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  • jscoggins
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Hi, all. Since this seems to be the primary Spec Scout-related thread, I thought I'd post here that we launched a major revision of the site yesterday. There are so many improvements over the old site that it'd be ridiculous to list them all here. Suffice to say that the look and feel of the site has changed dramatically, it now plays nice with mobile browsers, we can take credit cards instead of just PayPal and the payment form is secure, and we're finally able to transfer in the 20 or so projects from our writer clients that scored high enough to make it into the site.

    Our policies haven't changed since that TL;DR post I wrote above, on February 6. That's still the best summary of what we're doing and why. If we make any significant changes now that the relaunch is behind us, I'll let you know.

    In the meantime, check out the new site. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, good or bad.

    Leave a comment:


  • jscoggins
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Originally posted by EJ Pennypacker View Post
    Love to hear your thoughts on this Jason

    EJ
    EJ: I'd have to look at the site to be sure, but I think that means it was covered 4 times (probably a mistake on our part), plus we would have included the logline from the original spec market listing or when we saw it on the Hit List, whichever we used. 4 + 1 = 5 loglines.

    You definitely shouldn't pay us for three more reviews, but without knowing your specific situation it's hard to recommend ways to leverage what's already there. Let's discuss it offline -- you can email me at j @ specscout.com We can bring the discussion back here if you think it would be helpful to the board.

    Leave a comment:


  • EJ Pennypacker
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Originally posted by EJ Pennypacker View Post
    Hi Jason,

    I have a script that is logged on the site, that I never paid coverage/nor uploaded. It has five different loglines written in the preview window of the coverage sneak-peek. Am I to assume that it got reviewed five times? And not three?

    And what does a writer do to leverage this information for your site? If I pay for three reviews does that mean it now potentially gets covered eight times, which naturally sounds excessive...

    The script also made The Hit List 2012.

    EJ
    Love to hear your thoughts on this Jason

    EJ

    Leave a comment:


  • jscoggins
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Hi, all. My apologies for going quiet after the invigorating exchange during the holidays. I'll be more attentive to this thread going forward. In the meantime, I thought I'd re-start the conversation by giving an update on the changes we made to Spec Scout in the wake of that conversation. I'll stay high level for this post and get as granular as you want in my replies. And please forgive me in advance for the lengthy post.

    As a reminder, there are three basic facets to SpecScout:

    - We're tracking the spec market on a daily basis, and basic project info is free to anyone who comes to the site on a day to day basis;

    - We're doing coverage on scripts that hit the spec market, which includes our Spec Scout Score, and making that coverage available in one place (i.e., in our coverage library, available to our pro subscribers for a monthly fee); and

    - We're providing a paid coverage service to writers using the same rubric and scoring system we apply to spec market scripts. Writer clients whose scripts score above a 68 on our 1 to 100 point scale are invited to be included in the coverage library for no additional fee. (The cutoff was 70 for a while, but we changed it to 68 for reasons I explain below.)

    Each script we cover is read and reviewed by three separate readers who, in addition to having significant experience doing coverage before they start working with us, a) have been trained by us by reading and covering literally dozens of scripts before their work is available on our site or through our paid service, and b) use a very lengthy (45+ page) and very granular rubric we developed in order to make sure they're all reviewing the material the same way. In addition to providing an overall Pass/Consider/Recommend-style rating, they evaluate 10 individual attributes of the script and provide ratings for each on a 1-to-5 scale. Our algorithm calculates those scores into a single number on a 1-to-100 scale, and the Spec Scout Score is the average of the three readers' scores.

    To clear up a misconception I noticed above, subscribers cannot download scripts from our site. We're not charging for access to scripts. We're not a script library in any sense of the term. Our subscribers are paying for access to a library of coverage. When subscribers are interested in material they discover on our site, we put them in touch with the agent or manager or writer directly.

    Another misconception I noticed is the idea that we're covering random drafts of scripts that are already in development around town, the way ScriptShadow reviews material in development, for example. We're not. We're only covering the drafts of scripts that were originally sent into the marketplace, and we're doing this because we think its a useful service in and of itself but also so we can compare apples to apples, if you will, between those scripts and the material submitted for our paid coverage service. This way, we can credibly recommend high-scoring scripts from our paid coverage service.

    Here's the single biggest change we made to the site in the wake of the earlier conversation in this thread: We're suppressing scores and coverage comments for all scripts that score below a 68 on our 1 to 100 scale. This goes not just for the public site, which anyone can see, but also behind our paywall, which is only accessible to agents, managers, producers, executives and their ilk.

    Practically speaking, any script that scores above 60 is actually quite good -- it means that each of our three readers have given it an overall "Consider" rating along with solid scores in the individual categories. That said, a score of 68 turns out to be the point at which negative comments in our coverage disappear, replaced by constructive comments about ways to make an already good script better. And that, to quote myself, is in line with our mission to highlight the best stuff out there.

    We've also implemented (but not yet widely publicized) an opt-out policy in response to earlier suggestions. Any writer (or rep) whose script's scores and comments are visible on the site (because it's scored above a 68) may request that we suppress those scores and comments. We won't delete the project from our database, since that would undermine our tracking activities, but we're happy to suppress comments and scores on a case-by-case basis.

    I was initially worried that the lack of a score would signal that a given project is by definition a bad script and thus cause harm. So far, that doesn't seem to be a problem in practice, since a) our coverage of spec market scripts currently lags the market by several weeks, thanks to the load on our readers from paid script submissions, b) we don't have access to every single script that hits the market, and c) we don't indicate which scripts have been opted-out. We'll be keeping an eye on this going forward to make sure the dynamic doesn't shift.

    ...and I think that's enough for this post. I'll do a better job of lurking on the threads in the days to come to respond to questions, slings and arrows.

    Leave a comment:


  • Storytell
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Have any writers used Spec Scout? Opinion, results?

    Have they addressed all the issues previously posted here?

    Did, noticed they raised the minimum score to be listed on the site from 60 to 70.

    Leave a comment:


  • EJ Pennypacker
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    I think I caught Geoff saying he doesn't have access to the site here, but he did get a referral from a clients script hosted/capture with their date that led to a lead.

    Curious if MichaelB or any assistants or reps that lurk also have membership to this site and what they think of it as users?

    EJ

    Leave a comment:


  • LauriD
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Originally posted by ChristopherCurtis View Post
    Laurie, WL on there?
    no. i was thinking about it, which led me to this thread.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bairn_Writer
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Originally posted by karsten View Post
    .

    3. Directly profits off the labor of scriptwriters by charging access, then doesn't give any money back to the scriptwriters whose scripts (being reviewed) give SpecScout its only broadly notable content.
    Exactly what has been in my mind. Charging people for access to a script that you don't own is beyond what even ScriptShadow had the nerve to do.

    Leave a comment:


  • emily blake
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    This whole thing is very, very shady.

    Leave a comment:


  • karsten
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Originally posted by Bitter Script Reader View Post
    I'm seeing disturbing echoes between this and ScriptShadow. Though that might be unfair as Carson doesn't charge for access to his reviews.
    Indeed. This service seems far worse than even the most negative assessment of SS.

    At least in the case of ScriptShadow when SS was reviewing specs, a writer could ask that his script not be reviewed and it wouldn't be reviewed, or if it was reviewed, he could ask for the review to be pulled and it would be pulled.

    Plus, as BSR points out, Carson's revenue only came from ads (which, in my experience at least, yield minimal returns).

    And at the very least, at SS, a writer could see the review of his own script.

    But SpecScout, it seems:

    1. Reviews scripts whether the writers like it or not.

    2. Does not pull reviews at the writer's request.

    3. Directly profits off the labor of scriptwriters by charging access, then doesn't give any money back to the scriptwriters whose scripts (being reviewed) give SpecScout its only broadly notable content.

    4. Doesn't even allow screenwriters to see the reviews of their own scripts!

    Unless I'm reading something wrong, this service seems utterly horrible.
    Last edited by karsten; 01-23-2013, 06:14 AM.

    Leave a comment:


  • ChristopherCurtis
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Originally posted by LauriD View Post
    I just skimmed this long-ish thread and I didn't notice any actual success stories based on good Spec Scout ratings.

    Are there any?

    Seems like with SS, the BL, etc. that's where the rubber hits the road...
    Laurie, WL on there?

    Leave a comment:


  • ChristopherCurtis
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Our latest draft and rw is complete, and will be hitting many of them (lists,contests) simultaneously. I have been waiting since August to get it done and out. We got it where we want it now. SpecScout WILL be one of the 5 we choose.

    Leave a comment:


  • LauriD
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    I just skimmed this long-ish thread and I didn't notice any actual success stories based on good Spec Scout ratings.

    Are there any?

    Seems like with SS, the BL, etc. that's where the rubber hits the road...

    Leave a comment:


  • Midnite
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Did I miss the This Thread is Closed memo?

    Midnite

    Leave a comment:


  • EJ Pennypacker
    replied
    Re: Spec Scout

    Hi Jason,

    I have a script that is logged on the site, that I never paid coverage/nor uploaded. It has five different loglines written in the preview window of the coverage sneak-peek. Am I to assume that it got reviewed five times? And not three?

    And what does a writer do to leverage this information for your site? If I pay for three reviews does that mean it now potentially gets covered eight times, which naturally sounds excessive...

    The script also made The Hit List 2012.

    EJ

    Leave a comment:

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