An excerpt from my script review for Den of Thieves which will be available 01/29/18:
5.) Format
One of the best compliments you can receive as a writer, aside from having your script optioned and/or purchased, is being told it was a fast read.
Think of your day to day life or job.
There are bound to be tasks you actually enjoy doing, even if you have to.
That’s what a quick read is for a reader!
You’re giving them a story they’re so invested in that the pages are flying by with at least partial enjoyment. They may not be impressed enough to buy your story, but they’ll respect the fact that you respected their time telling it.
All the things I usually harp on in this section will most likely be forgiven if you accomplish this single goal, make your script a quick read.
This doesn’t mean an inferior page count. It doesn’t mean leave out critical information.
You cover all the bases the reader needs to comprehend your story, but in a minimalistic style.
Carrying over from the previous section, elect for as much white space as possible and only give the action and description that is necessary to the plot.
All the typos, song references, angles, etc. will be overlooked if your reader arrives to Fade Out in a timely manner.
This 125 page script took a long time to get through, with yours truly taking zero breaks, naps, or pauses.
If I didn’t have to finish it for this review, I would have stopped early yielding a “Not for me” rating.
That said, there were a decent number of typos.
Mainly it felt like the script was typed too quickly without a good proofread.
Fat vs. far. Hands vs. hangs. Stared vs. started.
Stuff like that. Not the biggest problem, but confuses a reader enough to require rereading the line a second time for clarification.
And then the main one that continued to bug me throughout the script was “fucken” instead of “fuckin”.
The latter was actually used once, and I’m at a loss if “fucken” is some kind of Los Angeles slang or something I’m not cool enough to know about.
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