The Trouble with Script Readers

This morning in my social media feed, I came across two screenwriters bemoaning the quality of the notes they’d received from professional script readers.

One of the posts was lamenting that the reader gave feedback based on what they believed the script should be rather than what the writer was trying to achieve.

I see this come up often and I’ve experienced it myself, so let’s get into it…

‘My name is Legion; for we are many’ this quote from the Bible about demons popped into my head and it tickled me. Like demons -apparently- they come in many guises; script readers, script consultants, script editors, story editors, script doctors etc… but essentially we’re talking about people who you pay to provide feedback on your screenplay.

It would appear that there are lots of script consultants out there that take a prescriptive approach. What do I mean?

Rather than earnestly engaging with the material and trying to help the writer find their way to tell that specific story, they impose this or that paradigm or methodology as if one-size-fits-all.

In the past I’ve met and refused to work with two particularly well known script consultants -their names have been omitted to protect the guilty- but what were they guilty of? They wanted to apply a paradigm, something external to the script, and they wanted to do that rather than articulate with what was in my head and on the page.

So full confession, I’m both a screenwriter who has worked with script consultants and I also support other screenwriters as a script consultant. As a consultant, I always lead with questions about the writer’s intent. What are you wanting to achieve with this story? What is it about? Who are your audience? What do you want your audience to think and feel? Only when I understand this can I provide anything like meaningful and actionable notes to support the writer’s next steps.

So why do some script consultants want you to follow a cookie-cutter approach? Here’s some thoughts:

1. They’ve done it this way before and it was successful, they therefore believe they’ve found the winning recipe or they fear failure if they diverge from the gospel. Either way, they will defend it to the death.

2. The methodology comes from a well recognised screenwriting authority -don’t get me started on the cult of the screenwriting gurus- and therefore must be right, right?

3. They want to make their lives easier, it’s expedient for them to trot out the same platitudes time and time again rather than critically engage with your writing.

So what’s the takeaway here? Find someone who understands the craft as a multitude of possibilities rather than believing in universal and absolute screenwriting truths.

No one will invest in your script as much as you do, but a good script consultant will come close.

Happy hunting!