I used to be a studio reader, so I was the first (and last) gate keeper that a lot of scripts encountered at that studio. I would read several scripts per week and had to determine whether most of them should be considered or passed on. I never wanted to read a bad script and was never looking for reasons to pass on one. As an aspiring writer myself, I was always hopeful as I opened the script that it would be a captivating story that would enthrall and entertain me. Alas however, the vast majority of scripts were not very good, and received the dreaded “pass”.
So what does it take to avoid having a studio or agency reader, who has to read a whole lot of scripts every week, get you at least a “Consider” on your coverage report? How can you get your script to stand out in the crowd in a good way? Try these five things, and you’ll help stack the odds in your favor.
1) Hook ’em.
Most readers will know within the first 3-5 pages if a script is going to be any good or not. I can remember one time when a script started out with a dreadful first 10 pages, but then became quite good after that. That was, however, the exception to the rule. With the vast majority of scripts, the first few pages set the reader up for what he or she is in for. You know how important it is to make a good first impression, and you need to think of your screenplay’s opening in the same way. If you give a reader a poor first impression of your script, it will sour them on the rest of it whether it gets better or not. On the other hand, you’ll have a better chance of keeping the reader’s impartiality throughout the rest of the script if you have a strong opening with a good hook.
2) Make them fall in love.
You want the reader to care a lot about your main character. There are a number of ways to do this, and it might be the most important thing to do over the course of your script. Nothing kills a script faster than an unsympathetic protagonist. That doesn’t necessarily mean that your hero needs to be likable, although that helps. There are plenty of unlikable heroes throughout the history of cinema, as well as other literature and theater, but the reader needs to care about what happens to your hero. You do this by humanizing him and giving him strengths and flaws just like every other person in the world has. The audience, and more importantly the reader, need to be able to identify with your hero’s plight no matter how fantastic or unrealistic it may be when compared to real life. If the reader doesn’t care about what happens to your hero then he or she will not care about what happens in the story and your script will receive a “pass”.
3) Dynamic antagonist
Almost as important as having a sympathetic protagonist is creating a dynamic antagonist. Remember that the villain is the hero of his own story, so it’s helpful if you do something to humanize that character as well as making it clear what the antagonist wants. One of the things that will help you get the reader to care about the main character is to have an antagonist who is in a position to ruin everything for him or her. This antagonist needs to be in a powerful position so that it feels realistic that he could keep the hero from getting what he or she wants. But just as the protagonist needs motivations, so too does the antagonist. Why is he trying to keep your hero from accomplishing her goals? What is it that your antagonist wants that pits your hero against him in a potentially life changing or life threatening situation? Creating a dynamic villain can put your script over the top, but a weak or ineffectual villain, or one that steals the show completely, will cause you to get a “pass”.
4) Solid structure
This can be a bone of contention for some people. I’ve talked to plenty of writers who find the whole idea of structure to be constricting to their creative flow. But what I will tell you is this. If you’re an aspiring writer with no real credits to your name and you’re trying to break into the business with a spec script, then it had better have flawless structure with a clear 1st, 2nd and 3rd act. You have to show a reader that you know how to work within the rules before any one will trust you with breaking them. Just because Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick did it doesn’t mean that you can, at least at this stage of your career. And I can tell you with certainty that if your first act doesn’t end somewhere around page 30 and if your second act doesn’t end somewhere around page 90, the reader will recommend that the studio pass on your script.
5) Write a good story.
That may sound like and over-simplification, but a good story is one that is well told. A good story is one that grabs the reader and makes him or her want to keep turning those pages to find out what happens next. A good story with solid structure and well developed characters will get your script considered or possibly even recommended by a reader.
Since I have experience with reading for studios I can help you get your script ready to submit. As a former studio reader, I can evaluate your script and help you find and correct the issues that studio readers will be looking for and would cause you to get a pass. I can then offer up suggestions on how to improve your script so that it can get past that first and sometimes most intimidating gate keeper. Click on the link below to find out how we can help, or you can click on the Service page on the right tab.
I say this with all due respect, everyone knows the five ways to avoid a “pass”. To get a “recommend” however, you need talent and guts to write something in new and different way.
It has been said that a camera lens is dead and it is the filmmakers’ job to make a movie visually interesting by using sequence and the camera in an imaginative way to delight the viewer.
Hollywood demands a linear story told in the same way they have for 100 years. They are more interested in using their new toys [technology] for a direct return on their investment and burying enough “product placement” to make a winner out of an ordinary script.
Orson Welles had it right, he followed his unique ideas into oblivion, rather than give Hollywood what they want. It made for a difficult life and he still he made the greatest movie ever made, but he also did numerous other films with his unique brilliance with similar awards without Hollywood’s blessing.
It seems if you really want to get your vision out there, you have to do it yourself.