Hi everyone! My cowriter and I are ready to sign up for one of the script coverage services where we can pick the Executive and have a 30 minute or 60 minute talk about our 1hr animated pilot script. We were wondering if anyone can provide insight on their own experiences as we aren't sure whether to go the 30 minute or 60 minute route. Any pros or cons, or tips on which to choose and how best to prepare would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Screenwriting : Insight on the Script Coverage Options with an Executive (30 min vs 60 min Talk) by Melissa Zbozny
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Based purely on my own experience, I would get coverage from multiple sources, and then enter it into the big-name family and animated comps. I was finalist in Final Draft's Big Break comp with an animated/family script. I've been told this is one of the hardest genres to break into to, so I've gone back to sci-fi & horror. Still not impossible with the right script!
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Appreciate the insight, GJ! Thanks!
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Hey Melissa Zbozny I'd be curious to know what draft you're on. If it's an earlier draft and you're still developing the story somewhat (totally ok for this to be the case - maybe there's even a few holes or weak spots you're aware of that you really want to just talk through with an exec), then it might be better to go with an hour to get more notes and time to flesh things out with more time for back and forth. If your draft is pretty polished, maybe go with a half hour and try to focus the conversation on higher level development ideas to elevate the material. The good thing about the consultations is that it's a conversation. The execs will come prepared with notes on the script, but it's also a forum for back and forth on the ideas, messages or themes you're trying to explore and your vision for how you're communicating them.
For animation these days, it really is kinda of a specialist field with that's sort of silo'd from mainstream Hollywood in a lot of ways. Animation studios often operate independently of - but in partnership with - the big studios. So it's key for animation writers to get with execs who specialize in animation primarily as they will have the best contacts at those animation houses.
A few I'll spotlight for you:
Lit Manager Evan Anglin of Zero Gravity: https://www.stage32.com/scriptservices/coverage/buy?id=57&exec=2724&genr...
Producer Alfredo Marun: https://www.stage32.com/scriptservices/coverage/buy?id=57&exec=2360&genr...
Producer Bryan Schwartz: https://www.stage32.com/scriptservices/coverage/buy?id=57&exec=2226&genr...
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I've had two script coverage sessions and I really appreciated the feedback from both. The first one I had a pretty polished script that was doing decently in competitions and getting pretty good feedback there, but I wanted to. have a conversation with someone and ask questions so I bought a development session. Stage 32 was really helpful in providing a few recommendations on people who would be a good fit for my genre and idea, and I researched them and narrowed it down to one that had a lot of background not just in my genre but with the type of screenplay I have. I really appreciated the session and we honestly ran right up to the end of the 60 minutes. Based on his feedback, I wrote the next draft and had another session with a different executive who also works with my genre. I actually probably could have done 30 minutes for this one, there was still some feedback but the revisions I'd made based on his feedback had cleaned up a lot of things, so I guess I"m saying something similar to what Pat did. For me it was a really great experience and I think you'll like it!
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Thank you Pat and Amy for the sight. I'll pass it along to my co-writer for us to discuss.
As for Pat's question, I'd say we are on the third draft for the pilot script after getting 2-3 table reads after each draft and then script coverage from Stage32 as well. So we were deciding on whether it is the written coverage again for round 3 or trying these Exec. calls instead.