A sanity check for your screenplay

You finished the draft. You're about to send it to your agent, your manager, a producer, a contest. But you've been staring at it so long you genuinely can't tell if it works anymore.

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We sat down with screenwriters, writer-directors, development execs, and producers to understand when they feel confident sending a script out, and when they don't. This is what they told us.

You're too close to see it

You've read it fifteen times. Maybe forty. You rewrote the second act twice, moved a scene from page 70 to page 30, cut a character, added them back. At some point you stopped being able to tell whether it's good or whether you're just used to it.

And now you need to send it somewhere. To your rep. To a contest. To a producer who asked to see it. Your name is attached to this thing. If the structure falls apart on page 40, or the protagonist has no clear want, or the dialogue reads flat, that's on you.

There's no quick way to pressure-test it. You can ask someone to read it, but that takes weeks. You can pay for coverage, but that takes money and still takes time. So most people just send it and hope for the best.

“I'm so in the f***ing silo of like, does this even make sense?”
— Writer-director, television

“I just need a quick read before I send it to out.”
— Development executive

What a sanity check actually catches

This isn't deep development. It's not a rewrite plan. It's the stuff that would embarrass you if someone else caught it first.

Does the premise land in one sentence?

If a reader can't explain what your script is about after page 10, you have a premise problem.

Is the structure holding together?

Act breaks in the right place. Midpoint that actually shifts something. Third act that pays off what you set up.

Are there obvious plot holes?

Dropped threads, characters who disappear, setups with no payoff. The stuff you stop seeing after draft five.

Do the characters track?

Does your protagonist have a clear want? Does the antagonist have a reason to exist beyond blocking the hero?

Is the pacing off anywhere obvious?

Pages 30-50 dragging. Third act that rushes. Scenes that repeat the same information.

Would a reader put this down after page 10?

Be honest. If you picked this up cold, would you keep reading?

Who actually needs this

Writers about to submit

To contests, fellowships, agents, managers. You get one shot at a first impression. This is the last read before you hit send.

Agents and managers

Checking a client's draft before sending it out. Your name is on it too. If it goes out with problems, that reflects on you.

Producers and development execs

Quick triage on incoming scripts. Is this worth a full read, or can you tell in the first ten pages?

Anyone stuck between drafts

You know something's off but you're too deep in it to see what. You need a cold read from something that hasn't been staring at this for three months.

“For a screenwriter to get feedback from AI is like checking, if I suck. A sanity check is a good way of putting it.”

— Screenwriter, independent film

How OnDesk does this in minutes

Upload your script. In 2-5 minutes you get back a full coverage report: logline, synopsis, character breakdowns, structural analysis, pacing notes, market read, and a final recommendation. Then you can chat with it, ask follow-up questions about specific scenes, dig into anything that flagged.

It's not going to tell you your script is special. That's a human job. What it will tell you is whether the bones are solid. Whether the structure holds. Whether there's something obvious you're missing because you've been too close to it for too long.

Three free reports. No card required. If you want more, plans start at $20/month.

Want the full picture on how writers use AI feedback? Read what 35+ indie filmmakers told us.

Common questions

The honest answer: you probably can't tell on your own after a certain number of drafts. That's why outside reads exist. At minimum, your premise should be clear, your structure should hold, your characters should have distinct voices, and your formatting should be clean. OnDesk checks all of these in 2-5 minutes and gives you a full report with a recommendation.

Structure, pacing, character clarity, and whether your logline actually sells the concept. Agents read hundreds of scripts. If the first ten pages don't land, they're out. A sanity check catches the obvious issues before your script hits their desk.

AI can tell you if your screenplay is structurally sound, if your characters track, and if there are obvious pacing or logic issues. It can't tell you if your script has that intangible thing that makes someone champion it. Think of it as a technical check, not a taste check. The best approach is AI for the sanity check, humans for the gut check.

Traditional human coverage runs $150-300+ per script, and takes 1-3 weeks. OnDesk starts free (3 reports included), then $20/month for 8 reports with unlimited chat follow-up. Results in minutes, not weeks.

Yes. OnDesk doesn't store your script, never trains AI models on your work, and offers SOC 2 compliance for enterprise customers. Your intellectual property stays yours.

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