An excerpt from my script review for The Old Man and the Gun which will be available 02/18/19:
5.) Format
If I’m counting them all correctly there were 6 revisions.
Now, that’s not a horrible thing, but this is an FYC script.
Take that out of the equation for a moment, and argue you’re not looking to win some sort of award for “Best Screenplay” (at least not yet). Say you’re pitching this script to a producer who has agreed to read it.
Worst case, they see 131 pages and toss your script, deeming it too long to justify their time.
Best case, they read the script, and find out instead of 131 full pages, you have a high number of pages left mostly blank due to revisions. That’s a sign of laziness considering you’re using a digital format to write.
Negative points either way, and now your story’s fighting an uphill battle. This becomes an even harder challenge if your script has been thrust upon an assistant or intern! They’re giving up what precious weekend time they have and you couldn’t even be courteous enough to format it properly?
Please don’t do this. Revising your script making the necessary changes that strengthen your story is encouraged, but do it in such a way that your script doesn’t included unnatural whitespace.
Want EARLY access to our videos, uploads, and movie/script reviews? Members get them FIRST! Follow this link to our Discussion Forum.
And be sure to check out our Notes Service, where I give my detailed thoughts and suggestions on your script.
