show an audience. A win for the writer is a win for the reader, so helping them is in everyone’s best interest from the audiences who will enjoy it to the agents who get a nicely scrubbed and polished script to approve. 

You need to be in the Los Angeles area, first and foremost. Beyond that, readers usually start out as interns. In order to nab such internships with studios, production companies, or agencies, you need to be attending a college.

If you're beyond college or haven't or won't be enrolled in one, the next entry point is becoming an assistant at one of the aforementioned entities.

Both interns and assistants are jacks of all trades. You'll be getting coffee and lunch, answering phones, manning a desk doing various duties, and yes, reading incoming querries and screenplays. You'll be asked to write coverage, which is a certain formatted review document where you will give general ratings of the script, write a synopsis of the story, and give it a Pass, Consider, or Recommend grading.

Pass = Not worth considering

Consider = Contains elements worth considering, be it due to the writing, the concept, or a combination of the two.

Recommend = This is one of the best things you've ever read and the powers that be should strongly consider investing their time and millions of dollars in money to develop and produce this.

Becoming a script reader is one of the best educational experiences a writer will have.

If you're an intern, you'll get paid nothing more than the college credit.

If you're an assistant, you'll likely receiev anyway from $15-$25 per script. Don't expect anything more than that... but it adds up well and hey, you're getting paid to read scripts.

You also need to learn to have a more objectivable opinion if you're going to be a script reader. This isn't a job where you are being asked to be a critic. Nope. You need to dictate whether or not this project falls under the needs and wants of the powers that be. Hence, "Black Swan" would likely be a pass for Jerry Bruckheimer Films while "Commando II" would be a strong consider or easy recommend (Bad example, but you get my drift).

How do you nab either an internship, or more likely an assistant position? Network, network, network. Exhaust ANY possible contact you have with established professionals in the film industry. Whether once, twice, or thrice removed.

Keep in mind that script reading isn't an easy job and its often a thankless position. However, it is the BEST education on screenwriting you will ever get AND if you're looking to move into development, producing, or representation (If you have the proper credentials), it is the first step to be made.

My time as a script reader for Sony was outstanding and I learned so much. But it is a bitter sweat position to be in. 95% of the scripts you'll read are horrible. 4% are maybe above that average. And that 1% (Likely a bit less) is like finding a gold needle in a stack of yellow needles which is embedded within a landfill of hay and thorns.