Methodology
What is the Quilty Score?
The Quilty Score is Quilty's 0–100 composite for screenplay readiness — four weighted pillars (Story & Craft, Commercial Viability, Cultural Resonance, Production Reality), verdict bands, and how each medium is scored.
The Quilty Score is Quilty’s 0–100 composite for screenplay readiness — a weighted model that answers one question producers, financiers, and writers actually ask: does this project have the craft, market fit, cultural timing, and feasibility to justify a greenlight conversation?
Unlike a single “AI opinion,” the score decomposes into four empirically grounded pillars with published weights, verdict bands, and (on every full analysis) confidence intervals and a content fingerprint for reproducibility.
The four pillars (feature film)
| Pillar | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Story & Craft | 35% | Structure, character, dialogue, originality — script-intrinsic quality |
| Commercial Viability | 30% | Genre heat, comparables, audience demand, packaging signal |
| Cultural Resonance | 20% | Zeitgeist alignment — thematic overlap with active cultural topics |
| Production Reality | 15% | Budget efficiency, technical complexity, shoot feasibility |
Story & Craft is static: good act structure in 1980 is good act structure in 2026. The other three pillars are dynamic: a western that scored well in 1955 may score differently today; climate-anxiety themes score higher now than cold-war anxiety scripts did in 1984.
Verdict bands
| Score | Band | Typical read |
|---|---|---|
| 75+ | Exceptional | Top-tier greenlight signal; strong across pillars |
| 72–74 | Excellent | High confidence; minor gaps only |
| 68–71 | Strong | Solid commercial conversation starter |
| 63–67 | Promising | Craft or market gap to close before packaging |
| 55–62 | Developing | Meaningful revision or repositioning needed |
| <55 | Early Stage | Foundational craft or concept work |
These bands are calibrated against Quilty’s Profitability V2 corpus (160 films) and Narrative Genome Commonality V2 (68 screenplays) — not arbitrary thresholds.
TV and theatre use different frameworks
TV (five pillars): Series Engine & Craft (30%), Character & Ensemble (20%), Platform & Market (20%), Cultural Resonance (15%), Production & Business (15%). TV scoring evaluates binge sustainability, ensemble durability, and streaming economics — not single-film theatrical potential.
Theatre (five pillars): Theatricality (25%), Market Viability (25%), Production Feasibility (20%), Artistic Merit (20%), Commercial Potential (10%). Stage scoring evaluates live-audience engagement and regional-to-Broadway viability.
How Quilty Rules relate to the score
Every full analysis also runs Quilty Rules — 14 grade-style checks (A–F) grounded in the same corpora. The strongest empirical finding in that engine: Story Craft Strength correlates with worldwide box office at ρ = +0.546, p < 0.0001 (n = 117 films with verified grosses). The Quilty Score synthesizes pillar-level signal; Quilty Rules expose which compositional patterns drive that signal.
Where to go next
FAQ
- What is the Quilty Score?
- The Quilty Score is a 0–100 weighted composite that evaluates creative content across film, television, and theatre. Each medium has its own purpose-built scoring framework with distinct pillars, weights, and verdict tiers calibrated to how that medium actually gets greenlit.
- What are the four pillars of the Film Quilty Score?
- Story & Craft (35%), Commercial Viability (30%), Cultural Resonance (20%), and Production Reality (15%). Story & Craft measures script-intrinsic quality; the other three measure market, zeitgeist, and feasibility context.
- What do the Quilty Score bands mean?
- 75+ Exceptional (top-tier greenlight signal), 72–74 Excellent, 68–71 Strong, 63–67 Promising, 55–62 Developing, below 55 Early Stage. Bands are calibrated against Quilty's profitability and genome corpora — not arbitrary cutoffs.
- Can the same screenplay get different Quilty Scores over time?
- Yes. Story & Craft is largely static, but Commercial Viability, Cultural Resonance, and Production Reality are temporal — the same script can score differently as genre heat, cultural topics, and budget norms shift.
- How is the Quilty Score different from critic scores?
- Critic consensus (IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic) measures reception after release. The Quilty Score evaluates pre-production screenplay and packaging signal — structure, market fit, zeitgeist alignment, and feasibility before cameras roll.
Score your screenplay
See Quilty Score, Narrative Genome, and Trim Advisor on your own script.