What scripts get positive notes?

An anonymous script reader has crunched the numbers and summarized the results in a fascinating screenwriting infographic.

profound_whatever goes on to explain it all in this reddit post: I’ve covered 300 spec scripts for 5 different companies and assembled my findings into a snazzy infographic.

“I give a RECOMMEND if I can’t find anything to criticize. The script has a great idea (or a great execution of an okay idea) and took chances. A RECOMMEND script doesn’t have to buck the tropes; it just has to use them well, and has to have some self-awareness as it’s using them. Edgar Wright and Rian Johnson are both aware of the tropes of their genres (film noir, cop movie, caper flick, zombie movie, sci-fi), but know how to use them in a fresh way. Tropes are tropes for a reason: they work.”

In descending order, the problems are:

1. The story begins too late in the script
2. The scenes are void of meaningful conflict
3. The script has a by-the-numbers execution
4. The story is too thin
5. The villains are cartoonish, evil-for-the-sake-of-evil
6. The character logic is muddy
7. The female part is underwritten
8. The narrative falls into a repetitive pattern
9. The conflict is inconsequential, flash-in-the-pan
10. The protagonist is a standard issue hero
11. The script favors style over substance
12. The ending is completely anti-climactic
13. The characters are all stereotypes
14. The script suffers from arbitrary complexity
15. The script goes off the rails in the third act
16. The script’s questions are left unanswered
17. The story is a string of unrelated vignettes
18. The plot unravels through convenience/contrivance
19. The script is tonally confused
20. The script is stoic to a fault
21. The protagonist is not as strong as need be
22. The premise is a transparent excuse for action
23. The character backstories are irrelevant/useless
24. Supernatural element is too undefined
25. The plot is dragged down by disruptive lulls
26. The ending is a case of deus ex machina
27. The characters are indistinguishable from each other
28. The story is one big shrug
29. The dialogue is cheesy, pulpy, action movie cliches
30. The script is a potboiler
31. The drama/conflict is told but not shown
32. The great setting isn’t utilized
33. The emotional element is exaggerated
34. The dialogue is stilted and unnecessarily verbose
35. The emotional element is neglected
36. The script is a writer ego trip
37. The script makes a reference, but not a joke
38. The message overshadows the story

My take: this makes a great list to check your script against.