You believe your script is complete. Perhaps a deadline for the competition is approaching, or you’ve managed to persuade someone to read it. You will ride this draft and see what happens; now is not the time to rewrite. However, you still have work to do. Here are a few last-minute tips to help the overburdened reader who is taking the time to read your work feel appreciated. I’m one of those readers, so I know.

Take a moment to congratulate yourself before we begin. You’re allowing strangers to read and evaluate a whole stinking script that you wrote. Take pride in that. Then, before clicking “send,” make sure to check these five items.

1. Grammar and Spelling

It’s apparent, I know. Your writing doesn’t have to be flawless, mind you. Nobody is flawless. However, the first sentence’s misspelling cannot be excused. I’ve witnessed it much too often.

Consider the act of reading as a brand-new connection. Your work is the exclusive focus of the reader’s valuable time. You are unknown to them. What they see on the page is all they have. They could begin to believe that if you’re lazy with the spellcheck, you’ll also be lazy with the characters, structure, and emotional connection when they see a script full of typos, bad language, and formatting mistakes. You wouldn’t arrive for a first date in your jammies and without taken a shower. Don’t send in a script writing contest that you haven’t carefully reviewed for spelling mistakes.

2. Description of a Novelesque Scene

Indeed, describing a windswept landscape caressed by clouds that is as gloomy as the inside of a Civil War cannon is entertaining. And it looks fantastic.IN A NEW BOOK.

No novel has been authored by you. You wrote a screenplay. Brevity reigns supreme. Too many authors feel compelled to demonstrate their literary prowess to the reader, yet this serves the opposite purpose. You either don’t know the rules, don’t want to obey them, or don’t care about wasting the reader’s time, according to Wordy SD.

3. Length of Script

The days of an industry-standard feature being 120 pages are long gone. At most, it’s 110 currently. Your document should be condensed if it is 114 pages long. Managers, agents, and development executives who work in the field and read screenplays for a living often have around fifty to read each week. They let out an audible moan if they see the 120-page count. They would like you before the first page if you can help them with a shorter script.

However, how can one trim? Remove the scenario description. Pay attention to the debate, which I will discuss soon. Next, examine each scenario. Make sure your “establishing shots,” if you have any, are crucial. No matter how amazing you think lengthy car chases and intricate combat sequences are, nobody is interested in them. To find out if somebody significant dies, many readers quickly scan those scenes. Additional pages give the impression that you have a bloated script and are not very good at self-editing. You do not want to make a bad first impression.

4. Conversation

You may save pages by going over your screenplay, eliminating all of the greetings, goodbyes, and repeated dialogue, then condensing sentences with more powerful language. You can even make sure that a phrase doesn’t exceed two lines. “Repeat dialogue” refers to the statement, “Tommy’s dead.” “Are you certain?” “Yes.” “Really?” “He’s dead, yes.”

Your characters don’t have to give a yes/no response to a question. They can go directly to the following section. “Are you going to Mom’s?” is an example. “Yes, she needs my assistance with the curtains,” I said. Remove the “Yeah.” You’ll be astounded at how much more room you save and how much more powerful your conversation seems if you cut out unnecessary words. And just share one item with us. Please stop telling us that your heroine is developing a vaccine since the disease killed her parents. One time is sufficient.

5. The first ten pages of your work

At this point in your career, the first ten pages are the most crucial. The rest is meaningless if those pages are weak as nobody will read them.

Reading is like to having someone check you out on a fast dating. Are you curious enough to learn more, able to dress appropriately, and able to communicate clearly? Ten pages are allotted to your script to demonstrate your expertise.

Too many authors squander pages on “set up.” We see characters get up, take a shower, have breakfast, and so on. Although Scorsese might get away with it, nobody is aware of your identity. Your script will fail if you waste time on cliched character introduction sequences or beautiful toast descriptions because you are convinced that the twist on page 85 will blow them away.

Here’s a little tip. Write a logline or share your story with a youngster. You have a problem if your first ten pages don’t even hint at what you say.

It’s your responsibility to come up with unique and inventive techniques to instantly engage your audience. Before you start your narrative or trip, just let us know what we need to know. Don’t be scared. Jump in. We’ll stay up.

Some of these guidelines will no longer be relevant after you are acknowledged as a literary genius. But in the meantime, have faith that your characteristics, emotional genuineness, and distinct point of view will all be reflected in your “voice.” You will make a fantastic “first date” impression on anybody who reads your words if you adhere to a few simple guidelines.