Missed what's going on? Check out Part 1 or Part 2.
Throughout this challenge, I’ve discovered that my favorite time to read is while flying, and lucky for me, it’s the holidays, and I have family all across the country, which means plenty of flying. Depending on the length of the flight (and what I’m reading), I can knock out 2-3 scripts per flight. Mainly because I’m a captive audience and because the alternative would be active procrastination, which would be watching movies to avoid doing the work.
 
The first 10-scripts I read were well-known and produced screenplays for the most part. However, as I enter the halfway mark of the challenge, I’m opening the doors to more screenplays from unproduced writers from around Twitter and in the Writer’s Café (shameless plug). When I’m reading a script from an up-and-coming writer, I always try to provide feedback, so for me, this is where I slowed down the most on the challenge. So you read the Script, collect your thoughts, give the notes, succumb to creative drain, wait four days, go again.
 
The following ten scripts are also where I realized I might not finish all 30 scripts in precisely 30 days. But, not to be deterred, I kept my head down and plowed ahead, starting with some popular shows that many of you may be familiar with:

11. Barry (ep205) - written by Alec Berg & Bill Hader

-- If y’all are fans of Barry, then you’ve seen the episode where Barry is tasked with assassinating a Taekwondo champion and his daughter. This episode drew a lot of attention for being a bit of a non-sequitur within the series, and it is a fun episode. The biggest takeaway is the way the fights are written/or not written. The writer leaves a lot to the imagination of the stunt coordinator, and this dark comedy episode comes in at just 22 pages.

12. Maniac (pilot) - written by Patrick Somerville

-- I watched this show a few years ago, and I thought it was a fantastic presentation of a sci-fi show about depression and connection. It was intimate, confusing, and introspective. However, the pilot script only does part of this. The script is confusing, even for a sci-fi that follows a character dealing with depression. It presents our protagonist Owen, as a down on his luck New Yorker, who not only feels alone but is suffocatingly lonely. No one hears him or even pays attention to him as he moves through life. The modern era is an overwhelming cacophony of noise and technology, but while the script has some good world-building, I wasn’t left with a sense of where this story was going next or what I could expect from this series.

13. The Lobster (feature) - written by Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthimis Filippou 

-- This script is so extraordinary. I’ve heard most stories by Yorgos Lanthimos are unusual, but it’s so refreshing to read a script that doesn’t fall into any pre-prescribed style. The world is incredibly unique, the conversation is intentionally flat, and the consequences are always life or death. It’s a love story crafted in an apathetic world where everyone is desperate to find someone but terrified to open up to them. (FYI, the way action blocks are formatted are absolutely massive).

Am I getting too GIF heavy? I don't know, but I also don't care. In here I am all powerful and gifs are my one true vice.

20 scripts in, 10 to go. 

​Until next time in Part 4. 

In 2010, when I first moved to Los Angeles, I had no idea that I wanted to be a screenwriter. I was here for college. That being said, I’ve always loved movies and TV, so of course, I worked on a couple short films and auditioned with the rest of the Hollywood hopefuls. Still, as mentioned, there was no immediate sense of becoming a writer.
 
Being in college and needing a fresh supply of delicious ramen, I came to the realization that I would need to make some money. I needed a job. UCLA had a job board to help students navigate the overwhelming task of finding employment in LA. Lucky for me, I managed to nab a gig as a script reader for Ari Shankar’s independent script financing company, 1984 Films. It was here that I discovered a love for the craft of screenwriting.  
 
1984 Films required me to read three to four feature-length scripts every day! For the uninformed, a feature-length script usually runs between 90 and 120 pages and can take three hours to read. I wouldn’t call myself a particularly slow reader, but I get caught up in the story. I like to remember every scrap of detail the writer gives me, and in doing so, perhaps I don’t fly through the pages as quickly as most. After reading a script, the company required me to write a two-paragraph summary of the story and provide my thoughts on whether the company should help finance the movie.
 
Looking back, this gives a lot of power to a new reader pretty inexperienced with Hollywood. Still, I absorbed so much throughout this experience. Throughout my 3-months of summer employment, I read close to 150 screenplays. Subconsciously, I learned screenplay formatting, story pacing, character development, and so-so-SO MUCH MORE.