Is your screenplay good enough to get you hired?

As a literary manager, one of the questions I hear most often is "Am I ready for representation?" But you don't actually dream of being repped, do you? You dream of being paid to write for a living.

Once you’re signed by an agent or manager, they will send your script to dozens, maybe hundreds of Hollywood executives.

This won’t do you any good if your script isn’t actually good enough to get you the job. Yes, this town is all about “Who you know,” but with fewer jobs available this year than there have been for the past decade, Showrunners and executives everywhere are desperate to protect their own employment status.

They want to hire “strong draft writers”: People who can deliver excellent scripts every time.

But if you aren’t currently a working professional and you don’t have representation, how can you know if your script is good enough to get you hired?

Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash

You need to test it.

Most writers who are just getting started make the mistake of testing their script with the wrong people.

There are benefits to having your script read by friends and family, writer peers, or competition judges. But this feedback won’t actually tell you whether your script passes muster for something that will get you hired in the real world.

To be clear: I recommend that you spend a lot of time developing your craft and getting helpful, creative notes from coaches and teachers that you trust.

But when you’re ready to see if your material will actually get you hired, here are…

8 Steps to See if Your Screenplay is at a Professional Level

Step 1: Check your ego at the door.

Before you set out to test your script, you need to do the internal work to make sure you’re ready to handle what you hear.

A test will do you no good if you can’t trust that the feedback is honest. But honest feedback will do you no good if you’re not ready to hear it. Before you take your script to someone for evaluation, do whatever it takes to separate yourself from your work. Even though writing is an incredibly personal activity, your script is a product that you have created. It is not a piece of you. The quality of the material is not indicative of your talent, ability, potential, or worth as a human being.

You’re not going to get far in this industry until you develop a growth mindset.

Once you are excited to hear about all the ways in which your writing sucks (because those are the areas you get to focus on improving next!), then you are ready to hear the real truth.

Step 2: Find someone who doesn’t care about you.

Choose your target carefully.

You want to find someone whose opinion you trust and who doesn’t care about you.

If you have powerful family members in the industry, find someone who doesn’t know that you’re related. If you have an entry level Hollywood job, ask a colleague or boss who you can trust to be a straight shooter. If someone owes you a favor, make sure you’re on equal footing so that you know they won’t bullshit you.

Even though I offer consultation services to writers looking to improve their scripts, I do not recommend using paid coverage or feedback as a test.

Why? Because if you’re paying someone, they want to balance helping you with not hurting your feelings.

You’re looking for someone who is willing to be blunt.

Here are the people to seek out:

• Showrunner level mentors.

• Agents or managers who are a friend of a friend.

• Executives who work for producers with recognizable names.

• Directors or producers with produced feature credits.

Wow, these are pretty high up people.

If you aren’t entrenched in this industry with a solid network, it’s going to feel impossible to get a script read by someone like this.

That’s why I am recommending that you target this person with careful consideration after you have spent months or years getting your material to a place where you think it’s ready.

This shouldn’t be your first read. For first reads, you absolutely can get contest feedback, paid coverage, or peer insights.

This is the read you call in all the favors to get.

Look carefully at your network and figure out who you can possibly get to.

Photo by HIVAN ARVIZU @soyhivan on Unsplash

Step 3: Get into that person’s good graces.

You can’t just walk up to someone or email them and ask them to read your script.

I mean, you can try, but I don’t think it’s going to work.

First, figure out what you can do for them. If you’re an assistant, this might mean putting in 1-2 years of going above and beyond for someone until they feel like the least they can do is take a look at your sample. If you’re reaching out to someone in your network, this can look like developing a genuine rapport with them over weeks or months. See how you can help this person in any way you can.

It can also mean simply showing up for someone consistently every time they have a performance or post a piece of content. Offer thoughtful and supportive participation and feedback until they get to know you.

Sometimes you won’t even have to ask.

Once you have established a genuinely helpful relationship with someone, it will inevitably lead to a conversation about your goals.

You’ll tell them that you want to be a writer, and they will offer to read your script.

Step 4: Ask them to read your script.

Or once you have established a connection with someone, you can just ask them.

But what’s important is how you ask.

Tell this person exactly why you want them to read your script: “I have been honing my craft for years, and I would love an honest look from a someone who knows what they’re talking about and who reads professional scripts on a daily basis.”

Notice that you didn’t ask them to sign you or attach as a supervisor or hire you on their next writing staff. You kept the ask small, and you threw in a little flattery to demonstrate that the reason you’re coming to them is because you value their opinion.

Because you have demonstrated over the course of your relationship that you are open to taking their advice, they should be all too happy to give your script a read. Especially if you’re not asking for a big commitment or favor beyond constructive feedback and evaluation.

If they say no, be gracious and keep up the relationship. They’re probably just too busy, and this is something that they might be open to later when you’re closer friends.

Then repeat this process with someone else until you get a yes.

Step 5: Gently suggest a deadline.

This one is tricky because you don’t want to come across as entitled, but you also don’t want your script to end up at the bottom of a pile forever.

This is where competitions and fellowships can actually come in handy.

Tell your target that you want to submit your script to such-and-such fellowship by such-and-such date. Ask gently if they would be able to get their thoughts to you by then. As a literary manager with a couple dozen clients, I know that I personally rarely read a script without being held accountable to some sort of deadline.

If they’re open to it, get a meeting or call on the books during which they will give you their feedback.

They will probably speed read your script the morning of your meeting. That’s fine!

At least they’re reading it.

If they can’t commit to this timeline, try to schedule something for farther out in the future that better fits their schedule.

Or tell them graciously, “thank you so much for reading it whenever you can get to it,” and start the process over again with someone else while you wait.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

Step 6: Only focus on the constructive feedback.

Once you are lucky enough to finally get feedback from a high-level industry professional, I want you to tune out and ignore any and all compliments.

They are literally irrelevant.

Hopefully you found someone who won’t bullshit you, but people are people, and everyone is going to want to say at least something nice about your script.

That’s not what you’re here for.

There is a Cartel client who started off as an actor. He decided that he wanted to be a writer, so he brought his pilot sample to a literary manager at the company he was repped by. He asked them for feedback, and when they started to tell him how good it was, he interrupted them.

“I don’t care what you liked,” he said (he is attractive and charming, so he can say things like this without sounding rude). “Just tell me what I can do better.”

Not only is he now a repped writer, but he is a Showrunner with a production company that has an overall deal at a major studio. He’s run and created multiple hit shows.

See why that growth mindset was so important to develop?

Step 7: Listen to whether they offer to go above and beyond.

Don’t actually ask this person, “Is my script good enough to get me hired?”

This puts them in an awkward position because 1) it might hurt your feelings to hear a negative answer, and 2) there isn’t an end-all-be-all standard here for whether a script is “ready.”

Well then how do you know???? What was the point of all this???

You will get an answer.

That answer will come in the form of whether, upon reading your script, the person offers to do something with it.

Remember: You came into this conversation looking for constructive feedback, and after this test, you are going to incorporate that feedback into the next draft and future projects.

But if your script is good enough to get you hired, one of the follow things will happen:

• The person will offer to send it to their friend, their agent, or their manager.

• The person will send it to people they know without asking you.

• The person will ask who else you have showed this to and ask to be a part of the project in some way.

• The person will offer you a job.

• The person will offer you money to take the script off the market.

If any of these things happen, you have something special.

If they don’t, you have gotten quality, helpful analysis on your script that you can then run with.

Step 8: Keep this relationship going.

If they offer to read a future draft, be sure to bring them something that incorporates their notes.

If they don’t offer to read the next draft, incorporate their notes anyway. Then if your script starts to gain traction with someone else, make sure to go back to them and tell them how helpful their feedback was.

This is a relationship-driven business. Once someone gives you honest, constructive feedback, they are invested in you.

Keep nurturing this relationship with goodwill.

Eventually it will come back to benefit you and it will result in you getting hired to write professionally.

Want to learn more actionable, specific advice on how to get that first TV Writing job? I hosted a webinar where four working Showrunners talked about how to get hired to write TV: