Your portrait is grossly inaccurate. I don't live in North Hollywood.

I used to read hard copies until pretty much every company turned to emailing the PDFs. In all honesty, I found it easier to read the physical scripts as opposed to reading off my PC or laptop, but cost of paper and ink prevents me from doing so.

The thing about reading off the computer is that the temptation to let email, Twitter and anything else internet-related interrupt you is that much greater. This means that some readers will be even more prone to not being drawn into a so-so script.

Sometimes I take notes when I read, sometimes I wait until I've finished. The latter usually happens when I'm so drawn into the story I don't want to stop to write anything down. The former happens when I need a cathartic release from bad writing... until I get so frustrated I stop taking notes altogether.

Getting a good read is everything. When I finish a script, I might not know all the supporting evidence I'm going to cite one way or the other, but I know the verdict.

This questions sparked another question for me. I too read scripts off the laptop, but there was mention of scripts read on a kindle.

What is the process of getting scripts onto a kindle?

@TBSR: Oh, I forgot. You live in Bel-Air!

@Shea: John August and some IT minions have created an app that allows you to open and read Final Draft scripts on Kindle. He has a blog post about it here.

Easy as this little device, eh, Scott?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZboxMsSz5Aw

I Almost always read them on my Sony eReader (had it since before Kindles were invented) 'cos it reads just about any kind of text-based file ever invented and it's easy, plus no ink and paper costs, environmental impact or weight 'cos lets face it a couple printed scripts is not easy to carry around.

If I want to make notes I have a notepad and pen next to me while I read and I set aside the time to read the whole thing in one go. Scripts are meant to be experienced in one go - like films - so I don't feel it's fair to dip in and out, I make sure I have the two hours to spare.

KINDLE DX FOR LIFE YO

It really does make reading scripts easy. Just drop the pdfs on there via usb, or if you're feeling fancy, you can email them and they get delivered wirelessly by Amazon.

You need the screen real estate and the e-ink for readability. Only downside is that reading content like novels really doesn't feel right, so it's a really expensive script reader and nothing else.

But it's helped me greatly.

@Phil: Wow, that's almost frightening. Some day, someone will figure out a program to write stories. I mean good ones. Then we are all of us screwed.

Oh, forgot to mention - if I'm reading a finished draft of my own, I still print it out and make notes, etc. But for everything else - DX.

James said: "Oh, forgot to mention - if I'm reading a finished draft of my own, I still print it out and make notes, etc."

Absolutely. I will never dispense with that. It's one of my favorite experiences in life: editing my screenplay (and now books). Print it out, sit down in a great chair, my favorite pen, then go through it line by line. Got to have the feel of paper doing that.

Scott...isn't that amazing?!

And BTW, that was a very well written blog post. Very tight! Well done, sir.

Wow. Before I respond I have to say how cool it is to see my name on your website... ANYWAY! Your response was extremely helpful and I think I have a pretty good idea of how I'll read scripts from now on. Although if I'm allowed another inquiry, how do you and the other readers watch a movie with the script? Looking at the script on your laptop and then looking up to see the movie itself seems like a bad way to do it. But hey I'll try anything once.

@Alandre: In some ways, watching a movie while reading the script on an electronic device is easier, I find, than a printed copy. You just click to page down the screen. Of course, the light from the screen is bound to piss off people in the theater. And of course, when you want to pause the film, it's a real hassle to run up to the projectionist's booth, ask them to back up the film and...

Oh, watching a movie at home while reading the script. Now I get it! ;)

Seriously with the new version of Adobe, annotations in PDFs is easy.

I have a question for Adobe users. Let's say I just want to print out my annotations from a PDF. Can you do that and not have to print out the script pages, too?

I wish the NoteSlate device was real. It looks really cool and would be perfect for reading PDF scripts since it's letter-size and you could annotate with an electronic pen.

Unfortunately it's still in the development phase. Supposedly. People were debating whether or not this was a hoax.

http://www.noteslate.com/index02.htm