This document has made the rounds and it doesn’t have a copyright, so I figured why not dig into it. And what is “it”? It is the “ICM Story Department – Coverage Packet,” basically the agency’s manual for training readers how to prepare script coverage.

Long-time GITS readers know how much emphasis I put on understanding the mindset of the script reader — a few examples of posts on the subject are here, here, and the 6-part series “A Script Reader Speaks“. As I’ve said ad nauseum, script readers are Hwood’s gatekeepers and threshold guardians. In a very real way, the audience you are writing your script for is the script reader. They are the first people to read your screenplay and usually, it is their coverage that determines how seriously buyers take your submission.

Therefore what the “ICM Story Department – Coverage Packet” offers is an open window into how the buyers look at the script-reading process. By delving into this document, we should gain some invaluable insight into their mindset.

Today we’ll look at the first section of the doc titled How to Do Script Coverage, beginning with the critical component: Logline.

The logline provides a one-sentence summary of the script’s premise and plot. It should succinctly describe the situation of the protagonist and include any major story elements.

Concise, concise, concise. One sentence that generally describes the script. General is the key word. Don’t worry about every detail of the story in the log line.

What can we learn from this?

* If your script has a complex story concept, then that will likely be reflected from the get-go of the script reader’s coverage.

* Moreover if the script reader has to struggle to make your logline as concise as possible, then you’re probably not scoring points with the reader straightaway.

* If, on the other hand, the logline is lean, clean, and straight-ahead, that should be a bonus in framing how your script is perceived.

* Note how important the Protagonist is as the assumption is that the P drives the narrative throughline of the script.

* “Concise, concise, concise.” Another nod to a clean, streamlined story concept.

Here are three examples the doc uses for “good loglines”:

An attractive young nun and an ex-leprechaun venture into a bizarre Irish fantasy world to return a stolen magical ring.

A private detective gets in over his head when a simple missing persons case turns into a deadly chase for a priceless diamond.

An amnesiac plane crash survivor discovers that he is a government assassin… or is he?

Note how the Protagonist is the subject of each logline. Note, too, how each logline suggests what the central plot is, even forecasting Act Two complications.

Does this mean that you must have a simple story concept, reducible to a one-sentence logline? No. Think of some of the greatest movies of all time: Gone With The Wind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Lawrence of Arabia, To Kill a Mockingbird. In theory, I suppose, you could work your ass off to concoct a logline that describes one of these movies — “A sweeping love story told against the backdrop of the Civil War” — but if it doesn’t convey much of anything about the story, does it even really qualify as a logline?

The fact is, you can write and sell a script with a complex plot, set of characters, and/or narrative elements. However, as you can see plainly in the first few paragraphs of this ICM doc, you will be swimming against the current of how Hwood operates.

Would you find this helpful — to go through this ICM doc and see what we can glean in the way of insight into an agency’s mind re the script coverage process? If so, let me know in comments. If there’s enough interest, I’ll post something daily for the next week or so.

UPDATE: Had this comment in response to the link I provided to the 6-part series “A Script Reader Speaks” from Janice, a long-time script reader. Check this out:

Scott, thanks for posting DC Marr’s analysis of a reader’s job. I could have written that word for word – I’ve been a full-time free lance (you know what I mean) reader for 14 years at a big agency. Every point DC made is accurate. It was great fun seeing it so well articulated.

I have a ton of respect for script readers and story analysts. They have an almost thankless job, reading a seemingly endless onslaught of scripts, most of them bad.

Screenwriters tend to revile script readers and their coverage, but that is — frankly — stupid. In my view, we should aim our scripts directly at them. Script readers are, what we used to call in the stand-up comedy trade, a “tough crowd.” But if we can lure them into our stories, and win them over, their coverage becomes an enormous ‘ally’ for our script.

Yes, they are a tough crowd. And that should cause us, as screenwriters, to aim higher with what we put down onto the printed page — better story concepts, richer characters, stronger plots, more compelling stories.