Genre: Dramedy
Premise: (from Black List) The longtime assistant of a famous singer must navigate the rocky waters of the LA music scene to make her dreams of producing music a reality.
About: Today’s script finished JUST OUTSIDE the Black List’s top 10. Flora Greeson is just getting started with her career. She scored a rewrite job on the Elizabeth Banks project, “When Prince Made a Chambermaid His Queen for a Day,” about an MTV contest in the 80s where a fan got to be Prince’s date for a night. This is the script that got her the gig.
Writer: Flora Greeson
Details: 99 pages
Music flicks are hot right now, people. The double-hit whammy of Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born has whet studios appetites. Today’s script tries to take advantage of the craze. Let’s see if it succeeds.
26 year-old Maggie Sherwood is an assistant to one of the most important singers of the last three decades, Suzanne Wilson (Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston rolled up into one). Maggie has finally graduated from running errands to producing Suzanne’s current project, a Greatest Hits live album.
But Maggie is frustrated with Suzanne. She thinks she should be releasing new music, not going back to the well, even if that well is bottomless. Suzanne is reluctant to the idea, which sends Maggie off in search of someone new she can produce. One day, while in the drug store, she bumps into the impossibly handsome David, a great singer held back by an anxious streak. Maggie tells him that if he gives himself over to her, she can make him a star.
Naturally, she starts falling for him, and their impromptu musical assignments begin interfering with her assistant job. Suzanne has a giant promotional concert for the Live album, and she needs Maggie now more than ever. Specifically, she needs a hot young act to bring some millennial attention to the concert. I think you know where this is headed.
Maggie orchestrates some last second shenanigans to make David the act. But while Maggie assumes Suzanne will be the tough sell, it turns out it’s David. Will she be able to convince him? Or will a last second bombshell ruin everything?
I know what everyone who just read this summary is thinking.
“That sounds like the most cliche plot ever.”
And you’d be right. We’ve seen this plot time and time again. But here’s why it’s still a good script – because Greeson nailed the execution. It wasn’t a slam dunk. But she got most of the pieces right. Which made for a highly entertaining read.
Look. We all want to be the next Tarantino, or Jordan Peele, or Diablo Cody, or Charlie Kaufman – that writer with an impossibly unique voice that the town goes bonkers over. But that’s not the only way to break in. You can work in this business a long time by becoming a Screenwriting Execution Nerd – someone who knows how to get all the pieces right. It’s the difference between Tom Brady and Eli Manning. Tom Brady is Tarantino. He does things nobody else can do. Eli Manning is Derek Kolstad (the writer of John Wick). He’s more of a game manager. But guess what? Eli Manning won 2 Super Bowls. Same thing with Kolstad. He built a major franchise. So don’t hate on execution. If you can learn how to nail this unique skill that is screenwriting, people are going to hire you.
Covers executes three things really well. For starters, the characters in this script are fun and vibrant. Remember that if you can make us love your characters (specifically your main character), half your job is done. That’s because audiences like following people they like, even if the story is flawed. Maggie gets shit on all day, but keeps plugging away. She’s got a good sense of humor about her position. She’s also talented at what she does. These are all things you would admire in a real life person. So of course you’re going to like them in a fictional one.
Even Suzanne, who plays second fiddle in the story, is interesting. She’s riding on the success of her past instead of taking a chance and trying to do something new. So there’s conflict there. Where there’s conflict, the audience will want to keep watching to see if that conflict is resolved (in this case, whether she’ll record new music or not).
Next, the plotting here is STRONG. We’re always moving forward. The first scene of the script has us dropped into our heroine running around in preparation for her boss’s party. And it never stops. By creating this GOAL of the Greatest Hits Live Album slash promotional concert, we always have something we’re moving towards. That’s how you write good plots. The characters are moving towards something important.
Finally, Greeson KNOWS HER SUBJECT MATTER. She has a passion for music. When I started writing, I didn’t think this was important. Eventually I realized that the name of the game was pulling the reader into your world. Once they’re in your world, you have them. So the more you know about the subject matter you’re writing in, the easier it is to pull people into your world. These characters in Covers are able to rattle off artists and albums and songs the way only people who live in the music world can. Not to mention the technical things like what a recording session looks like, or what a day in the life of a real music legend looks like. All of that felt legitimate, which made me believe in the story.
When you don’t know your subject matter, everything you write is a copy. For example, if you’re writing a cop movie and you’ve never researched a cop’s job, you’re probably going to write the character based on some other cop character you saw in another movie. And don’t get me wrong. Sometimes you can get away with this. All I’m saying is that when you’re writing about a world you REALLY understand, it makes a difference. I fully trusted that Gleeson knew this world inside out. The details are way too specific for that not to be the case.
The reason Covers doesn’t get a higher score from me is, one, it’s an unoriginal plot. You can’t escape that. You can only wow someone so much with familiarity. And two, there’s a late twist in the script that’s borderline disastrous. It’s such a misguided choice that it almost sent me into ‘wasn’t for me’ territory. I was so mad because I wanted to celebrate the power of great execution with a high score. But I can’t let this ending go. I won’t spoil it but feel free to talk about it in the Comments Section with spoiler warnings.
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: This is going to sound obvious but when it comes to being a Screenwriting Execution Nerd, you need to know how to make plots move (a complete command of the 3-Act Structure), you need to know how make heroes likable (understanding the traits that make human beings likable in general), and you need to know how to add depth to characters (through inner conflict or flaws). If you can’t do these things, you need to have an amazing voice, like Tarantino or Diablo Cody. Otherwise, why would somebody hire you?
