Worthily Films – What we look for when reading new material
Worthily Films, Founded by Steve Dodsworth and Chelsea Leigh Macleod, have recently wrapped their first short film project Waiting For Time, written by Paul Chronnell, directed by The Bashford Twins and starring Ariyon Bakare and Jade Harrison.
Moving into an exciting festival run, the newly emerged production company are currently developing their narrative slate. Here are a few things they look for when reading submissions:
ESSENTIALS for Worthily Films
- Is it relevant?
We are looking for stories that are current, fresh and relatable. Truthful stories that represent the world we live in today. Screenplays with timeless themes and ones that will encourage diversity and inclusivity.
Characters
Character driven stories that are truthful and heartfelt. We are not interested in cliche characters. If a screenplay has an empowering complex female lead, it is immediately of interest to us. We aim to produce works that are inclusive and diverse in nature. Well rounded and interesting characters are what capture our attention.
- We LOVE:
- Strong opening scenes
- Powerful, unpredictable but believable twists.
- Humour or light (regardless of the genre)
- Strong character development and well rounded characters
- Punchy dialogue
- Things we DON’T love:
- Boring, cliche characters and storylines
- Stories with no depth
- Screenplays that are too long
Kristen Burr, former executive VP of production for live-action film at Disney, mentioned the length of scripts in an article in VULTURE magazine. She said that it drives her bananas when a script is longer than 120 pages, Burr knows that people will see the film as slow. Worthily Films similarly to Burr, appreciates when writers keep their stories tight and punchy- it’s an art and in our opinion, an important one.