GOOD INTENTIONS

Haunted by her own losses, Ruby steals a boy from addiction's grip, only to face justice years later in a story of unconventional motherhood and societal judgment.

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Overview

Poster
Unique Selling Point

This screenplay's unique selling proposition is its morally ambiguous premise that challenges conventional notions of right and wrong. Unlike typical kidnapping stories, it presents the kidnapper as a sympathetic figure saving a child from neglect, forcing audiences to question their moral assumptions about parenting, addiction, and what constitutes a 'good' mother. The dual perspective structure allows viewers to empathize with both women's journeys.

AI Verdict & Suggestions

Ratings are subjective. So you get different engines' ratings to compare.

Hover over verdict cards for Executive Summaries

GPT5
 Recommend
Grok
 Recommend
Gemini
 Consider
Claude
 Recommend
DeepSeek
 Consider
Average Score: 7.8
Key Takeaways
For the Writer:
Lean into the one thing that will make this moral drama feel earned: plausibility. Right now the emotional center — Ruby, Pauley and Sharon — is strong, but several structural conveniences (the deli raid/custody handoff, the decade of concealment, the judge’s leniency) strain credibility and can pull the audience out of the empathy you’ve built. Rework a handful of scenes to dramatize the investigative and legal beats, and tighten the middle montages so motivations and logistics (why Ruby acts, how she survives on the run, why Sharon’s recovery takes the shape it does) are shown rather than told. That small set of surgical fixes will deepen stakes, sharpen character choices, and keep the audience invested through to the courtroom payoff.
For Executives:
GOOD INTENTIONS has a marketable, issue-driven emotional core and a satisfying courtroom climax — qualities that can attract festivals, awards-minded actors, and socially conscious distributors. But the script carries risk: plausibility gaps around the kidnapping, the decade-long concealment, and the police/court procedures could invite criticism and limit mainstream uptake. A focused rewrite (4–8 weeks) to shore up procedural realism, clarify motives, and tighten pacing will materially raise commercial viability while preserving the film’s heart — making it a modest-budget, character-led drama with crossover festival and platform potential.
Story Facts
Genres:
Drama 100% Crime 40%

Setting: 1995, Philadelphia and surrounding areas, including urban neighborhoods, a church, a youth center, and a jail.

Themes: The Complexities of Family and Motherhood, Addiction and its Destructive Consequences, Moral Ambiguity and the Grey Areas of Right and Wrong, Societal Decay and Resilience, Faith and Redemption, Loss and Grief

Conflict & Stakes: The central conflict revolves around Ruby's kidnapping of Pauley to protect him from Sharon's neglect and addiction, with stakes including the emotional well-being of Pauley and Ruby's legal consequences.

Mood: Melancholic yet hopeful, reflecting the struggles and resilience of the characters.

Standout Features:

  • Unique Hook: The story's focus on a mother's desperate act of kidnapping to protect her child from a neglectful environment.
  • Major Twist: The revelation of Pauley's true identity and the emotional confrontation between him and Ruby.
  • Innovative Idea: The exploration of addiction's impact on family dynamics and the cycle of neglect.
  • Distinctive Setting: The juxtaposition of urban Philadelphia's harsh realities with the warmth of community support in the youth center.

Comparable Scripts: The Pursuit of Happyness, Precious, The Blind Side, A Child Called 'It', The Color Purple, The Help, Room, The Florida Project, The Kite Runner

Script Level Analysis

Writer Exec

This section delivers a top-level assessment of the screenplay’s strengths and weaknesses — covering overall quality (P/C/R/HR), character development, emotional impact, thematic depth, narrative inconsistencies, and the story’s core philosophical conflict. It helps identify what’s resonating, what needs refinement, and how the script aligns with professional standards.

Screenplay Insights

Breaks down your script along various categories.

Overall Score: 7.69
Key Suggestions:
You have a powerful, character-driven drama with clear emotional stakes. The most urgent craft work is to tighten pacing and clarify character motivations so the audience stays with you emotionally and logically. Cut or streamline exposition-heavy scenes, turn select backstory moments into short, vivid flashbacks or revealed actions, and raise the stakes with sharper confrontations (especially between Ruby and Sharon). At the same time, enrich two supporting players (Derek and Mary Lou) with a single, clear beat or short scene each that explains their choices—enough to make them consequential to Pauley’s arc without bogging down the main story.
Story Critique

Big-picture feedback on the story’s clarity, stakes, cohesion, and engagement.

Key Suggestions:
The script's emotional core—Ruby's sacrificial love and Pauley's coming-of-age—is strong, but the execution falters where momentum and clarity matter. Tighten the middle and end: trim or combine scenes that linger without advancing character stakes, and deliberately deepen Sharon's arc so her relapse, recovery efforts, and motivations for searching feel earned. Re-sequence or compress transitional beats (funerals, raids, montage stretches) to preserve rhythm and leave more space for the key emotional confrontations (Ruby vs. Sharon, Ruby's moral reckoning in court, Pauley's betrayal/reconciliation). Small, specific scenes that reveal Sharon's interior life (a private moment, a flashback anchored to a sensory detail, or a scene showing a concrete turning point) will make the moral conflicts cleaner and the audience investment pay off.
Characters

Explores the depth, clarity, and arc of the main and supporting characters.

Key Suggestions:
The character analyses show you have a powerful emotional core — Pauley as the story's heart and Ruby/Sharon as morally complex adults — but the screenplay needs sharper internal logic and clearer emotional beats. Prioritize clarifying Pauley's identity arc (how he moves from confused child to self-aware teen), tighten Ruby's motive-path (what specific wounds push her to ‘rescue’ Pauley), and make Sharon’s redemption feel earned by showing more private, incremental change rather than only public proclamations. Strengthen and expand the pivotal scenes called out in the analysis (the park confrontation, the police/station sequence, courtroom and funeral beats) so they linger long enough to register and change relationships believably. Trim or deepen underused side characters (e.g., Mary Lou, Derek, Darlene) so their choices either complicate or support Pauley’s arc meaningfully rather than distract from it.
Emotional Analysis

Breaks down the emotional journey of the audience across the script.

Key Suggestions:
The script has powerful emotional highs and a strong core in Ruby’s protective love, but the audience may experience fatigue because sorrow dominates long stretches and several major transitions (kidnapping, addiction recovery, courtroom turnaround) feel abrupt. Focus on pacing and emotional contrast: add a few clear moments of genuine joy between Ruby and Pauley during their run, deepen Ruby’s internal conflict over morally fraught choices (the stolen money, burning the car), and show Sharon’s recovery more gradually with one or two scenes that make her change feel earned. Small, specific beats that show hesitation, private remorse, or a bonding laugh will make the big trauma moments land harder and the resolutions feel truthful.
Goals and Philosophical Conflict

Evaluates character motivations, obstacles, and sources of tension throughout the plot.

Key Suggestions:
The analysis shows your script's emotional core — Ruby's morally fraught choice to take a child to save him — is strong, but the philosophical dilemma (love vs. law) needs to be sharpened and made more visible throughout. Tighten cause-and-effect so Ruby's choices carry clearly escalating costs, deepen Pauley’s point of view so the audience feels the rupture and healing, and make the courtroom/resolution feel earned rather than tidy. Small structural changes (earlier consequences, clearer moral tests, more scenes where characters must choose) will intensify dramatic tension and deepen the payoff of the final reconciliation.
Themes

Analysis of the themes of the screenplay and how well they’re expressed.

Key Suggestions:
You have a powerful emotional core: a meditation on motherhood, protection, and moral ambiguity set against addiction and urban decay. To strengthen the script, double down on point of view (whose moral line are we following?), tighten the arc beats so Ruby’s choice to take Pauley feels inevitable rather than expository, and give Sharon more concrete, incremental steps toward redemption so her journey reads as earned. Trim scenes that merely illustrate social breakdown in favor of beats that escalate the personal stakes between Ruby, Sharon, and Pauley — show, don’t tell, and make each sacrifice have a clear, visible cost.
Logic & Inconsistencies

Highlights any contradictions, plot holes, or logic gaps that may confuse viewers.

Key Suggestions:
The screenplay has a powerful emotional core—loss, redemption, and surrogate motherhood—but key causal and legal beats are underdeveloped, which weakens character motivations and audience buy-in. Focus revisions on two linked areas: (1) shore up the legal and procedural logic around Pauley's custody/arrest so outcomes feel earned (show what the police, child welfare, and courts actually did and why), and (2) tighten Sharon’s emotional arc so her shift from neglectful to determined is shown with clear catalysts. Small added scenes or tightened dialogue (a police/custody exchange, a private confrontation between Sharon and the Pastor or a flash of a failed rehab, and an extra courtroom/custody negotiation beat) will make the characters’ choices credible without diluting the film’s heart.

Scene Analysis

All of your scenes analyzed individually and compared, so you can zero in on what to improve.

Scene-Level Percentile Chart
Hover over the graph to see more details about each score.
Go to Scene Analysis

Other Analyses

Writer Exec

This section looks at the extra spark — your story’s voice, style, world, and the moments that really stick. These insights might not change the bones of the script, but they can make it more original, more immersive, and way more memorable. It’s where things get fun, weird, and wonderfully you.

Unique Voice

Assesses the distinctiveness and personality of the writer's voice.

Key Suggestions:
You have a strong, distinct voice—gritty, intimate, and emotionally rich—and the screenplay succeeds when it lets small gestures carry big emotional weight. To strengthen the script, tighten the emotional throughline around Ruby: make her moral logic and personal stakes clearer earlier and sustain them so the audience consistently understands why she acts. Trim or consolidate episodic detours that dilute momentum, and use fewer expository beats in favor of scenes that show Ruby's internal conflicts (brief, specific flashbacks or present-moment choices) so her actions — including the theft and taking of Pauley — land as inevitable rather than surprising.
Writer's Craft

Analyzes the writing to help the writer be aware of their skill and improve.

Key Suggestions:
Focus the next draft on deepening character motivations and tightening pacing. Anchor every scene to a clear emotional beat for Ruby, Sharon and Pauley — show why Ruby takes extreme action, chart Sharon’s recovery with concrete milestones, and preserve Pauley’s point-of-view consistency. Use targeted cuts to remove scenes that diffuse momentum and add focused, subtext-rich moments (short flashbacks, silent beats, tangible objects) that reveal backstory rather than relying on exposition.
Memorable Lines
Spotlights standout dialogue lines with emotional or thematic power.
Tropes
Highlights common or genre-specific tropes found in the script.
World Building

Evaluates the depth, consistency, and immersion of the story's world.

Key Suggestions:
The screenplay's world is rich and emotionally textured—contrasting urban decay with rural calm, and church/community life with institutional coldness. To strengthen the script, tighten the throughline around Ruby's moral choices: make her internal logic and stakes clearer early on, trim scenes that dilute momentum, and use the vivid physical settings (weather, sounds, objects) to externalize characters' inner states. Lean into sensory detail and cut redundant beats so each location and seasonal shift propels character change rather than merely illustrating atmosphere.
Correlations

Identifies patterns in scene scores.

Key Suggestions:
Your screenplay’s biggest strength is emotional resonance — nearly every scene lands with strong feeling driven by character work. But because emotional intensity is uniformly high and many scenes prioritize internal reflection over plot propulsion, the story risks feeling tonally flat and predictable. Tighten pacing by varying emotional intensity (introduce quieter, more neutral beats and sharper emotional peaks), increase the number of scenes that clearly advance the plot or raise stakes, and let some introspective moments breathe by trimming redundancy. This will preserve your empathy-driven voice while improving momentum and dramatic contrast.
Loglines
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