The Story Behind Script Coverage
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nueva_madreThe Story Behind Script Coverage
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nueva_madreThe story behind script coverage: Synopsis
Continuing with our analysis of the "ICM Story Department -- Coverage Packet," today
we look at Character Breakdowns:
1) TELL A STOR -- fter reading the script, take a moment to decide what the story
was essentially a!out" #our synopsis should not try to reproduce every detail$ %ust the
facts which the reader of your coverage will need to know in order to understand what&s
going on"
!) "RESE#T TE#SE -- 'he action should always !e written in the present tense" If
some o fhte story takes place in the past, then introduce the action with a phrase like(
")lash!ack to *+,-"" 'hen tell the *+,- action in the present tense" .hen that action is
over, move ahead in time !y using a phrase like, "/eturn to the present""
$) %#TRO&'C%#( "EO"LE A#& "LACES --.hen a person or place appears in
your synopsis for the first time, put his0her0its name in capital letters" )or characters,
give a !rief physical description and whatever else needs to !e said in order to esta!lish
his0her relationship to the story or other characters"
)) E*TRA &ETA%LS -- 1igh 2uality synopses include key, non-essential details
wherever such details will give the reader of the coverage a sense of the script&s
tone0style" 'his is not always necessary"""!ut in su!tler material, such e3tras may !e
essential"
4ow we can really !egin to see the agency&s mindset !y holding up a &mirror& to certain
key phrases and considering some of the assumptions in the description a!ove" .hat
can we learn5
6 'he first thing is to note how many principles we use -- as screenwriters -- script
readers are told to use in their coverage( Tell a story; Present tense; Use capitalization
when introducing characters; Script's tone/style. .hat does this suggest5 'hat the script
coverage is not merely a litany of story +acts, !ut should reflect the +ee- o+ the script
!eing covered" In other words, the coverage should come across like a mini-version of
the script !eing covered"
6 #ou&ve heard of novelizations, where a writer creates a short prose version of a script
in novel form5 .hat if we thought of script coverage as a .scripti-i/ation0. 7ecause
that&s what this doc is telling the script reader to do( Coverage should tell the script's
story, !e in present tense, intro and handle key characters, and convey the script's tone
and style.
* Doesn&t that strike you as a !ig challenge for the script reader5 nd this is precisely
where your script meets a !u88saw( 7ecause some script readers are good writers and,
therefore, up to the challenge, while other readers are not good writers, so their
coverage can !e more of a reflection of their writing than yours"
6 'hat is simply a fact of life and on the face of it, it would seem like there&s nothing
you can do as a counteractive" 7ut there is" It&s up to yo1 to supply the key elements of
good writing in your screenplay so that even if the script reader isn&t the most effective
writer around, those core e-e2ents o+ yo1r script are sti-- co221nicated in the
coverage"
6 )irst and foremost, this is yet another good reason to focus on generating a great
story concept" 9ven if reader is not the !est at their &scriptili8ation& of your screenplay,
the underlying story concept -- if it&s a strong high concept -- will !e almost impossi!le
to miss"
6 nother way in which your good writing can cut through the coverage is with
co2pe--ing characters" In coverage, you can&t rely on characters& dialogue$ instead you
have to make sure that the characters& actions in the story are interesting and surprising"
#ou can also do this( .hen you introduce your lead characters, provide a 2e2orab-e
one3-ine description o+ their core essence" If it&s a good description, a script reader is
likely to simply copy and paste your description into their coverage" )or more on this
su!%ect, go here"
6 :ne more way good writing can come through in coverage is through yo1r story4s
2a5or p-ot points" If you&ve crafted a strong story structure with -- again -- interesting
and surprising plot shifts 0 points, then the script reader is likely to capture that in their
coverage"
6 )inally, if you are cogni8ant of and make good use of your #arrative 6oice, a script
reader is much more likely to convey that in the "93tra Details" of the coverage in terms
of your script&s tone and style" )or more information on 4arrative ;oice, go here for an
article I wrote for Screentalk maga8ine"
'hose are some ways you can use good writing to &control& the coverage of your script"
.hat else can we learn from this part of the ICM doc5
6 "fter reading the script, take a 2o2ent to decide what the story was essentia--y
abo1t"" If that sentence doesn&t rattle your !ones, I don&t know what will" A oent!
Story essentially a"out! 'his is what your <-, months of you working your fanny off
writing *=> pages comes down to5 .hat that means is two things( #ou&d !etter damn
well know what your "story is essentially a!out" and that your story does a clear %o!
articulating that"
6 'his is a great %ustification for you to spend time working and re-working your story4s
-og-ine -- if you can craft a clean, clear logline, then you&re likely in good shape in terms
of your story&s focus"
6 It&s also a great reason for you to spend time with your story the2es -- listing them,
thinking a!out them, how they interweave through the plot, the interplay of themes with
and !etween characters" gain the more you understand how your story works, the more
likely that a reader will in that "moment" grasp what your story is "essentially a!out""
6 nother !one-chilling moment( "?ust the +acts which the reader of your coverage will
need to know"" 'his is more than %ust e3position @where you use dialogue to convey
data, information, factsA$ this is a!out key aspects of who characters are, key actions
they take, key plot points" #et again, the more you understand what&s going on in your
story and convey that on the printed page, the more likely those "facts" will emerge in
the coverage"
In summary, the key takeaway re this secion on synopsis is -- know yo1r story7
7ecause if you don& t know it and do a good %o! conveying it on the page, you can&t
e3pect a script reader to distill it and its core narrative elements in an effective way"
