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I gave myself a 5. Some days, I feel confident. And then there are days when I feel like I totally suck, and I cringe looking over anything I've written.
I feel like I was more confident about writing last year or so...but now, I have no confidence at all. I still won't stop trying to make films, though. But lately I've felt...I don't know...sucky.
That means that you're being critical and that's a good thing, not a bad thing so yay!
A man cannot lift himself up. He can only be lifted by others.
In my mind a 10 would be the best screenwriters there are. The big ones. The famous ones.
I see someone voted themselves an 8. That's great! Confidence is good. Great even.
My next comment is not aimed at anyone here at SS. I actually do venture to other sites occasionally. Sorry Don... ...but, I often hear/read people saying that they can't sell to Hollywood due to bad luck, no contacts and so on and so on. You've all read those arguments a million times. More often than not however, I'm thinking to myself....uh, I've read your work and it's not as good as you think. It's not bad, but...
...but, I often hear/read people saying that they can't sell to Hollywood due to bad luck, no contacts and so on and so on. You've all read those arguments a million times. More often than not however, I'm thinking to myself....uh, I've read your work and it's not as good as you think. It's not bad, but...
Thoughts...
That argument will only go so far. This site is a great resource. If five or ten people read your script and none of them think your script is great, then you have to take a hard look at your work. I've had people snap at me and accuse me of being jealous because I don't like a particular script.
Also, with our resident agent on board, you can't use the excuse I can't get my script in the right hands. If Babs likes your script, great! If not, it's the script.
That argument will only go so far. This site is a great resource. If five or ten people read your script and none of them think your script is great, then you have to take a hard look at your work. I've had people snap at me and accuse me of being jealous because I don't like a particular script.
My point was that I hear people complain that it's unfair they can't get their great scripts into the hands of professionals when IMHO their own views on their scripts is a tad higher than they really should be. Had nothing to do with SS really.
Quoted from dogglebe
Also, with our resident agent on board, you can't use the excuse I can't get my script in the right hands. If Babs likes your script, great! If not, it's the script.
Babz is a fantastic resource and a possible "in" for all of us. We really should appreciate her.
Like I said in the other thread, I give myself a five. I think I'm good but can be a heck of a lot better. Thankfully, I am not arrogant, so I'm always open to new ideas and critique. Anything to become the best I can be.
Being the young age of 22, I have plenty of time to learn (and I'm a pretty fast learner). Not that age really means anything, but yeah.
I think sometimes about my potential though, will I ever be able become 10. I don't think so, I think my potential is 7. Or maybe even 6. That's a scary thought, but try to think about your potential - will you ever be able to write like... "Clueless" comes to mind - I'll never, never ever (!) be able to write something like that.
Good, bad... average. It all comes down to how much of yourself you give to your script. Give 100% and it can often turn out like a 4 scale script. Give 50% and it can often turn out to be a 10 scale script. Giving yourself a set score, if too high, is automatically gonna draw out the naysayers and spark controversy if they don't agree.
I think you need the mindset that your work is a cut above and you also need the ego and thick enough skin to refute what others say. I say this because, as a writer, you don't need the negativity. You don't need the constant bashing and brow beating. You hear how bad you suck enough and, if you don't have the ego and the ambition and belief in yourself, then you're gonna give up and you'll never go any further than where you are when they told you how bad you were.
Will you ever be the best screenwriter in the world? I don't know... and neither will you if you give up after a few people read your script, pan it and tell you that you suck and are little more than a 5 scale writer. I didn't participate in this because there isn't a set number for me as a writer or anyone. I believe you write a script, and if it sucks, you shelve it -- Move onto the next one. There isn't a set score... It is ever changing as long as you keep working on the next script. That number, much like ones weight, can fluctuate many times. You are only as good as your last script. Or until you drag out your best script... See how that works?
I gave myself an 8, but I'll tell you why. First, I do have the confidence to place it there. I do know how to plot out a cohesive story, create complete characters, and write in such a way that's easy to read and paces itself fairly well. Even something that people have considered poorly written have said it's flows very well. But here's where I personally miss the mark occasionally.
First, I can't write a logline to save my life, and part of that is because the ideas I come up with are too much for me to condense and keep interesting. Either this is a fault of me being unable to condense it, or me being unable to actually have a good idea. Second, the stories I've come up with either aren't ultimately interesting, fulfilling, or they're so over the top that people don't really get it. And to be fair, even if they do get it, parts of it are too far out to actually support. Case in point is my 7WC entry. Pia said she read through it, and in the end, understood why all the nonsensical stuff happened, but it was so unbelievable while it was happening that it was hard to keep going. In addition, while I fully understand my characters and their motivations, I occasionally don't fully communicate these things in the fear of revealing too much too soon or blowing what I consider to be the ironic twist and therefore having to go over too much in the end, slowing down act 3 to catch the audience up to all the stuff I left out thus far.
This has been a sort of theme for me in the last few scripts I've had around here. I throw in way too much backstory and can't include enough of it in the final draft making parts of it difficult to keep up with since so much remains unspoken. As a result, what I submit seems to be incomplete. My next step in this journey would be to find the balance between what to say to keep the audience engaged, but retain all the flavor that a good backstory and subtext can bring to the script. The trick with that subtext is to tell enough so that the unspoken parts will come across louder than those that were written.
Finally, I have always had a weakness with dialogue, most likely due to my writing environment. I rarely read my scripts out loud because I can't in the arenas where I write the most. If I read them through, I could fix a lot of the dialogue issues I have.
Hence, my 8 is not only for the skills I have, but in the knowledge of where I need to improve.
Obviously I'm a ten, but seeing as I earn nothing from it I save it for the tourists only. Er, I actually said seven, Screenrider will tell ya it's a divine number, as it is.
I wish. But don't we all.
Hey, Australia is no fecking failure. What a country... Love it. Time to go. More later.
Also, with our resident agent on board, you can't use the excuse I can't get my script in the right hands. If Babs likes your script, great! If not, it's the script.
Actually, of Babs' requests, only one has fit something I actually have. That would mean I'm not writing anything that fits what someone wants to read. In addition, the one thing I did submit was never requested, so can I say it's the script when no one ever read it? That's been my number one complaint: none of those particular people actually read the script. They reject me based solely on the pitch. Granted, it can be said that if I can't sell them on a one liner, they can't sell the public on it either. Still, my prime argument remains that you can't say the script is what they're rejecting when they haven't read it.
I have to say, I'm not generally very impressed when it comes to screenwriting and I include working pros in that.
I come from more of a literature background...it's what I've read and studied pretty much my whole life...reading stories from thousands of years ago in Old English and even the Norse sagas in Ancient Norse, all the way through to modern classics.
No script I've ever read comes close to the best literature. Maybe that's to be expected. A bigger concern for me is that the best scripts from pros barely come to the below average standard of even modern literature.
They are more on a level with the middling graphic novel writers than the best working novellists and creative writers.
I love films and I've watched countless thousands and it's rare that I see films that I don't enjoy on some level but the quality of stories tends to be so, so low compared to literature.
Every Zombie film is the same, yet I pick up a zombie anthology and find so many different variations on theme, such strong characters and unique viewpoints. I pick up a middling science fiction novel and it's full of ideas that dwarf anything Hollywood comes out with.
Even very good films and the scripts that they are based on seem to have gaping plot holes, thin characters, many weaknesses of all kinds that I just don't see in "serious" writing.
The majority of films I see have absolutely nothing to say, no depth whatsoever.
So, it's a difficult question. Pro writers write generally very mundane stories in a very absorbing style. I've never found myself thinking what an incredible story or been blown away by the depth of imagination on display.
That being said, I feel that the ideas I have in my locker and are currently building up are on are several levels above most of the pro scripts I see. However I don't think for a second that I write with the same flow to the writing that they do.
Obviously it's my express intention to prove over the next few years that I can write better films than almost anyone out there. There wouldn't be any point in trying to make films if I didn't think that.
How good do you think you are?
Author
Pia's How Good Do You Think You Are? Poll.
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...but, I often hear/read people saying that they can't sell to Hollywood due to bad luck, no contacts and so on and so on. You've all read those arguments a million times. More often than not however, I'm thinking to myself....uh, I've read your work and it's not as good as you think. It's not bad, but...
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