READER NOTES - 1

What makes you keep reading something? And what makes you stop reading something?

[–]theweslawson[S] 25 points 9 months ago

I'm sure there are agencies where scripts are thrown out after the first 10 pages if they aren't formatted perfectly and engaging right away, but at my company that is not the case. It is very rare that a script meets the criteria for me to give it a zero (meaning I did not finish reading.) It has to fail on almost every level.

This has only happened once so far. The script was full of spelling errors, formatting errors, and a plot was not introduced by page 40 - where I stopped reading.

That being said, the most common score given for amateur work is 2, which is a pass. This means the agency may look at future work from the writer or a revision but will not do anything further with the submitted script. The most common culprit for this score are pacing, structural, and dialogue problems.

Make the dialogue sound real. Don't use too many cliche phrases. Pay EXTRA attention to the dialogue from characters that are the opposite sex from you.

Pacing problems are generally scenes that are too long with extended conversations that become dull. Move the characters to different settings or the audience will get bored (unless you're Quentin Tarantino and can write dialogue like a motherfucker).

Structural problems are things like how smoothly scenes flow into each other. Are subplots helpful or harmful? Are structural devices used (flashbacks, foreshadowing, etc...) and are they effective?

Finally, it's all about balance. Don't cram too much in to your script but don't leave it overly simple unless you are very confident in your dialogue and character development.

source

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Some don't think this one reader on Reddit is much of a source. This is a bit from an article by the great screenwriter and former reader Terry Rossio who developed a reader checklist that became the standard for the company he read for. You can read the whole thing here (and should) but here are the first two entries under Technical Execution:

Checklist B: Technical Execution

#21. Is it properly formatted?

#22. Proper spelling and punctuation. Sentence fragments okay.