John August got his start as a script reader, if I recall correctly.

Best advice you ever gave me was to read scripts, really good scripts. The great ones. And then read them again.

Josh, I can't tell you how many articles I've read where screenwriters had decided to try their hand at writing a screenplay in the first place because they had been scripts readers and were disgusted at the scripts they read, most of them utter crap. Basically, "Hell, I can write better than that!"

And I think you're right about August starting out as a script reader.