Writers are always wondering why someone can love their script and then turn around and demand changes to it. It’s nonsensical, right? If you read the script and loved it enough to option it, it’s probably good as it is.

But that’s not always true, and the reason for that is because a producer reads a script differently before and after he options or buy it.

There are two ways to read a script, which means that you’re never really writing one script. It’s always two, because in order to work as a film, you as the screenwriter need to have prepared it for both reads. You can be completely prepared for the first kind of read and not for the second (or on occasion, prepared for the second kind, and not the first). The first kinds of reads you encounter are usually development reads – that analyze for your talent and skill. No script can be considered unfixable or unworkable when written by someone whose talent is detectable, unless it’s going to take too much time or money to fix it.

These reads look to locate a solid structure and character development, but on top of that, these are the only people who are really going to pay attention to the description you write. Why? Because it’s an indicator. If your description reads like a description of a series of images, and not like mere stage instructions, usually the plot will hold up – because much of the plot will be in those descriptions. If the description starts off okay in the first few pages and peters out, the plot will usually go quickly too. If the description is not more than stage instructions from the beginning, then it’s not really worth reading the script, because the plot is never really going to show up.

But that’s when you’re reading for a producer or production company.

When someone reads for an actor, the read is entirely different. The focus is on the character the actor might play, and is definitely off the description, because what the viewer sees is not as important as how the character can be played. This means that your plot should also exist in your dialogue – so that if one were to read only the dialogue (if you were only to listen, as though it was a radio show) than you could get most of the plot that way. The dialogue has to be interesting to say and act – which is one of the reasons writers are always being encouraged to take an acting class.

The dialogue is also a key part to getting your script made into a movie, but for different reasons: it’s not about your talent; it’s about the relative amount of talented actors your script can attract.

So, to sum up: 1) Description, despite that its usually seen as a way to describe the actors that will eventually play the characters, is actually all about you and your ability to write. Don’t write weak stage instructions or mimic some of the gimmicky things you’ve read before. The description is your one shot to be seen for the talented person you are; and 2) Dialogue is all about the actors. You’re not writing for you, you’re writing for them. These are the parts where, if you aren’t writing well, either the film won’t get made or a critic will review it and say “Who’s writing this crap?”