I just saw an ad for new screenwriting software that says, “Did you know that a typo or an incorrectly formatted montage can make a script reader put your script down?”
Uh, no.
I was a script reader for a production company and I’ve known others, including one who read for Disney and another who read for 20th Century Fox. None of us put a script down because it had a typo or a minor variation in formatting a montage.
Sure, a script riddled with typos or one written by someone who clearly has never figured out how a script is formatted would be rejected. But a minor error or two in a good script wouldn’t cause it to be rejected.
A while back I read a blog post in which a writing instructor said that if your script is even one page over or under the normal range, it won’t be considered. That’s wrong, too. Again, if it’s way off—like 60 or 200 pages long—that would do it, but if it’s 94 or 121 pages long that will not be the reason for rejection.
I guess it’s in the interests of people selling software or classes to make you think that without their product or service you are doomed, but I wouldn’t spend my money on products hyped with such misinformation and scare tactics.
