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PDF format only. If your script is in another format — Final Draft, Fountain, Highland, or anything else — please export it to PDF before submitting. Every major screenwriting application supports PDF export.

Yes. 100%. Always. Your scripts are protected under advanced security measures to ensure that what belongs to you, remains exclusively yours. For full details, please read our Privacy Policy.

It depends on your tier. Indie subscribers receive their report within 72 hours — often sooner. Pro is within 48 hours via priority queue. Studio is within 24 hours, with same-day rush available on request. Single coverage follows the Indie window.

These are committed ceilings, not estimates. See the Delivery section for the full breakdown.

Every report runs 12 sections: Topsheet, Three-Lens Summary, Opening Pages, Story & Structure, Character Work, Tone & Conflict, Setting & Visual Language, Market Viability, Strengths & Weaknesses, Prioritized Revisions, Synopsis, and a personal Reader's Note.

TV pilots, limited series, and vertical formats also include a Series Engine section — a 6-pillar assessment of the show's long-term potential. For the full breakdown, see The Report. In Full.

Features, TV pilots (one-hour and half-hour), limited series, and vertical format series. All genres.

If it wasn’t written for the screen, it isn’t a fit: reality and unscripted television, stage plays, novels and manuscripts, comics and graphic novels.

Each subscription tier comes with a monthly credit allowance. Indie Writer includes 1 coverage a month; unused credits become Residuals, which never expire. Pro Developer includes 4 a month, with a rolling bank of up to 8; anything beyond that becomes Residuals.

Studio/Agency is unlimited within fair use of around 50 a month, and unused capacity doesn't roll over. If you just need a single read with no commitment, the $34.99 one-off option gives you one credit without a subscription.

You can cancel your subscription any time, no questions asked. Your Residuals stay yours and usable after you cancel: on Indie Writer and Pro Developer, banked credits remain until you use them. Subscription fees aren't refundable for the current billing period; see our Refund Policy.

If you'd rather pause your membership than cancel, get in touch and we'll take care of it.

Every report is reviewed and signed off by Brian Hanford, dev|cut.’s founder and senior reader: a working development producer and former script reader who has been on both sides of the development table. The analysis is backed by a bespoke engine built specifically for coverage, but Brian reads the output, writes the Reader's Note, and signs every report before it reaches you.

It's our market viability assessment — a section that most coverage services don't offer. We evaluate your script against active studio and network profiles, their current slates, and recent buying patterns, then produce a buyer-fit table rating each as Strong, Possible, or Weak fit with substantiated rationale.

It's the analysis that bridges craft and commerce. Not a guess — a read of who's buying what, and how your script fits that picture right now.

You can submit as many scripts as you have credits. Whether it's 1 or 20, we can make it happen.

Different jobs. The Black List is a hosting-and-discovery platform: writers pay to host a script publicly, then pay per evaluation for a 1–10 score and brief reader notes. It's built to help a ready script get found. dev|cut. is built for the step before that. We offer full-length, section-by-section coverage from a bespoke script-intelligence engine plus a working development professional's actual read, so a writer knows what to fix and why.

The two can be used in tandem: dev|cut. to get a script ready, The Black List to get it seen once it is.

Residuals are coverage credits you didn’t use. On Indie Writer, every unused monthly credit becomes a Residual; on Pro Developer, credits beyond your rolling bank of 8 do. Residuals never expire, and they stay yours if you cancel.

Studio/Agency is built for volume: unlimited coverage within fair use of around 50 reports a month, delivered within 24 hours. Unused capacity doesn’t roll over. Need more? Get in touch.

Yes, openly. dev|cut. is a hybrid: a bespoke script-intelligence engine does the deep analysis, and a working development professional reviews it, writes the Reader’s Note and signs off every report. Your script is never used to train, fine-tune or improve any AI model (Terms of Service, section 31). Read more on how we use AI.

All prices on the site and in the app are in US dollars (USD). If your card is issued outside the US, your bank handles the conversion at its own rate.

Yes. A new draft is a new read, so resubmitting uses a credit. The Prioritized Revisions section of your report is built to be worked through before you come back, so the second read measures real change rather than repeating the first.