An excerpt from my script review for The Duff which will be available 03/23/15:
1.) Marketability of the Idea
It makes sense that we spend a little time with this topic.
When writing a script, it’s important to ask yourself, “Who’s my audience?” Your answer should be clearly defined.
First and foremost, if you answer, “I only write for me, and don’t care if I ever sell a script.” Stop reading. Congrats on being a true artist and telling society to fuck off.
However if you want to get paid and answered:
“Everyone.” “Guys.” “Girls.” “Ages 15-65.”
All too broad of answers.
Will everyone who enjoys your script be from the same demographic, absolutely not, but you should have a relatively good answer to the above question, especially if you’re planning to stray from the often dependable 18-40 male demographic. (I may have bumped that age up a bit on the back end, since yours truly keeps getting closer and closer to that dreaded number.)
Difficulties kept popping into my head as I read this script.
It wasn’t raunchy enough to be the next generation American Pie, yet it was just raunchy enough that it didn’t fit the bill of say, a Mean Girls. Meaning I would take my daughters if they were tweens. (Thank goodness I still have a few years left there!)
I applaud the theme in the story of challenging what we, as society, define as the standard of beauty.
Unfortunately this script can’t also then challenge what we define as comedy by not making the plot funny.
The jokes I did come across were either cheesy, silly, or just plain dull. I honestly did not LOL a single time, and I’m the guy who was pretty amused by Dumb and Dumber To so it’s not like I’m an elitist.
The point I hope you take away here is simple, if your idea can’t be sold to a bankable audience then your script doesn’t stand a chance of being purchased.
Of course, all of this is negated for one simple fact, The Duff is based on a best selling novel. And since preexisting audiences give Hollywood a boner, no matter how big or small (the audience, not the boner), you could write practically however you want and someone will want it.
(Killer return, so either they fixed the final script, or preexisting audiences are the way to go, in which case write a book first.)
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And be sure to check out our Notes Service, where I give my detailed thoughts and suggestions on your script.
