I paid for ScriptShark coverage under the premise that they would read the screenplay, write an accurate synopsis, write coverage tailored for it, and possibly refer it.
They did none of these things.
The synopsis was obviously written by someone who had "thumbed" the screenplay. The entire thing was riddled with mistakes. Mistakes like repeatedly writing things that never happened in the screenplay. Mistakes like incredibly obvious, glaring, spelling/grammar errors in every other sentence.
The coverage was just a bunch of all-purpose general theory (the function of a protagonist, what a premise is, etc.). It seems that they just send the exact same coverage to everyone and sprinkle it with a few comments that are actually relevant to the screenplay at hand.
The company lures writers on the promise that they'll help promote a great screenplay if they get one. Read their "successes" page to see how laughable this is. They employ nine readers who can probably collectively handle a couple hundred scripts a day (it would only take twenty minutes to hammer out the type of crap coverage that I got) and yet they only have SEVEN "success stories" for the entire years of 2006 and 2007. What's more, if you look at the wording, only one of these modest successes seems to actually have anything to do with ScriptShark's involvement (and for some reason that success is listed twice - for both 2006 AND 2007). All the rest say something to the effect of, "John Doe, who once paid for ScriptShark coverage, signed with NoName management."
I'm betting John Doe got that success on his own. Save your money people. You have to go through enough heartache in this business as it is.
Writer_guy
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.