There is a lot to learn about the screenwriting industry. You’ll learn through books, courses, tutorials, guides, and good trial and error of sitting down and writing. But there’s no better screenwriting education than writing script coverage as an industry script reader/story analyst, intern, assistant, or junior development executive.
With that in mind, here we briefly discuss what script coverage is and dive into the benefits screenwriters can gain by writing script coverage.
What is script coverage?
Script coverage is a comprehensive analysis provided by a script reader for a script or TV series and is an important tool for production companies, studios, streamers, networks, management companies and agencies to evaluate scripts.
The report usually includes a summary of the script, an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, and a recommendation on whether it should be considered for purchase and production.
Coverage reports typically consist of several key components:
- Summary: A brief but compelling summary of the screenplay’s core premise.
- summary: A detailed overview of a plot, usually broken down by behavior.
- notes: In-depth analysis covers aspects such as structure, character development, dialogue, pacing, and marketability.
- grade: Final evaluation, including a rating or recommendation of “Pass,” “Consider,” or “Recommend.”
Read more: Script Coverage, Annotations, and Feedback: What’s the Difference?
Benefits of Writing Script Coverage
Writing scripted coverage has many benefits and can improve your skills as a screenwriter. indeed this Being a screenwriter is the best education you can get.
Script coverage helps analyze your scripts in different ways
Writing script coverage means you’re asked to break down a script into its essential components. You will evaluate elements such as plot structure, character arcs, dialogue, and pacing.
This analysis exercise can improve your ability to identify what works and what doesn’t in your script. As you dissect your script, you become better at spotting strengths and weaknesses, which in turn affects your own writing. This is what most screenwriters lack—the ability to transcend the subjective view of their own work and look at the script through a more objective lens.
If you want to become a professional screenwriter, you need to be able to look at your own work from a more objective perspective. This is how you grow as a screenwriter. The ability to notice the objective strengths and weaknesses of your own screenplay will help you on your screenwriting journey.
Read more: 5 things screenwriters should learn when watching movies
Expose you to different styles and genres
When you’re a script reader, or an intern, assistant, or junior executive responsible for reading scripts and writing stories, you’ll be reading a lot of different types of scripts.
Reading and analyzing such a wide range of scripts exposes you to different storytelling techniques, styles, and genres. This position will provide you with exposure and broaden your understanding of how to make a script work in different contexts.
By understanding various types of successes and failures, you’ll gain a versatile toolkit that you can apply to your own writing projects.
Professional screenwriters need to have diverse abilities. While it’s great to have a niche that allows you to be the go-to writer on certain projects, most studios, streamers, networks, and production companies want writers who can “play” in many different sandboxes .
Understand the script market through script coverage
When you write a screenplay story, you’ll often be asked to conduct an analysis of the screenplay’s marketability.
Factors such as target audience, business potential, and industry trends need to be shared with development executives and producers. When you do this type of work, you gain a deep understanding of what the market is looking for. This knowledge can help you customize your script to make it more attractive to producers and executives, thereby increasing your chances of success.
In short, it gives you an advantage that most other screenwriters don’t have.
Improve your storytelling skills
Writing reports forces you to think critically about story elements such as plot, themes, and character motivations. You’ll learn to recognize and articulate why certain story choices work and others fail.
This critical thinking translates into stronger storytelling skills as you become more aware of the narrative choices you make in your scripts.
Read more: Ronda Rousey reminds you why script coverage is a screenwriter’s best tool
Script coverage can improve your overall screenwriting skills
As you analyze dialogue, scene building, and pacing in other scripts, you’ll naturally become more attuned to these elements in your own writing.
You can learn a lot by watching how other writers handle exposition, conflict, and resolution. You can learn from what writers do and what they do wrong. This can help you perfect your technique and create more polished and eye-catching scripts.
You can learn from what works and what doesn’t
By far the best learning experience in writing scripted coverage is being able to learn from what works and what doesn’t in the scripts you analyze.
Generally speaking, as a script reader, about 95% of the scripts you read will be easy to pass. 4% will be above average. Maybe 1% will be outstanding. But within every percentage, you’ll find what works and what doesn’t.
Even a bad script may have sequences or concepts that stand out—all of which you can learn from. Yes, even great scripts have flaws and you can learn from them.
It’s easy to become blind to script problems when you’re only reading the script during the writing and rewriting process. When you start writing scripted reporting, you’ll quickly begin to focus on more objective issues and then apply them to your own writing.
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Writing scripted coverage can help you internalize the elements of successful storytelling to create more polished, marketable scripts in your own work.
Script reporting is more than just an assignment, it’s an educational journey that sharpens your skills and broadens your horizons as a script reader/story analyst and screenwriter.
If you have the chance, find an opportunity to accept the role of a script reader, dive into the world of script analysis, and watch your writing skills soar to new heights.
Read more: How to become a Hollywood script reader
Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.
As a production writer, he participated in numerous studio meetings with companies such as Sony, DreamWorks, Universal Pictures, Disney, Warner Bros., and numerous production and management companies. He previously signed a development deal with Lionsgate and has had several writing assignments, including starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haley ·The miniseries “Blackout” starring Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric LaSalle and Bruce Bucklina. Follow Ken on Twitter @ken电影and Instagram @KenMovies76.
