The story behind script coverage: Coverage Questions

A week or so ago, I received some feedback about this series: The Story Behind Script Coverage, which I ran in June 2009. The readers suggested I re-run the series, figuring that many GITS readers might have missed the original run. So each day at 11AM PST (U.S.) for the next eight days, I will break down one facet of what a script reader does per the actual coverage packet from an actual Hollywood agency. Today’s topic: Coverage Questions.

Related to yesterday’s topic, the “ICM Story Department — Coverage Department” doc follows with a section titled “Questions To Elaborate On When Writing Comments.” Here are the questions:

CONCEPT/STORY

-What is the script’s intention?
-How well does it fulfill that intention?
-What works, what doesn’t work, why?
-How strong is the concept?
-How well executed is the story?

STRUCTURE

-Does the pacing build effectively?
-Do the subplots enhance the main story?
-Are there scenes that should be eliminated?
-Does the script feel long? Does it feel short?
-Are there any scenes missing?
-Does the writer have a firm grasp on screen writing?

CHARACTERS

-Are the characters three-dimensional? Complex? Compelling? Interesting?
-Are they sympathetic? Motivated? Believable?
-What are the goals of the characters? Do they obtain these goals?
-Do the characters change throughout the script? What changes do they go through? Do they overcome obstacles? Do they develop relationships?

DIALOGUE

-If it’s humorous, is the humor effective? Is it good?
-Does the dialogue match the characters and the story?
-Is there too much dialogue? Is there more telling than showing?

ACTION/VISUAL/COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL

-Are there any particular production challenges? Special effects? Crowds? Elaborate sets?
-Can this be made into a movie?
-Will people want to see this movie?
-Is there commercial appeal?
-Why should someone consider making this film?

Okay, this is quite a list of questions. What can learn from them, individually and collectively? Instead of me pontificating, I’d rather hear from you:

* What insight do you get from assessing these questions?
* What do these questions tell you about the script coverage process?
* What the buyers are interested in?
* Any bits of ‘wisdom’ you should take away re how to approach screenwriting?

To me, there’s a lot here — and a couple of rather surprising pieces of subtext. But I’ll get to that after folks have had a chance to weigh in with their comments.

UPDATE: Now that folks have had a chance to comment, let me add two points. The first is something Alissa noted: Those critical questions — Can this be made into a movie? Will people want to see this movie? Is there commercial appeal? — that’s pretty much a case of burying the lede because these should be some of the first questions to raise. You can ask the question in a number of ways. For example, figuring the average price of a movie ticket is $6 and your movie will have a budget (including P&A) of $60M, the question becomes, “Is this script going to turn into a movie that causes 10 million people to get off their barcoloungers, drive to the theater, plunk down cash to see it?” Another thing you can do is try to envision the face of your target audience. If you can’t get a clear vision of that person, you may not know what type of movie you want to write.

The second thing I noticed is that these questions sound like they were written by someone who has taken some courses and read some books on screenwriting, and knows most of the necessary topics of consideration in assessing a script. But I get a pretty strong feeling that at the end of the day, this person does not really understand how a story works. And in fact, there are a lot of people in Hwood — execs, agents, producers, and yes, even readers — who don’t quite get ‘it.’ With an exec, it’s easy to tell as they’ll have comments like, “Just lose this subplot, it shouldn’t affect the overall plot,” when in fact, it changes everything. So with this document, when I read questions like, “Are there scenes that should be eliminated? Scenes that should be added?” or “Does the writer have a firm grasp on screen writing?”, that feels like someone picking at the edges of the script, not the substance. I’d rather ask questions like, “Does the Act Three final struggle resolve the primary question that’s established with the Protagonist in Act One” or “Is the Nemesis character a worthy foe to the Protagonist,” much more at the guts of the script.

Fortunately, execs and agents, producers and readers don’t need to understand the subtleties of story to know when they’ve read a great one. So once again, we come back to the prime directive: Write a great script. And everything else will take care of itself.

For the original post [June 23, 2009] and comments, go here.

Go here to download the coverage packet. Note: It is likely dated at this point. However the basic areas it covers re script coverage still pertain to how readers go about their business on a daily basis in Hollywood.”