One of the things that makes writing stories for film different than writing for publication is that film, by nature, is a collaborative process. What a screenwriter has written and how they’ve written it is only valuable to the degree that other people can use that script as a tool in the in the pursuit of their own creative and professional goals. Whether a writer is established and accustomed to collaboration, or whether that writer is struggling to break out, coverage is a writer or a producer’s first window into how a script connects with the other people who bring great cinema to life.

Seeking and integrating regular feedback from sources that reflect the needs and perspectives of our production community is how screenwriters develop the habits that make them efficient and effective collaborators. Writing in a vacuum will certainly advance a writer’s command of language, but it does nothing to develop screenwriters as actors, directors, production designers or even as producers… and great screenwriters are all of these things and more. Keeping the needs of our collaborators in focus makes us accountable to the fundamentals of dramatic structure, it puts our egos in check, and it helps us develop our craft in ways that actively serve the community.

Great films are made by families of people who believe in one another and who believe in the production. Earning that trust comes down to making sure a screenplay really does serve the needs of other people, both in the production community and in the audience… and understanding the needs of others begins with listening. Good coverage comes from people who have experience worth listening to, who care about the success of a production, and who seek to make the film community stronger.

When a screenwriter has a coverage source they can trust, getting that feedback as often as possible will help steer their projects and their writing habits in a direction that serves the success and the betterment of the film community as a whole. Successful careers come from successful collaborations. Great coverage empowers a writer or producer to engage that collaborative process as early and as often as possible.