Agents, Producers, Readers, Studio Execs are pressed for time. There are so many scripts and so little time to read them. Unless they are certain they are in for a good read, no one is willing to devote the 90 to 120 minutes it takes to read a screenplay only to end up passing on it. I want to like what I read. People think that you can't wait to send back the rejection notes.
Rejection is guaranteed if the writer fails to use the first ten pages to draw the reader in.
To accomplish this, the writer must make sure that the script starts at the precise moment. A common error many writers make in setting up the story is letting the crucial ten pages go by filled with exposition and useless scenes, and then starting the drama around page 30. Very few readers, unless the writing is exceptional, will give the writer 30 or more pages to set up the story. Selma Luttinger of New York based Robert A. Freedman Dramatic Agency wants to be hooked and grabbed into the story. Sometimes not a lot can happen in ten pages, so then I look at the quality of the writing.