Script Editing Services

Preparing a script for readers

Movie and TV program producers are continually barraged with pitches for new production ideas, most of which are dismissed on the first page, or even at the “elevator pitch” stage, a brief summary so-named because it should summarize the concept being sold in the time it takes to ride an elevator from the ground floor to the producer’s office. Thus, any aspiring scriptwriter needs to carefully write and then rewrite their work until it is as “director-ready” as possible. As Robert McKee wrote, “Secure writers don't sell first drafts.

They patiently rewrite until the script is as director-ready, as actor-ready as possible. Unfinished work invites tampering, while polished, mature work seals its integrity.” If you have yet to secure a literary agent or publisher backing, your primary focus should be on that pitch, on making sure that you can get across the value of your idea succinctly yet impactfully. Here is where an editing service can step in and offer their expertise, not only going through and proofreading your work while also ensuring that it is set out in the preferred structure for the medium—different forms of production (film, TV, stage, etc.) have different requirements for a script such as stage directions and environment details—they can also offer advice on which areas, characters, or whole scenes are extraneous; it is important to know when to “kill your darlings” and to remove this requirement from your ego as a storyteller.

Character, motivation and clarity

Other ways that a script editing service can help include helping clarify character motivations, unify character motivations, and improve the logical flow of events. It also helps to draw from a pool with wider expertise; for example, it is scientific fact that an explosion would make no sound and produce no flame in space. However, an audience would require some form of experience they can understand or is familiar to them to grasp the danger and excitement of the event, so what can you do?

There could be an initial flash of escaping radiation, the crumpling of panels and jettisoning of debris, and perhaps most importantly, the human experience. Show what happens to the people nearby the disaster, show their reactions, have the audio be their radio communications. The opening scene of the film “Gravity” presents an excellent example of this, with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney trying to survive and escape as their craft in orbit around the Earth is pummelled with debris.

Note how the background music helps heighten and draw out the tension while the impacts are dull and almost entirely inaudible. While this was not perfectly scientifically accurate (Houston rarely broadcasts plays background music over official channels) and not as exciting or tense as it could have been with a few orange fireballs, cyborg space pirates, or a Cthulhu added into the mix, it finds an excellent middle ground that allows the audience enough wiggle room to suspend their disbelief without having to sit through the narrative equivalent of a ream of paperwork to get to the excitement.

Getting a script noticed

Returning to the crux of this essay, the main problem a new scriptwriter faces is getting their foot in the door right at the start. Alfonso Cuarón did not start his career with Gravity but instead as a technician helping produce Mexican TV. While taking a lower role to become an industry insider is often a good way to make your voice heard above the crowd, such efforts are greatly bolstered by consulting with an external script editing service. Writers must not become so enamoured with their idea that they refuse to hear any criticism of it as descending into a narcissistic echo chamber will ingrain bad ideas and poor development until they are inseparable from the work and the whole project has to be abandoned.

The first page of your script is often indicative of deeper problems—perhaps with the writing style or characterization—that can be resolved through consultation with an external agency. Friends and family can also help read over a script and offer advice but will generally lack the dispassionate impartiality and expertise of a professional script editing service.

The purpose of each scene

A good writer has to look at every scene in their script and ask themselves what its purpose is and be willing to remove anything extraneous without mercy. One classic example would be showing a man getting out of their car, walking up to a door, ringing the doorbell, waiting, and then starting to converse with the person who eventually answers the door. Does how the man acts inform us about his character? Is he nervously looking around in case he gets recognized, is he evaluating the house, such as how easy it might be to break in later?

Or could that whole scene just start when the door opens? These can be difficult questions to answer fully when a writer is too bound up in their work to view it objectively.

References

Alfonso Cuarón. (2020, August, 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alfonso_Cuar%C3%B3n&oldid=970598166

Cuarón, A (Director). (2013) Gravity [Film]. Heyday Films and Esperanto Filmoj.

McKee, R. (1997). Story: style, structure, substance, and the principles of screenwriting. Harper Collins.