Hey everyone, I was just reading posts from S32'ers who were confused when they received conflicting coverage from Spec Scout. I don't mean to single out Spec Scout as there are many S32'ers who post in the Lounge about getting conflicting notes from coverage services. How many "everyone passes for a different reason" posts have you seen in the Lounge? A lot, right? By definition, simple coverage is a "blunt" instrument, not a sharp instrument. Simple coverage is rather "one size fits all," in which there is no one-on-one interaction to inform the process, whereas, a script consultant includes tailor-made meetings. To those who are frustrated by receiving conflicting notes or conflicting reasons for a pass, here are 3 posts you should consider in tandem: 1) My previous post - https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/How-to-Interpret-a-Pass-Per... - One point herein is that pros may or may not give you the real reasons why they are passing. If they're not giving you the real reasons, it's hard for you to use a generic reason to inform your development strategy. They might simply give you a generic pass because they don't want to hurt your feelings, and they don't want to burn bridges. A generic, innocuous pass is often a safe way to not burn bridges. Just like dating, "it's not you, it's me," or "I like you, but I have too many things up in the air in my life to focus on a relationship." 2) An epic thread about script consultants - https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Script-consultant-or-script... - In this thread, I discuss extensively why a quality script consultation and likewise a quality script consultant will ask about your intent for your career and your market intent for that particular script BEFORE formulating a TAILOR-MADE strategic approach for the notes session(s) they have with you. A quality script consultant knows the current market and how you might fit into that market. This applies to writers who are trying to break into the mainstream market, not to writers who are trying to make completely indie movies without market support in casting, financing, etc. If you're completely indie, you don't need a script consultant who knows the market. You need a story expert who can help you improve your craft and deliver the best version of the story you want to tell, whatever that may be. If you're playing IN the mainstream market, then you want to hire a script consultant who understands the CURRENT market, can help you and your script find a place in that market, and can help draw out the best version of your story in craft and creative merit. 3) This post. First, for all the true newbies, script coverage is not the same as script notes or script consulting. I'll let you search the Lounge for all the existing posts describing the difference. Here's why coverage services often provide conflicting feedback. Let's say you hire a coverage service for $100-200 that promises 3 different reads and 3 different coverage reports. None of those readers is having, for example, a one-hour meeting with you to learn your intent and to pose different paradigms as suggestions for possible ways that you might move forward. They read the script blind. So how can they advise you properly when they haven't met with you? They can't; they can only provide rather generic feedback. Here's an alternate example. In my opinion, this is how a "real" quality script consultation should go. -Script consultant (SC) reads the script. -SC contacts the writer. Two things can happen. The SC either understood the intent, or he didn't: -Example 1. "Hey, I think you intend to market this script and to market yourself as an R-rated comedy writer, right? This script is like WEDDING CRASHERS, right? A comedy first, with some rom com elements?" OK, we're on the same page, and the SC knows how to guide the script development and your career development. -Example 2. I'm going to use an extreme example. "Hey, sorry to say I had trouble understanding your intent. You told me that you want to be a mainstream/studio comedy writer. However, this script reads like it doesn't know what it wants to be. It starts as a comedy/dramedy, but then in Act 2, your protagonist becomes suicidal. Thus, the script becomes a drama or maybe a dark comedy. That might work in the indie space, but it's not a studio movie. So do you want to write an indie dark comedy, an indie dramedy, or a mainstream comedy? We need to decide on a path that takes your intent into account, so we can properly develop your script and your career. See how different a script consult is from a simple coverage? Now I'm not saying there's no value in coverage. It can be helpful for you to read a "fresh eyes" perspective of your script. However, when it comes to the notes that coverage includes, those notes are one-sided (not the two-sided conversation of a script consult ), and the story analysts aren't taking your intent for your script and for your career into account because they haven't met with you. Therefore, 3 different coverage readers might interpret your script in 3 different ways, and give you different feedback, and none of them are able to give you feedback with your career intent in mind. I bet if your Spec Scout readers had a meeting with you, their 3 different sets of recommendations would come closer together, because now they know your intent. It's certainly possible that you've written a clear script in a clear genre (e.g. JAWS, TEXAS CHAINSAW, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, NOTTING HILL, etc.), and a coverage reader will be able to see that. But if your genre is a bit less clear, if the story you're trying to tell is a bit more complex, simple coverage may be too "blunt" and generic an instrument for you. You may need a more complex, multi-step process like that of a "real" script consultation. In any case, the quality and market-savvy of your reader is important.
Screenwriting : Why you get conflicting notes from coverage services by Regina Lee
Why you get conflicting notes from coverage services
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Thank you for writing this. I have been writing my first feature length screenplay and I have been having problems in which direction to take it. When my creative juices get going, it becomes difficult for me to write a clear script in a clear genre as you stated. My imagination is not clear, it is all over the place, but I know in order to sell my script it has to be clear.
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AMAZING insight as always. Thank you Regina!
Hi Tayla, the conflict and personal reflection you've posted about is a very common refrain for new writers. You're not alone. And your self-diagnosis is just what I'd want to hear.
Here's a relevant response I wrote to another thread: I would also bet that if your script were submitted to the major studios (all for-profit corporations with the same goal of trying to do well at the worldwide box office), and if the studio execs all took the time to give genuine feedback, the big picture headlines would all be pretty similar. The suggestions for HOW to achieve those headlines might be different. For example, when producer Playtone and writer/director Spike Jonze wanted to make Spike's very artsy version of Where the Wild Things Are, I bet every major studio said something like, "Can you make it more mainstream, fun, comic, and accessible for a family audience? This version is very cerebral, and we'd like to cater to families in Middle America more." I bet those big picture headlines were extremely similar. But I bet the "here's how you might achieve that" examples were different. In this case, you had an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and very influential producers who were ultimately given the room to make the movie they wanted to make, even though that version was more artsy than what the studios would have wanted for a big kids' book adaptation.