Every writer needs readers. For feedback. Support. Direction. When you’re answering a thousand questions a day creating an entire world, it’s easy to miss a few things. We go to our friends and family first because we know they’ll be nice to us. What we get are a few taps on the back and a couple “Way to go’s!” But what we really need is professional objective criticism from what Hollywood terms “readers.”
Every studio, network, agency and production company hires readers. They are English and Film and Writing graduates who live and breathe screenwriting. Many are writers themselves or aspiring creative executives in the industry. They have read the books, taken the workshops and read a thousand screenplays. They know what to look for and when to look for it. They know how plots are woven and characters are developed, that your hero should reach their low point at the end of the second act and rage into battle in the middle of the third. They catch superfluous commas and reign in flamboyant description, make sure dialogue is realistic and your theme impactful. And that’s just for starters.
Reading takes time. A feature screenplay takes a few hours to read and do notes on. A written summary takes another hour or so. Meeting to discuss the issues requires even more. For writers, it’s easy to take this for granted. Don’t people want to read my screenplay for fun? No. They don’t. People have plenty to do. And providing feedback is a whole other thing. Especially when the writers are sensitive or defensive or family or friend.
There are many screenplay reading services out there you can hire that range in price. As with most things, you usually get what you pay for. For a modest fee, a professional will read your script in its entirety and respond with written feedback in what’s called coverage. It’s fast. It’s easy. And it’s worth it. To the left are a few of them. When you got your script as good as you can get it, send your script to one of them. They’ll be happy to help you.
Or if you would like to work with me on your script, email me anytime:
michael@screenwriterschool.com.
Whether you use them or me makes no difference. But for the love of all that is good in the world, please use somebody. It doesn’t mean you have to take their advice but getting it will make a world of difference in elevating the quality of your script from good to great.
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