Online software platform ScriptHop has introduced an online tool for Hollywood to allow writers to share their screenplays more securely and retain more influence over the overall process of submitting a script. The Packet aims to move away from artificial intelligence and instead get actual people at agencies and studios to read scripts. Rather than relying on an in-house reader to provide coverage on a script, the writer, via The Packet, is encouraged to market the screenplay themselves, and directly to executives. And the tool also wants to make reader’s jobs a little easier.
“The Packet makes a writer’s vision resonate beyond any bland distillation, adding dimension to a process that’s tended to make both writers and decision makers suffer,” ScriptHop co-founder Scott Foster, a former UTA story department head, said in a statement shared with press. “It’s also a transposable source industry readers can transfer into their coverage, while maintaining the writer’s version of the logline and synopsis. It presents these distillations in a much more engaging form, and enables readers to focus on really reading the script and giving the writing its due when they evaluate it, rather than waste their own time abridging it.”
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The growing list of partners on ScriptHop’s advisory board include Film Independent, Untitled Entertainment, and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
“The Packet is easy to email or text,” said co-founder Brian Austin, who designed the system. “It includes the script along with documents like lookbooks and bibles, and information about the project such as the logline, synopsis, character breakdowns, attachments, writer bio, and more. It’s easy for the recipient to access and no special software is required. Users simply click a link.”
Austin added, “The need to digest content is so great that many are pursuing AI to read and choose which scripts will be successes. Seeing this trend caused us to make a major pivot from focusing on AI to focusing on empowering the creators. It’s utilizing technology in the right way, while keeping the human and artist element in place.”
For now, The Packet is available by invitation only. For more information, visit scripthop.com. (It’s also currently free.)
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