Film Courage: When you’re reading screenplays from unknown writers, how far into the screenplay
do you know whether it’s good or bad?
Naomi Beaty, Writer, Screenwriting Teacher and Consultant: I think problems can show
up very easy in a script, but they don’t always. Some scripts have a great set-up,
they have a great first act and they have the right pace right away, they get the story
rolling, and we feel like things are happening, we’re invested and then in Act 2 things
fall apart basically like if their protagonist stops pursuing the goal, we don’t really
know what’s going on. I guess the answer is if a script has global problems that sort
of cover the entire script then you will problem know within the first five pages or so. Definitely
I think if it has major structural problems with all the structure, overall structure
as a whole, I would say by page 15 or so you know that there’s a problem because you’re
waiting for something to happen and one of the most common problems is that nothing is
happening, like it’s just not getting going. I would say you can know right away…you
can know pretty quickly that a script has some issues or needs some work. But I would
say you can’t always tell what a script or often you can’t tell what a script’s
issues are until later, until you’ve seen sort of what they are trying to accomplish
or gotten a true sense of like what the story really is or what they’re going for and
a lot of times you don’t have that sense of what they’re going for until later in
the script, until towards the end of Act 2 at least.
Film Courage: So that probably sheds light on the need for really having your script
in good shape before you submit it and it’s not your personal thing it’s more of an
industry standard that if something within the first few pages isn’t good it’s just
going to be rejected for time’s sake.
Naomi: Yes, I will say usually when I’m reading a script I’m reading it to help.
I’m reading it to try and figure out what isn’t working and see where I can provide
that insight to the writer so that they can make it better. A lot of people in the industry
as you know are not reading for that purpose, they’re looking for projects that they want
to get involved in and so since you’re submitting your script you are sort of asking someone
to get involved in your project. Hopefully what you’ve submitted will get them excited
and interested right away so you want to be able to get them interested on Page 1, get
them sort of hooked in the story by that inciting incident, build and escalate your story sort
of throughout the rest as the character’s pursuing that goal so that your reader is
invested and emotionally engaged and all that stuff through the whole thing and then you
want to deliver like some emotionally satisfying resolution and hopefully some genuine emotion
by the end of the story as well so that they (the reader) comes away from your script moved
and/or entertained in some way that they want to get involved and help you make it.
Film Courage: If we look back at let’s say the recording industry they would say put
the best three songs upfront first because some A & R person (I don’t really know too
much about the music industry) but I just remember hearing they are going to be listening
to those first three songs and if by maybe one or two in it’s not good, it goes in
a bad pile.
Naomi: Although the sort of flip side of doing that I guess there’s a lot of emphasis placed
on making sure that your first 10 pages is so good and really hooky and grabs your reader,
which is great. Of course you want to do that but I have ready scripts where it was very
clear that the first 10 pages were really worked on and then after that there were clear
issues that still hadn’t been addressed and so you don’t want that either. You want
a great strong start that hooks your reader but then you want to deliver on what you’ve
promised them. You want them to become emotionally invested and to stay engaged all the way through
and to really care about the outcome and to feel something at the end.
Film Courage: Interesting, so then you can’t really cheat it where you’re like I’m
going to make these 10 pages the top three songs of the album and then it turns out that
the rest of the script is all just B-side stuff that no one wants to listen to and that’s
going to bite you in the end too?
Naomi: Yes, I don’t think you can do that because the purpose of making your first 10
pages really, really strong is to get someone to read the rest of it, right? So the rest
of it has to be worth reading, too.
Question For The Viewers: How many pages does it take you to detect a bad screenplay?