In continuing with my series on why reading scripts is so so so important, I would like to bring up an interesting question. What kinds of scripts should I read? The availability of scripts online is growing immensely and I am finding more and more sources each day. They offer a wide range fromblockbusters to small indie projects to even some in development with major players attached (not sure how these make it online, but they do). So which should you read Bad scripts, good scripts, old scripts, new scripts? My answer… all of the above.
Seriously, do not edit what you read, just so long as you are reading. I have a stack of agency scripts on my shelf that I get from a friend at [deleted]. The ones I’ve read are stacked on the right, and I simply move through them, grabbing the next one. Whenever I stop to think about it too much is when I’m bound to be disappointed. I prefer not knowing what to expect.
For a long time, I had a sort of disdain for unproduced scripts. Why should I read them? They weren’t good enough to get made after all. Then I discovered www.scriptshadow.com . Somehow, this guy finds some of the biggest spec scripts out there, and throws links to them for you all to enjoy. How he gets I do not know. How he doesn’t get shut down is an even bigger mystery. But he always posts up a review, so you can get an idea of the script before you read it. In the past month he’s posted up two scripts with George Clooney attached and one with Mel Gibson attached. Not too shabby, huh? Definitely check otu scriptshadow and definitely add it to you blog reader if you do that thing (I prefer Google Reader). Some of his script links get taken down within an hour or two of being posted, so you have to be on it.
