Question Screenwriter Screenwriting for the U.S. market in 2026 – what do they really expect?

Great points.

Especially the idea of the script as a business document that’s still a hard pill to swallow for many writers.

From what I see, spec scripts still matter, but mostly as proof of voice and discipline, not as the thing that gets made. In the U.S. system they function more like a calling card. Once someone trusts that you can deliver, the real work often starts with rewrites, development assignments or adaptations.
Pitching, on the other hand, feels increasingly important. Not necessarily as a polished performance, but as a way of showing that you understand the market and can communicate a story clearly. If you can’t explain your film in one or two sentences, it’s very hard to convince people to invest time and money into it.
Budget awareness is where a lot of writers still resist, but I agree it’s unavoidable. You don’t have to write “cheap,” but understanding scale changes the way you design scenes, characters and set-pieces. The writers who last are usually the ones who can adjust the story without losing its core.

And I fully agree on flexibility. In the U.S. market the script is rarely sacred. It’s a living document. Writers who see collaboration as part of the job, not as a compromise, tend to move forward much faster.

— Cinema Doktor

What I think a lot of people are actually searching for here is why so many technically solid scripts still fail in the U.S. market.

Most of the time it’s not about talent. It’s about how quickly the reader understands what they’re looking at. In the U.S. system, clarity early on is everything. If within the first few pages it’s not obvious who the story is about, what that person wants, and what kind of movie this is, the script usually doesn’t survive the initial read.
A common issue I see, especially with writers coming from outside the U.S., is that the script “finds itself” too late. The deeper meaning might be there, but American readers don’t wait for it. Ambiguity early on often feels like uncertainty, not depth.

Another big factor is communication. A strong script still needs to be explainable. If the core idea can’t be clearly expressed in one or two sentences, it becomes very hard for anyone to champion it in a development meeting. That’s not about dumbing the story down, it’s about understanding its engine.

Budget awareness plays into this more than people like to admit. You don’t have to write small stories, but when scenes read expensive without being essential, resistance kicks in immediately. Writers who understand scale tend to design tighter, more focused moments instead of relying on spectacle.
And flexibility really is the difference between writers who stall and writers who keep working. In the U.S. market the script isn’t a sacred object, it’s a working document. The people who treat collaboration and rewrites as part of the job usually move forward faster.
It’s not that the U.S. market asks writers to be less creative. It asks them to be more precise. The writers who adapt to that tend to last.