By: Laura Huie
As any writer will tell you, solid, actionable feedback from a professional coverage service is critical for creating a stronger, more successful script. But with so many different coverage services out there nowadays, it can be difficult to choose which service best fits your specific needs (and offers the most bang for your buck).
Shore Scripts’ coverage service provides writers with valuable feedback for taking scripts to the next level. Patty Papageorgiou, a screenwriter and former post-production coordinator in film and television, serves as our Coverage Service Manager for Shore Scripts. We talked to Patty about how our coverage services have evolved in the past year.
Read on to learn about the exciting new developments in our coverage service.
Annual Statement of Transparency
This is the first year our team at Shore Scripts has published the Transparency Report, having worked on a year-long program, including a review of our scoring guidance, scoring categories, complaints procedures, contact points, staffing, and more—all to improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at Shore Scripts.
“I think [the Transparency Report] fits with Shore’s ethos of supporting writers’ development in an all-inclusive manner. The statement aims to also help writers make an informed decision when considering entering our contests or asking for coverage, so they know if their investment suits their particular needs.
It is also important, and beneficial to writers to have access to information about our reader team (anonymously of course), so they have an understanding of the diverse range of professionals who are assessing their work.” – Patty Papageorgiou
Women of Color Unite (WOCU) is a social action organization focusing on fair access, fair treatment, and fair pay for women of color in all aspects of the entertainment and media industries. The call for greater transparency and accountability in TV and feature film screenwriting competitions, labs, fellowships, and coverage services includes making information about the demographics of readers and the judging process readily available, as well as requiring readers to receive sensitivity training.
Shore Scripts is the first screenwriting contest to sign-up for the initiative that aims to support TV and feature film writing organizations to become more inclusive, thereby expanding media representation to reflect the diversity of our world.
Click here to see our 2022 Annual Transparency Report.
Expansion of Coverage Services
In the past year, Shore Scripts has expanded our coverage services to more than just a comprehensive review of a finished TV or film script. We now offer additional services for treatments, the first 10 pages of a script, and proofreading.
“Treatments were something that writers had enquired about in the past, which highlighted it as something there was a need for. Sometimes writers do not have a full script yet, but a treatment for their idea, which can be used to attract interest for the script to then be written. Just as with screenplays, it is helpful for writers to get an evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment as a selling tool.
The first 10 pages of a script can be crucial in capturing a reader’s interest. So it’s helpful to writers to know if their opening pages do a good job of setting up the vital elements to keep the pages being turned.
As for proofreading, presentation is everything—typos may always manage to make it into a draft, but if they are consistent this can be off-putting to a reader and disrupt the experience of reading the script. Of course, writers will and do check over their stuff, but a second pair of eyes always brings a fresh look and will spot things that have been missed.” – Patty Papageorgiou
