Script Keepers

Francis Ford Coppola wants to make aspiring screenwriters an offer they can't refuse. The Godfather director's production company, American Zoetrope, has set up Zoetrope Screenplays, a site that lets writers upload their original scripts for evaluation by other would-be screenwriters. After signing up, each writer must read and critique four screenplays before posting his or her own work. Zoetrope staffers read and consider the most highly praised works for a possible option. ''We hope to discover talent,'' says Coppola, who reads some of the posts. ''If we're able to get a screenplay that's attractive and we could put it together with actors and a director, that would be a major victory.'' Coppola also plans to create sites for aspiring composers and graphic artists, so that ''all phases of creative work can be accepted from the public at large.'' Not a bad idea: They probably can't do any worse than Jack.