Human Read

A person reads the whole script. Honest notes, no softening.

Send a finished draft and one of Better Draft's readers, a small panel of working screenwriters and filmmakers, reads every page. Not Penn. A person who writes for a living. Within ten days you get a written set of notes on what works, what does not, and what to do next, plus one round of questions by email after you have read them. $250, one time.

What you get

The whole script, read by a person. Every page, in one sitting where possible, the way a reader at a company reads it. No skimming the middle.
Written notes. What is working and why it should be protected. What is not working, named plainly, with the page. The one change that would do the most for the draft. Three to five pages, written for you, not for a producer.
Page notes where they matter. Not every page. The scenes that need a note get one, pinned to the line.
A round of questions. Read the notes, then reply with what you disagree with or do not understand. You get a considered answer, not a form.

Who it is for

Our recommendation: run Penn's Full Read a few times first. Read, rewrite, read again, until Penn stops finding the structural problems. Each pass is $19 and twenty minutes. Then bring the draft here. A person's notes are worth the most when they are not spent on things Penn would have caught, and the writers on the panel will tell you if the draft is not there yet.

If this is the first draft and no one has read it yet, start with Penn. You will get more from a person once the first few rounds are handled.

Writers who want to hear the truth about the draft from a working writer who has had to make pages hold up in a room, and who has nothing to gain from being kind.

$250 one time

For scale: coverage services charge $60 to $150 for a report written for a producer. This is more because it is not that: it is notes for the writer, from a working writer, with a conversation after. It is a quarter of what a weekend workshop costs, on your script instead of a stranger's.

Buy a Human Read. You will paste or upload the script on the next screen and tell us what you want to hear about. The notes come back by email within ten days.

Secure checkout through Stripe. Complete screenplays only, .pdf, .fdx, .fountain, or pasted text. Not sure the draft is ready? Run Penn's read a few times first, $19 a pass.

What it is not

It is not industry coverage. No one is grading the script for a studio, and buying a read does not get it in front of anyone. It is notes for the person who is going to rewrite it.

It is not a rewrite. Nobody writes a line of your script, same as Penn. Your pages stay yours; see how we handle your work.

It is not fast. Penn reads in twenty minutes. A person reads at the speed of a person, so the notes come within ten days. If you need something tonight, the Full Read is the one.

Questions? Support. Reply to any email from us and a person answers.