I continue to find this interesting, but I don't buy that the readers come anywhere close to following all the guidance here. You would end up with an 8-page coverage document!

Crikey but this is fascinating stuff, Scott, really ... especially the skim section ... one thing I noted what when it asked, "was there anything unique about this" which I think is a very important note ... there needs to be at least one unique thing.

More please!

"I continue to find this interesting, but I don't buy that the readers come anywhere close to following all the guidance here. You would end up with an 8-page coverage document!"

They are usually 2 - 5 pages. 1-2 for synopsis. 1+ for comments. 1 for character breakdowns.

As I read more and more of these and the comments I am wondering why it seems like writers like to "fight" this. It is to your benefit to not only know this, but to write to this.

1) Typos are no big deal. This is a good thing. Stop having a panic attack every time you send in a script with a few grammatical errors. It really doesn't matter.

2) Writing the synopsis from memory -- this is a good thing for 2 reasons... 1) You get to know which moments stand out in a readers head. What are your stronger and weaker moments. 2) There are a ton of different people in this world with their own opinions -- sometime certain scenes hold more weight for some readers than others. This is nice to know. It helps YOU evaluate how you feel about your script. Helps YOU determine the strengths and weakness.

Remember coverage isn't the end all be all. It's just 1 person's opinion. Take it with a grain of salt and try and learn something from it. If it holds no value then don't. Real simple.

A thousand pardons Scott. Sometime Googling the incorrect answer only proves that many others like me have also made the same mistake. My face is ashen.

Great points, especially about the "minor" things like typos and grammatical mistakes. As I've said before, if you can't spell you won't sell. When I mean is that consistent spelling errors reveal a larger problem: caring more about "being a writer" than actually writing well -- part of which involves caring enough about the English language to use it correctly and with style.

Regarding pace, YES. It's a big concern of mine given that I write 100-page sequenced drafts. It's a bit like the Golden Mean -- I just really respond to the mathematics inherent in drafts of that length. As a result, I am constantly aware of pace while writing, and it's high on the list of things to focus on in rewrites (and as all good writers know, rewriting is where good scripts go to become great ones).