Ties That Bind

Two brads… three? Isn’t there a better way in this age of modern technology? Another writer was pondering the depths of script binding the other day, puzzled at the industry’s apparent stone-age mentality in regards to the little metal clasps that are the subject of such debate the screenwriting world over.

So what’s the great love for those little pieces of confounded metal with the tabs that poke out, and flip around and just generally cause such debate? Sure it’s possible in this modern time to bind pages in a more secure manner. Spiral binders are cheap, efficient, and most definitely more secure, so why not use that?

Permanence. Spiral binding is a fairly permanent method of binding. Yes, pages can be removed, but with great effort. The people who are reading the scripts are busy, if they like the script they will probably make several copies to pass around inside their company for another ‘opinion’… such is the nature of the game… I love this… do you? Spiral bindings would make this difficult at best.

Ring binders. Why not? Simple, easy to open and close, removing pages would be no problem, right? Right. Also, bulky, heavy, not to mention would boost the writer’s postage costs considerably due to weight. But lets get to the bulky, and heavy… producers, agents, managers, receive hundreds of scripts that they take home to read on the weekends, or at night, if they all came in three-ring binders it would increase the size and weight to a degree that is unbearable.

So, brads. That’s what we have left. The archaic, aggravating, difficult to find in the proper style, piece of metal that makes removing the pages easy, the scripts lightweight, and doesn’t increase their bulk in any way. How many? Most office-style hole punchers come designed to punch three holes in the pages. Yet the industry standard is to only use two brads, one at the top, and one at the bottom of the page-easier-one less brad to remove.

That’s just petty, you may say, that they might discount, or consider the writer a newbie for something as simple as putting three brads in the holes instead of just two. Yeah, maybe, but then consider those hundreds of scripts. That one extra brad means one hundred more brads to remove. It wouldn’t make any difference for one, but for hundreds it means one of the most valuable commodities in the movie industry… time.

So fasten the scripts in a way that is professional and acceptable. Two brads ( brass, not brass plated), one at the top, one at the bottom, and ship that baby off with confidence. You are a pro.

Happy writing.