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If you're a new screenwriter, you may wonder what readers look for in a script. If you're like many, you've taken to the internet to get some opinions from Seasoned Professionals Who Know Better, but found a whole lot of bad advice and BS about the mystical "special sauce". 1/
Listen, friends. Lesson 1: nobody is forcing you to take free advice from strangers on the internet. Me included. This is just a bit of my own POV from a few years of reading for various contests (some of them, paid 
), and winning a couple myself. Critical thinking skills. 2/
), and winning a couple myself. Critical thinking skills. 2/
Also, different contests have different criteria. Readers for prodco's have different criteria from contests. Don't worry about that shit. Worry about telling a great story. Seriously. That's it. But wtf does that mean, tangibly? 3/
In every blog you've ever read, you've invariably seen some version of the unquantifiable special sauce/secret formula/magical pixiedust comment when folks try to explain what separates a great script from a sea of good. "You just know when you see it". But it is quantifiable. 4/
Most of the time, it's CONCEPT. Here's the thing: you can do everything right, solid structure, seamless flow, engaging characters, technical fucking perfection -- and it can still be meh to read. Concept, or your unique angle into the story, is the good stuff. Let's discuss. 5/
I don't mean "high concept", which is another bullshitty term people use when they don't quite know what else to say. I mean telling us the same story we've been told a zillion times, but from a totally new angle. It's that simple, and it's that hard. Because we read a LOT. 6/
A unique concept is not a gimmick, y'all. Gender swapping a famous literary character without taking into consideration how that would actually change that character's entire outlook is not going to work for you, friend. It's transparent, it's lazy, and it's usually offensive. 7/
I once read a script where the writer tried to Hamilton a very famous Confederate by making him black. Interesting idea, and could work if done right, but this person did not do it right. The character was still pro-slavery, used the N-bomb a lot, and assassinated a President. 8/
Why? Why would you do that? Because this writer confused gimmick with concept. They took what could have been a complex story about race relations in America (black folks didn't like Lincoln either), and grotted it hard. They were also trend chasing, which brings me to COVID. 9/
Do not, I repeat, do not write a fucking COVID script right now. I promise you are not going to do it well enough for me, the reader, to put aside my own social trauma and think, "hey, what a unique and thrilling fictional premise". Same for nameless global pandemics. Stop. 10/
Plus, it's not separating you from the pack as much as you think it is. For one of the major contests I am reading for this year, nearly *half* of the scripts I've read fail the COVID test. HALF. If I read one more COVID story, I will lose it. Which brings us to timing. 11/
Timing is key when you're talking about concept. Because guess what: some of those COVID scripts might work... in 5 years. When they will be unique in the throng of whatever other trend is happening then (hopefully happy, shiny utopian love stories). Remember Fleabag? I do. 12/
The instant Fleabag came out, I was flooded with scripts that break the fourth wall. Friends, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a treasure, and broke a "rule" effectively, but that doesn't mean she changed the shape of storytelling and all shows must now break the fourth wall. It means 13/
she found a unique concept that nobody else will get away with for a very long time. The clock has reset on the self-aware narrator thing. So why are you trying to replicate it? That shit is gimmicky as hell. Put it in a drawer and take it out again when the timing is right. 14/
Okay, so how does one find a great concept that will blow my face off and make me smash that "recommend" button? (Just kidding. There is no recommend button. Sorry to crush your dreams.) That's the unquantifiable part. 15/
Because when a writer gets it right, you forget you're reading and you feel the story rather than analyzing every "we see", because they found something so simple and effective that it makes you jealous you didn't think of it first. But HOW? 16/
Full transparency, I struggle with this myself. We all do. But here are some considerations:
-Tell a totally unique story nobody has ever seen or heard in the history of humankind, and do it well. If you do that, I guarantee, you have my attention.
-Subvert expectations. 17/
-Tell a totally unique story nobody has ever seen or heard in the history of humankind, and do it well. If you do that, I guarantee, you have my attention.
-Subvert expectations. 17/
Understand the screenwriting "rules" well enough to play with them. Lead us down a path (because we know the rules, too), then pull the rug out.
-Social commentary. Change aspects of character identities *with intent*. If you upend the person, you also upend their world. 18/
-Social commentary. Change aspects of character identities *with intent*. If you upend the person, you also upend their world. 18/
-Familiar IP with a twist. Some famous ancient guy said there are, like, four stories and everything else is derivative. Search well-known stories in the public domain (IP), study which elements are canon, and use those elements to tell it from a new angle (twist). 19/
-Study. If you don't know Plato's four cognitive states, or Aristotle's poetics, or why people think Ayn Rand is a fuck, you should. Storytelling is all about the human condition, and philosophy is how we make sense of the human condition. It's the foundation of character. 20/
-Ask a big question you don't know the answer to. This is vital. Scripts are not essays. Scripts are a writer in conversation with themselves about life, love, grief, the nature of conscience, and what hot dogs are made out of. What existential mystery keeps you up at night? 21/
Now what if it was a vampire struggling with that question? What about a small child? What if another character disagrees? Your personal approach to this internal argument is the basis of telling the story that only you can tell, as well as the key to tapping the "universal". 22/
If you've read this far, I'm proud of you. You might have what it takes to be a reader. If you're a skimmer and jumped to the end, you definitely have the right stuff. TL;DR: concept is everything. (Good timing + meaningful perspective - trendiness = concept.) Happy writing! /23
