Gavin Polone‘s weekly column in Vulture answers the beloved screenwriting question, “Who is reading my script?”
It’s old news that high-level executives don’t typically read every script submitted to them. Instead, their lower level execs or their assistants or interns read the material. And Polone points out that this actually can make some sense - the upper echelonians tend to be outside the hot demo of 18-44, and as such, they want to know what appeals to that demo. What better way than to have assistants and low level execs sift through the material? He insinuates that it’s not that the assistants know nothing about making movies; rather, their taste is what defines popular movies.
And of course, there is a little bit of division of labor. The least important tasks go to the least important people. It’s key to remember that reading a script is the least important task on a Hollywood desk, unless that script has some serious weight behind it. So many scripts are terrible that nothing will come from reading them except crossed eyes and a little bit of fury. If your script is amazing and the next big thing, it will most certainly rise in the task ranks and make it to the right desk. But until you’re somebody, you’re nobody, and Hollywood executives and reps have to service the people they are directly working with, who are already in a position to bring in money.
And to be fair to low level execs, assistants, and interns - reading your script isn’t always highest on their list of priorities, either. They have a ton to read - the scripts their bosses are actually reading, so they can be up to speed with the actual day to day projects on their desk; the scripts their bosses want to read but don’t have time for (scripts from reps with a good reputation, scripts from close friends, scripts from clients’ friends, scripts recommended by someone they’re doing business with; the hottest scripts on the market, so they can a)be part of the larger Hollywood conversation and b)make sure their boss has to enough to go off in his or her Hollywood conversations (Random Exec A, at drinks: Did you read WHITE HOUSE DOWN? Random exec B: “Totally overrated, they paid $3 mil for that?” Exec A: I know, but I hear he totally kicked ass on Spiderman [Note: we haven't read the script yet, and the buzz so far is not negative, that was an imagined scenario]); AND FINALLY scripts from aspiring writers who make it to their desk, or scripts from writers with less than reputable reps. And it’s not like reading is all they do. Assistants are on the phones, scheduling meetings, tracking submissions, tracking projects. Low level execs are tracking projects, making lists, giving notes, finding material. Reading usually happens after the work day ends - people bring a few scripts home and spend the night reading them while catching up on TV, watching movies, and going to drinks. As for interns - they mostly have to read scripts, but they tend to be slower at it and they aren’t full-time enough to get through an entire pile. Plus, they’re more likely to start with the priority scripts (recommended by someone a higher up knows) than unsolicited submissions.
Working in Hollywood is more than a full time job, and random scripts become the least important part of anyone’s day. That’s why the material has to be OUTSTANDING to get any traction. When an assistant comes home after a ten hour day and a two hour drinks and grabs some random food and settles into his or her script reading even though all he wants to do is catch up on NEW GIRL or write her own script or get busy with his girlfriend or sleep or what have you, and emerges from the task saying, “This is great,” the high level execs know it’s probably is worth their time. So your script has to be better than all those other time-spending options in order to get the assistant to feel like recommending your script to their equally if not more busy boss.
The bottom line is, if you want a higher-up to read your unsolicited script, it has to be better than a good lay. So don’t send it out - and don’t have your rep send it out - until it is.
