John August

Follow Up

Working as a freelance reader

Film Industry, First Person, Follow Up

On this week’s Scriptnotes, we talked about professional readers and the challenge of making a living as a freelancer. We got several great emails from listeners, like this one from “Zeke.”

Like most people outside LA, I had no idea that people are actually getting paid to read scripts or that coverage even existed. That changed when I took a story analysis course that specifically taught us how to read, analyze, and write professional coverage.

From there I started doing unpaid reading at a couple of places around town as an intern and with the Austin Film Festival. My first paying gigs were with some popular script competitions such as Screencraft and obscure ones such as the Canadian Wildsound. The pay ranged from decent ($30-$40 a script) to downright embarrassing ($15 per script).

My first “real” reading for a company was Paradigm talent agency, and then UTA, who pay more but also require more extensive work (additional character breakdown, etc.). From there, and for the past few years, I’ve been focusing on reading for production companies and, most recently, for premium cable and streamers.

Consistency is the bane of the freelance reader’s existence. I always make sure I’m reading for at least 4-5 places simultaneously, and even then, there are slow weeks with little to no work (especially around the holidays). As for rates, I started with lower rates and had to fight for raises. And that’s a big issue: unless you push the companies to pay more and ask more than a few times, you will stay at the same rate you started with years earlier. I know that for a fact by asking other readers who just didn’t know they could ask for more money.

Being a reader for multiple companies, I have to be on call essentially all the time, including nights and weekends. For example, just this week, I got a request to read a script at 11 PM on a weekday, and the requested turnaround was for the following morning. This is not a rare incident.

Technically, you don’t have to accept the work. If you turn down one script or one book, maybe it won’t change much. But the second time you do it, you risk losing the gig with that company, no matter how good your working relationship is with them. Needless to say, sick or vacation days do not exist. I go to Israel every year to visit family, and I work from there as well. Again, I was never forced to do so, but I have no choice since this is my main source of income.

As for the union, we’ve been having a discourse about organizing as freelance readers, but it’s still quite vague on what steps we could take. A union reading job is much-coveted since it not only provides you with stability, but also a respectable salary, excellent health insurance, and paid days off. I would note that Netflix is probably the company that offers the best pay and terms of all non-union companies who work with freelancer readers.

Finally, I believe that a major problem in this field is the fact that many of us, including veteran story analysts at the studios, often feel somewhat inconsequential. Intellectually, we know this work is essential to the development process of any production company/studio/agency. But it doesn’t often feel that way. And that problem translates to everything else: if readers don’t respect themselves, why should companies?

It’s hard to convince employers to offer better rates or better conditions when most places in town use assistants or interns to read their projects. No matter how good a given reader might be, free labor is hard to compete with.

How accurate is the page-per-minute rule?

Film Industry, Follow Up, Formatting, QandA, Rant

Back in 2006, I answered a reader question about page counts:

Every screenwriting book I’ve read, class I took, and basically the first rule I learned says:

ONE PAGE OF A PROPERLY FORMATTED SCRIPT = APPROX. A MINUTE OF SCREEN TIME.

I know one page of say a battle can last five minutes whereas one page of quick dialogue my last ten seconds if the actors talk fast. So my question is, is this rule true?

I replied that the page-per-minute rule of thumb didn’t hold up to much scrutiny, and offered examples from my own work.

Then a few weeks ago, I started thinking about this question again, and realized there was an opportunity to reframe the question in a more concrete way:

For screenplays, what is the correlation between screenplay length and running time?

I asked data scientist Stephen Follows if he’d be up for tackling this question. He jumped into action, gathering 761 feature screenplays and comparing them to the running times of their finished films. Today, he published his findings.

The results largely match what I expected, and what I wrote in 2006:

The one-page-per-minute rule of thumb doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. True, most screenplays are about 120 pages, and true, most movies are around two hours. But the conversion rate between paper and celluloid is rarely one-to-one.1

While Follows finds there is some obvious correlation between page count and running time, the rule of thumb barely works in aggregate but isn’t very predictive for any given project.

Why does it matter? Because too many folks in the film and television industry have internalized one-page-per-minute as an axiomatic truth rather than a crude estimate. Any script that is longer than 120 pages is perceived as being too long. Indeed, some studios’ contracts specify that the writer may not deliver a script longer than 120 pages.2

In order to bring their scripts under this artificial limit, screenwriters waste time making tiny edits with the goal of moving page breaks. It’s pointless busy work.

Worse, the page-per-minute rule of thumb puts too much focus on arbitrary sheets of never-printed paper rather than the words they contain. If we’re worried about the length of anything, it should be scenes and sequences. But in 2020 we continue to treat screenplays as if they’re hand-typed on dead trees, forgoing digital tools that would allow for better security, collaboration and version control.

As an industry, we’re afraid to move to new formats for screenplays because we’re worried it’ll break the page-per-minute standard. But we don’t need to worry, because the rule of thumb was never really true.

Doing what makes sense

Is it appropriate to try to estimate a project’s running time based on the script? Absolutely.

Before a project goes into production, the script supervisor — an experienced professional who works beside the director on set — generally performs a “script timing” by estimating the time for each scene. It’s not perfect, but it better reflects reality. If a script times out to three hours, better to know it before production, so you’re not shooting scenes that won’t make it into the film.

Is there an opportunity for computer-generated running time estimates? Probably.

With machine learning, I can imagine systems that better predict how words on the page will reflect minutes on screen. But I wonder if it’s a false goal. Ultimately, running time is a factor of film editing. Scenes get dropped in post, and it’s very hard to anticipate these changes when looking at a script in preproduction.

This analysis was done on feature films, but every TV show faces similar issues. However, long-running shows have the advantage of knowing how their specific show works. My hunch is that every NCIS script falls in a narrow range of scenes and pages because they know what they need.

Big thanks to Stephen Follows for accepting this challenge and myth-busting this rule of thumb. Be sure to read, share and comment on his post.

  1. Celluloid! It truly was a different age in 2006. ↩
  2. On a recent project, my contract limited delivery to 130 pages. Such decadence! ↩

How to Listen

Episode - 438

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Assistants, Follow Up, QandA, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

John and Craig talk dialogue. How characters speak is an optimized version of real speech — but if you optimize too much you risk making your characters feel artificial. We listen to clips of real conversations to pick out patterns and tendencies you can incorporate to help improve written dialogue.

Then we dive into the mailbag for questions on perspective (48:03), submission agreements (51:40), and best practices for non-WGA writers during a strike (55:58).

In our bonus segment for premium subscribers (1:06:56), we get political and discuss the current state of the Democratic primary.

Email us at ask@johnaugust.com

You can download the episode here.

UPDATE 2-21-2020 The transcript for this episode can be found here.

Assistants’ Advice to Showrunners

Assistants, First Person, Follow Up

We asked twenty current and former TV assistants what advice they would offer showrunners as they set up their writers rooms. Here’s what they had to say:

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RESPECT BOUNDARIES

“Setting a normal working schedule boosts morale and allows people to plan accordingly. It’s one thing if the room goes late because a pitch got thrown out, but that should be the exception not the rule. If people can expect that typically the room is 10am to 6pm, it makes a world of difference.”

“Don’t procrastinate and stay late and make your staff stay, too.”

“Don’t use your assistants as emotional support and therapy. Don’t overshare about your life and feelings.”

TELL US THE END DATE

“Let assistants know when they will be wrapped on the show. It’s extremely upsetting to find out with a week’s (or less) notice that you don’t have a job because the showrunner didn’t really know when they hired you what your end date would be.”

SET EXPECTATIONS

“Showrunners set the tone for the room. If they treat the support staff with respect everyone else will.”

“The showrunner I just worked under for my first staff writer position made it VERY clear how the writing staff was to treat the assistants from DAY ONE. He made sure we all knew to treat them with respect, to only ask them do things that were appropriate/show related, and to think of them as fellow writers right off the bat. He gently encouraged all of us to reward their hard work by offering to read and note their samples and reminded us that they’re paid very little, so the connections they make and the notes they receive are what they’re actually working for. As somebody who started as a PA, I respect this approach tremendously and would love to see other show runners do the same.”

“Make sure assistants know what they can and can’t do. Tell them if they can pitch, or go in the room, contribute jokes on punch ups, etc.”

“Before the room meets for the first time, discuss transparently what is expected of the Writers Assistant. Every room operates differently. For example, should the WA quote or credit specific ideas in the notes? What format do you want for the notes document at the end of the day? Deciding up front will save hours of work.”

GIVE APPROPRIATE CREDIT

“When the time comes to build outlines and beats documents, discuss beforehand who this responsibility belongs to. There’s a difference between copying off the whiteboard and writing.”

IF YOU ASK, LISTEN

“If there’s only one person of color, do not treat them like a token. And when you talk about things that the minority person can speak to, listen to what they have to say.”

SUPPORT TEAM-BUILDING

“Have an optional gathering that you pay for: a concert, a movie, an escape room. It builds team unity and allows you to see each other outside of work. Our bosses did this, and it made me love them very much.”

“Don’t pit the support staff against each other. It creates a very toxic workplace.”

HANDLING FINANCES

“Never put your staff in a position to use their own money for things. Asking for reimbursement causes a lot of anxiety.”

“Don’t complain about money in front of your support staff. We make a lot less than you.”

TELL US WHO’S IN CHARGE

“Make it clear on day one who to talk to about workplace issues.”

DELEGATE THOUGHTFULLY

“The number one thing for a new showrunner to understand is that there will suddenly be more than they can manage. They will be expected to put out constant fires, approve everything, and make sure the writing is getting done. Best practice is to deliver crystal clear game plans to the room, support staff and production. Delegate authority where comfortable, at least to the degree where a strong second or producing director or line producer can make an educated guess on something while they wait for an answer.”

“Hire a full support staff (showrunner’s assistant, writers PA, script coordinator, and writers assistant). Each one is a full-time job.”

“If you can’t hire full support staff, let your support staff know if they’re expected to do double duty on certain things. Clearly define the duties so there isn’t last-minute chaos.”

SEEK AND GIVE FEEDBACK

“Have an open discussion about feedback. Check in after the first week to break any bad habits or to make any changes. “

“Ask about assistants’ writing. Ask to read their work. If their work is not a fit to eventually be staffed, TELL THEM. It is more productive for them to know (and have the option to leave) than to stay in hopes of something that will never happen and eventually become resentful and frustrated.”

“If someone spends a season or two working as a support staffer and you’ve decided you don’t think they’re staffing material, you MUST tell them so they don’t continue holding out hope.”

KEEP PEOPLE HEALTHY

“Advocate for your assistants to have INSURANCE. First season shows often don’t have it and it doesn’t cost that much, but it’s life-changing for assistants.”

“Make sure they know they do not have to come in while they are sick.”

“Discuss time off and expectations. Allow for a system of coverage if someone has an appointment, illness, etc. Open this dialogue before the assistant has to ask for time off. Some people have weekly medical appointments they can’t miss. Work with them.”

KNOW HOW MUCH WE MAKE

“I also think understanding assistant pay is important. For example, my current boss had NO IDEA we don’t get paid over winter break until he saw a thread about it on Twitter and asked me.”

“Don’t ask your support staff to work for free. Ever.”

INVITE ASSISTANTS INSIDE

“Introduce your support staff to writers/producers at the beginning of meetings/when the writers’ office opens.”

“If your assistants have free time (which they often do), allow them to use it to observe in the writers’ room. Set clear expectations, such as if they are allowed to pitch or not (just letting them listen is okay!) and let them come in. Let us remember why our job is exciting, and what we’re aiming for.”