diff --git a/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/PhaseSamples.scala b/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/PhaseSamples.scala
index 0c75b557e..1b55d1dd0 100644
--- a/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/PhaseSamples.scala
+++ b/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/PhaseSamples.scala
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class PhaseSamples extends QScript {
   var prefix: String = ""
 
   @Argument(shortName = "L", doc = "Intervals", required = false)
-  var intervals: String = _
+  var intervals: String = null
 
   @Input(doc = "level of parallelism for BAM phaser.   By default is set to 0 [no scattering].", shortName = "scatter", required = false)
   var scatterCount = 0
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ class PhaseSamples extends QScript {
   var outputPhased: File = _
 
   trait CommandLineGATKArgs extends CommandLineGATK {
-    this.intervalsString = List(qscript.intervals)
+    if (qscript.intervals != null) {
+      this.intervalsString = List(qscript.intervals)
+    }
     this.jarFile = qscript.gatkJarFile
     this.reference_sequence = qscript.referenceFile
     this.memoryLimit = 3
diff --git a/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/ScatteredFullVariantAnnotator.scala b/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/ScatteredFullVariantAnnotator.scala
index 1be4c3cf1..b575e9980 100644
--- a/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/ScatteredFullVariantAnnotator.scala
+++ b/scala/qscript/oneoffs/fromer/ScatteredFullVariantAnnotator.scala
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class ScatteredFullVariantAnnotator extends QScript {
   var referenceFile: File = _
 
   @Argument(shortName = "L", doc = "Intervals", required = false)
-  var intervals: String = _
+  var intervals: String = null
 
   @Input(doc = "level of parallelism. By default is set to 0 [no scattering].", shortName = "scatter", required = false)
   var scatterCount = 0
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ class ScatteredFullVariantAnnotator extends QScript {
   }
 
   trait CommandLineGATKArgs extends CommandLineGATK {
-    this.intervalsString = List(qscript.intervals)
+    if (qscript.intervals != null) {
+      this.intervalsString = List(qscript.intervals)
+    }
     this.jarFile = qscript.gatkJarFile
     this.reference_sequence = qscript.referenceFile
     this.input_file = List(qscript.bams)