Coverage Verdict

The coverage verdict is the last line of a coverage report and the only line many executives read: traditionally Pass, Consider, or Recommend, applied to the script and often separately to the writer.

The distribution is brutal and worth knowing. Recommends are rare — a reader who recommends is staking their judgment, so many issue one or two a year. Considers mean real promise with real reservations. Passes are the overwhelming majority, and most are "competent but not compelling" rather than incompetent.

The double verdict matters more than writers realize. "Pass on script, Consider writer" is a genuinely good outcome — it means the reader will open your next one. Careers are built on a chain of writer-Considers long before a script-Recommend arrives.

We deliberately don't use "Pass" on this platform. Our scorecard returns a readiness tier instead — because "not ready yet, here's the specific gap, here's the path to a second read" is more honest and more useful than a verdict designed for studio triage. Same professional standards, different purpose: coverage verdicts exist to protect an executive's time; a readiness tier exists to get your script over the line. Our resubmission guide covers what to do with one.