The death of WeScreenplay, Tracking Board, ScreenCraft, Coverfly, (and more?). Where do we go from here?
This is bad.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it or try to spin it into a plea to use my services. In this blog post at least, I promise I’m not trying to sell you anything. Normally at the end of my posts, I link to the services I offer. This time, I’m not going to do that.
This time, I just want to speak from the heart.
Breaking into Hollywood has always been hard. But in recent years, the Internet saw a boom of screenwriting services and competitions that offered a viable, clear path to, at the very least, getting your screenplays read by people with the potential to do something with them. People who could help you get your foot in the door.
But now, thanks to downsizing, corporate mergers, the proliferation of AI script coverage, and the general enshittification of everything that’s good in the world, many of those services are gone.
As screenwriters, what pathways still exist for us? How do we break in?
What do we do now?
Okay, so you clicked “Read more,” which means I should probably have an answer for those questions, right? And I do have some thoughts. But, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m writing this blog because I feel it too. It sucks.
I’m a kid from West Virginia, born and raised in a small railroad town. I had no Hollywood connections when I moved here. I had no idea how I would ever break into the industry, let alone get anyone to read my stuff.
My foot in the door was screenplay competitions. Winning The Tracking Board Launch Pad Competition (RIP) got me my first agents and managers. When that eventually blew up, which I won’t bore you with those details, winning the Script Pipeline First Look Competition landed me my new team and really got my career started.
I know there’s plenty of valid criticism of contests. A lot of them are, in fact, bullshit. Showing off the laurels from your quarterfinalist placement in the Poughkeepsie Movie Fest Screenplayathon was never going to do much to move the needle for you…
But, there were contests and websites with good connections who could get your script in front of people who matter in this town. There still are, but there are fewer and fewer of them.
Putting contests aside for a moment, the death of WeScreenplay was especially demoralizing. For me, personally, I loved having the option to pay for notes from an unbiased reader who didn’t know me or my script, especially after I had already exhausted my writers group and everyone else who I nag incessantly to read my stuff.
WeScreenplay was also one of the few remaining places where readers could find paying work, and that void is being filled by AI script coverage services, which to me, feels so disheartening and dystopian.
So, what do we do from here?
Maybe this is a little kumbaya. A little woo woo. But, I think in an industry that is getting less human, the answer is to be more human. To lean on each other. To support each other as writers and, well, humans.
Don’t give into the idea of AI coverage and notes. Let those services dry up and die. Start a writers group. Get and give notes with people you trust. Look for coverage services that reject AI.
As for breaking into the industry side of it, I’ll go back to one of my original points: It’s always been fucking hard to do. There are less paths now, but there are still paths. I will vouch for Script Pipeline every day of the week. Page is still here. Shore Scripts. There are still viable competitions.
I’ve had friends who found managers/producers/champions through the Black List. You can send queries directly to managers and producers, like the good old days.
Just because it’s harder now doesn’t mean we should stop fighting, stop trying. We’re writers. We’re storytellers. That is our calling. Don’t let the closing of these websites and services stop you.
When the path you’re on closes, don’t just turn around and go home. Find a new path. Or make one yourself.
Despite everything, a great script can still move mountains. I still believe that, and I hope you do too.
