Screenwriting : Be careful who you trust with Coverage by Jason Mirch

Jason Mirch

Be careful who you trust with Coverage

Hi all, I got off a call yesterday with a reader for a major script services company that you definitely know of - and probably submitted to in the past. He said he is incentivized NOT to give good scores even if he loves something. He said that it's a "problem" for him when he gives it a good score that could get it recognition.

I told this story to an editor of a screenwriting publication who said he has been told the same. He started to write an expose but no one would give the evidence over to clarify, but he said, "it’s real."

I'm sharing this because there are games being played and you need to really watch out who you invest your hopes and goals in. They might not have your career or best interests at heart.

Maurice Vaughan

Thanks for sharing/warning, Jason.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg

What a surprise.

Brian Lajeunesse

that's sad... and eye opening

Martin Reese

What is the reason for that? Is it to get folks to resubmit and then get charged again?

Robert Russo

These services make money on selling writing classes to help you fix your script so there is an incentive to rate you poorly so you feel you have a lot to learn and need to sign up for their services. I've submitted a couple of scripts to services where I scored mostly average, but then had acquaintances/friends who were working writers read the script and find it to be a great script.

I trust they wouldnt lie to me because they were afraid of hurting my feelings, because in the past they most definitely have pointed out flaws. I believe your best bet is to have your script reviewed by capable writers that you trust. This should not be a surprise. Theres sharks everywhere looking for easy money.

Scott McConnell

Try to read articles by any script experts and judge what they know. You can often see if they deal in cliches or bs, or have real thoughts and ideas.

Eoin O'Sullivan

The issue with a lot of script coverage is transparency and accountability.

Madhup Sharma

Perfect Eye Opener

Adrian Akeem Sterling

Do you guys have script coverage services that you trust?

Maurice Vaughan

The Stage 32 script coverage service, Adrian. I've also used Screenplay Readers. The coverage I got from Screenplay Readers helped my script and my writing career.

I edited this comment. I put Script Reader Pro first (by mistake). I meant to put Screenplay Readers.

Adrian Akeem Sterling

I’ll check them out too!

Adrian Akeem Sterling

Thanks Maurice!

Dustin Quinteros

I won't name the site but, I had received coverage a few times and felt that my "scores" didn't line up with the comments I received, i.e., low scores but, very favorable comments. To add too, they use several categories for scoring lets say from, 1-10, I received an average score of 7.5, however; my overall score was a 4. When I questioned that, I was told the overall score was not based on an average of the individual scores but rather the reader's "overall' opinion... just thought I'd share.

Adrian Akeem Sterling

Ive actually had that same thing happen to me! Where the comments and scores didn’t make sense.

Adrian Akeem Sterling

How do you guys feel about the black list?

Maalik Evans

Thank you for speaking on this!

Maurice Vaughan

You're welcome, Adrian. I don't know much about the Black List.

Dan MaxXx

I dont understand the post, or the implication of Xxx script services. Is the source (reader) legit or a bitter employee?

As for competitors blasting other scripts sites - every site needs winners/success. Otherwise they wont stay in business. (And the business is not making movies)

Jason Mirch

Hey Adrian - keep my original post in mind.

Jason Mirch

Hey Dan - the reader I spoke with was very legit and not bitter at all. In fact, he was somewhat disappointed that through this service he could not reach out and work with writers or have any direct interaction. The readers themselves have their hearts in the right place. The post is to make people aware that there are games being played.

Adrian Akeem Sterling

Totally get it Jason!

Dustin Quinteros

@Adrian, as far as Blacklist (and you can put two and two together), or any site where I don't know "who" my reader is, just not a fan. How do I know that Generic Industry Reader is more qualified than me, or qualified at all, and while I've gotten some useful feedback its been hit or miss. I had a reader put my gory horror movie in the comedic category.... to be fair to the site, I got a refund for that one and any complaints have always been addressed.

Adrian Akeem Sterling

Wow that’s really good to know thanks for sharing that

Scott McConnell

Jason, many thanks for this post. Caveat emptor. Scott

Laurie Ashbourne

It is so incredibly frustrating -- and there are two sides to this sword -- a lot of competitions only want the reader to be honest to a point (in other words they don't take the time to train the readers to give constructive notes or scores and just say "never go below a 50 (on a scale of 100) because we want them to come back), and honestly a lot of writers will instantly balk at notes that are less than glorious and call out the service/competition, and then the side Jason is speaking of where they don't give good scores because they want you to resubmit. As a reader, it is extremely frustrating, it's not just so for the writers -- although I know it's never fun to get notes. I am constantly walking away from services who want me to work for them for this very reason. I think someone should be pushing a service that is honest -- and that doesn't mean brutally honest. The services need to train and pay the readers to give constructive feedback even when the script is way off the mark. And when a script is good, they shouldn't be forced to make up content just to fill an arbitrary page count of feedback.

As a writer and a person, I want honesty not sugar-coated b.s or even gimmicky toying with scores as Jason says.

Lisa Penner Dang

I'm thinking it's The Blacklist. I had one of mine evaluated and it was crazy clear they never read it. They compared it to a popular series that mine was the total opposite of. I felt like I just paid my 20 year old son to evaluate it that hates reading.

Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal"

I'm not a fan of whoever it is. And, they'll not get me Lucky Charms.

CJ Walley

I work with a lot of coverage providers through Script Revolution and there's a sort of unofficial ranking of services within the industry from overly harsh to overly charitable. A recommend in one might not be seen as impressive as a consider in another.

That said, good quality coverage sold to amateur screenwriters as pseudo-feedback absolutely should be as motivating as possible. I connect with a lot of refugees from a certain site (I think we all know which one) who have nearly given up because the reader's tone has been so demeaning.

Adrian Akeem Sterling

I've never heard of that one before but I'll check it out!

Katyayani Kumar

Oh, yes. I've heard of this before. Had someone who does this for a living come to my production class to give some tips, and he said "Don't recommend every script you get. Companies don't like that. Very rarely should you recommend a script." So my classmates asked him what they should do if they get two genuine good screenplays back to back. Not recommend them? So he smiled and said, "You'll be considered better at your job if you pass more scripts than you recommend." My classmates were going to be interns in script coverage that summer. By the end of the class, they said "Yeah, we'll just give a pass on most of them." And that's how it starts. It was so disappointing.

Cara Rogers

Penner Dang, I hearted your comment but definitely don't love you went through that! I paid for coverage by someone that obviously hadn't read the script -- told me I should include details that were clearly there -- and suggested additions that were not historically correct. But I will say even bad coverages taught me things about the industry, such as what we're warned about in this post. For instance, in the beginning I naively thought coverage added to a competition submission would give me insights into the judges' thoughts. Didn't realize it was a totally different reader, and maybe one with little experience.

Scott Sawitz

There's a reason why there's only a certain amount of high scores; they always have you chasing it, spending money. Look at a certain coverage service where a number is what everyone pursues: only a small amount can get it because they need that guy who buys 5-6 reviews of his script to keep the lights on

Melanie Star Scot

Jason Mirch - Thank you! This is incredibly eye-opening!! But WHY? What is the advantage for these companies to shoot down people's work? Is it being mandated from "the big guys"?

Vikki Harris

Thank you for sharing. Sometimes, I do think there is a lot of shadiness going on in all aspects of the industry.

Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal"

Also, beware of Greeks bearing gifts. I mean, look what happened at Troy; just sayin'.

(The above statement doesn't represent the views of this fine establishment and is not meant to disparage the Greek civilization. Look, the Trojan war was a long time ago) and folks evolve. Peace out!

Tracy David Sim

Thank you, Jason. At least someone admitted it. The industry has always been hard to access. Words like 'closed shop' and 'Catch 22' describe an industry that's never been comfortable with outsiders. It's always been like this. And it should be hard, companies should be careful, and writers should be doing multiple rewrites before showing work. My sense is that it's gotten much worse in the last few years and the pandemic has exacerbated this greatly. The number of reasons why the proverbial 'they' won't read or can't read gets more elaborate. And that's just to get read. If you do get read, you get the quick pass that makes you wonder if it ever was read. And I honestly don't think it's that easy anymore for agents, managers or people who are connected. It's a systemic issue. Sadly, it looks increasingly like a future of more sequels, remakes and rehashes with new ideas from new voices on the sidelines. It seems to be becoming an industry run by numbers people, analytics, modeling, financial forecasting based on IP recognition and things it shouldn't be soley run by. The question becomes, what can be done about this? Who should be trusted? I don't know, but I'm going to put on my little red afro and keep singing, tomorrow..

Phillip E. Hardy, "The Real Deal"

Tracy:

Well said. In rewatching Better Call Saul, I realized folks like Vince Gilligan, Matthew Weiner, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are rare, and the abundance of unoriginal, recycled storytelling is a sad commentary on the hard-wired, philistine, woke mentality of the entertainment industry. I’ve been creating original stories with diverse characters for years and not in a contrived way. I did it because I drew from the well of my vast experience and interaction with the human race, often disappointed but occasionally blissful.

Vikki Harris

Well said Tracy David Sim. If I hear about one more prequel/sequel, remake, rehash, I am going to pull all my hair out. It's just not fair; especially, when there is so much new content and new material just waiting to be produced.

Lisa Isaacson

What is the motivation? So we keep re-submitting and they make more money?

Danny Manus

Look, there is the flip side of this, which i have heard and experienced as well. Which is... give them glowing coverage. Give them all the positives and let them think theur script is Better than it actually is, because if they think their script is ready, they are more likely to purchase pitch sessions or start submitting to our contests... even though theyre not ready. BOTH practices are bad. But id rather have someone score me low and give me notes, forcing me to resubmit, than have someone score me high and try to sell me on the next step, when my script still needs work.

Tracy David Sim

I think it's always going to be about money that the end product can make. And if the approach that I seem to complain about didn't work, they wouldn't do it. The fact that it does work means this isn't going away anytime soon. They've seemingly engineered their way around William Goldman's famous quote: "Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one.” And I also agree with a lot of what this thread is talking about too. Bringing this back to Jason's main point of this thread about industry coverage, I do also think the proliferation of contests and the helping profession in general has to be individually scrutinized. It would be unfair to say it's all bad because it isn't. I'm not personally a fan of third party evaluations, only because I think notes and ideas for changes should happen inside engagement with a producer, production company or party when there is a committment. If we're engaged, I love notes and willingly work with them in the spirit of this being a collarborative art. The issue is that it's a very narrow pipeline so the gatekeepers have to chase almost everyone away. There are just so many scripts, way too many scripts out there. The future for spec writers might be to consider inventive presentation techniques like audio dramas of a script, PDF look books with visuals, scene samples, and embedded audio with selected scenes that are maybe dramatized. The only thing I know is that I can't afford all these tantalizing options for exposure so I default to an agonizing amount of written refinement.

Doug Nelson

Nor is there any shortage of paranoia.

Mitch Brennan

That's alarming. If the feedback is focused on the technical (format etc) aspects of your script you should step back and take a good look at what you are doing, maybe apply some corrective action and accept it as a learning/growth opportunity. If the coverage consultant has a dig at the fundamentals of your writing style, consider any feedback and decide if the comment is valid or they simply don't get the tone, mood etc YOU want. It's your story, invent your own future even if that means reinventing script writing. Keep writing.

Brian Lajeunesse

I like what Mitch said. Just keep writing. (Cue the Finding Dory) im sure that Tarantino’s coverage would have said “Too wordy, scenes don’t make sense and drag on.” I’m doing my thing… but with the idea that it also needs to be attractive to producers etc and be marketable. Years ago I heard about how difficult it would be to be in this business… and I’m sure it’s just gotten worse. The writing is half of the coin… the other being the ability to get it in someone’s hands that can actually help get your story made… not make money off you chasing your dream.

register for stage 32 Register / Log In