The First 10 Pages
They can make you or break you
Have you ever sent out a script and thought: “I hope they get to my midpoint twist” or “that reveal on page 25 will seal the deal“? The truth is, if your first few pages don’t hook them, they probably won’t get that far.
Who is “they?”
If your script is in to a big production company–first of all, congrats!–then it will be an assistant or intern who has to plow through a mountain of scripts.
At an agency, it will often be the agent’s assistant (who really, really, really wants to be an agent themselves–“get a desk” as it’s called) who spends their evenings and weekends trying to find a gem.
A production company–many of them are struggling in today’s climate–will have an overworked (and usually anxious) development executive or assistant dealing with specs, or, if it’s a very small company, possibly the producer personally will be reading.
At a management company, depending on their size, it might be an assistant or the manager themselves reading the scripts. Their main concern nowadays is also to keep the lights on.
What do “they” have in common?
As you probably guessed from the above, all of them are pressed for time. They have to get a lot of reading into a very limited time frame (usually when they’re “off the clock”).
The other thing to remember: saying “no” is the safe bet. You don’t get fired for saying “no” to a project, but you can absolutely get fired for saying “yes”–if the project doesn’t pan out or if the bosses don’t agree with your assessment and question your taste.
So “they”–the people we collectively call the “gatekeepers”–have a limited amount of time and all of the incentive in the world to say no.
Where does that leave you?
Well, they might not get to your great midpoint twist or that reveal on page 28.
If your material has come in over the transom–unsolicited, unagented–then most gatekeepers read the first few pages and will, most of the time, make the decision that they don’t need to read anymore. The only exception to that rule is if you’re a client and they have to do internal coverage on your script. Or you’re a friend of the producer’s or a have some other kind of connection.
Now, since you’re reading this newsletter, we’re assuming you belong to the former category.
How do you keep ’em reading?
That’s where the importance of the first 10 pages comes in. It needs to be a fist to the face. The writing should be undeniable. Voice-y description, crackling dialogue, three-dimensional characters, a story setup that wows them, a lot of white on the page so it appears to be a very easy read, and, please, spellcheck.
Time and again, managers tell us the thing they need to see right up front is voice. Are you engaging and confident? Do you turn a phrase or use language in a clever way? Does the writing leap off the page? The goal: a the reader who will eagerly turn the page, confident that they’re in the hands of a kick-ass storyteller. Even if the script has other problems down the line, a strong voice is key to engaging the reader in the first place.
Yes, it’s a tall order. Here is some help in how to achieve all of that:
Check out our dialogue hacks right here.
Here is some advice on how to achieve white on the page.
Advice on how to supercharge your voice.
Edit everything to shiny perfection.
Write a setup that wows them.
Feel free to poke around on our blog–we’ve got hundreds and hundreds of articles designed to help you on your journey.