Mastering Coverage:
Crafting, Creating & Controlling the Narrative of Your Screenplay
March 5 & 12, 2025
8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern (5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Pacific)
Join former Paramount Pictures Story Editor David Kirkpatrick for a two-night, four-hour deep dive into the power of screenplay coverage. In Mastering Coverage: Crafting, Creating & Controlling the Narrative of Your Screenplay, you'll learn how to navigate the coverage process from both sides—understanding professional reader reports, leveraging feedback to strengthen your script, and, most importantly, generating your own coverage to shape industry perception. This class will also explore how to use ChatGPT as a powerful tool for refining synopses, working in tandem with your human critique partner to craft honest yet dazzling comments.
Before David landed the Story Editor job at Paramount of 27, he worked as a union story analyst for two years at Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Paramount Pictures. Some of his earliest coverage and legal comparisons for the studio included Raiders of the Lost Arc, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Wars.
What will you learn?
This interactive workshop which will include lectures plus hands-on workshops (through breakout rooms) will unlock the secrets to mastering screenplay coverage. You’ll learn...
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How to break down and create the three essential pages: the logline & score coversheet, the 1-page synopsis, and the all-important comment page.
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Techniques for selecting the right comps (from classics and new hits) to uniquely position your screenplay in the industry.
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Proven strategies for crafting a logline that not only encapsulates your story but also sells its potential.
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How to work with a human critique partner to generate and deliver incisive, honest comments that you guide and shape but don’t write.
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Ways to leverage collaborative tools—including critique partners and ChatGPT—to refine your analysis.
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Practical steps for using your coverage as a powerful asset to open doors with agents, producers, and managers.
Just think, not only roll through the “nos” faster to get to the important “yes”, but you’ll never have to pay for studio-level coverage again!
This is how the two workshops will unfold:
At the top of the first hour, you will be given a Story Summit Alumni template to work from which will allow you to fill in the scorecard, too.
Workshop I: The Fundamentals of Coverage
The legends behind screenwriting— Syd Field, Chris Vogler, John Truby, Robert McKee, and Blake Snyder were all story analysts. Learn how the pros do it.
2 Hours
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Introduction & Value of Coverage
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Discover why screenplay coverage is the essential gateway for writers breaking into the entertainment business.
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The Three Essential Pages
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Logline & Score Cover: Craft an attention-grabbing logline paired with a compelling score cover.
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1-Page Synopsis: Learn to distill your screenplay into a concise yet powerful summary.
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Comments Page: Understand its role as the linchpin for first impressions.
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Selecting Comps
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How to choose the right comparisons (comps both classic and contemporary) that are unique to the film industry.
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Crafting the All-Important Logline
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Techniques to create a smart but marketable logline that sells your story.
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High Score Card: Balancing Art and Commerce
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Learn to design a score card that marries creative insight with commercial potential.
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Front-Page Comments & Collaborative Tools
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Master the art of delivering honest yet dazzling feedback in a single paragraph.
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Explore using a critique partner to bring integrity to the process and ChatGPT to help you to create a readable and dynamic summary.
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Breakout Sessions
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Small groups of five will work on refining scorecards, selecting comps, and perfecting loglines.
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Establish a pre-Workshop II touchpoint to share progress and insights.
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Workshop II: Refining and Leveraging Your Coverage
2 hours
Elevate your analysis, master your craft, become a pro, and break into Hollywood!
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Review & Feedback Session
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Present and critique completed synopses in a collaborative setting.
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Learn from group feedback to elevate your narrative analysis.
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Strategic Use of Coverage
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Decide if and how to include coverage in your query packages.
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Step-by-step guidance on presenting your coverage to agents, producers, and managers.
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Turning Analysis into Opportunity
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Identify that one spark of insight to push past the “nos” and find the believer in your work.
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Learn practical strategies for resilience and continuous improvement.
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Interactive Q&A and Final Takeaways
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Engage in an open discussion to resolve individual challenges.
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Recap key insights and actionable steps for further mastery.
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Action steps to move forward
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Join David Kirkpatrick, studio story editor as well as a president of both Paramount and Walt Disney, for a powerful, hands-on workshop that transforms your approach to screenplay coverage in just four hours.
Our Faculty
Today's Price Only $127 for 4 hours of instruction
Story Summit + Annual subscribers receive a 20% discount coupon available in their dashboard. Not a subscriber yet? join here.
Please note: Our classes are designed specifically for live participation, so your attendance is important. If you need to miss a class for any reason, you’ll receive a passcode-protected link to watch the recordings after the course is over.
A Peek at Our Past Virtual Classes
