Poorly written...pitiful grammar and punctuation.

You're out!!!!!!

Next...

I dunno. I chuckled. Sometimes the right audience can make something weak that much better. He certainly picked the right audience.

I saw where this guy was coming from and I totally saw the humor in it all but boil it down, it sounds like he's got some sand in his vagina. Fair enough to say that amateur writers don't consider the implications of their requests but can you blame them for wanting professional opinion? I totally respect this guy's mantra when it comes to reading scripts. Totally. I wouldn't think anything less of the guy for refusing to read one of my scripts. On a personal level, I don't think the writer of A History of Violence needs to give me the time of day... or anyone else, for that matter. But to write a two page article about this just sounds butt-hurt, especially considering he's supposedly taking time off from reading his friends' and agent's scripts to write the fucking thing.

Quoted from James McClung I saw where this guy was coming from and I totally saw the humor in it all but boil it down, it sounds like he's got some sand in his vagina. Fair enough to say that amateur writers don't consider the implications of their requests but can you blame them for wanting professional opinion? I totally respect this guy's mantra when it comes to reading scripts. Totally. I wouldn't think anything less of the guy for refusing to read one of my scripts. On a personal level, I don't think the writer of A History of Violence needs to give me the time of day... or anyone else, for that matter. But to write a two page article about this just sounds butt-hurt, especially considering he's supposedly taking time off from reading his friends' and agent's scripts to write the fucking thing.

Execpt this guy actually has to deal with nimnuts... well...  alot more that any of us.  

Would you really be that guy to begin with...  It's totally acceptable this man broadcasts a loud and clear message.

"Do not offer sympathy to the mentally ill.  Tell them firmly.  I am not paid to listen to this drivel.  You are a terminal fool."  
                 William S. Burroughs

It's not particularly soap-boxy to write a quick rant for a blog, is it?

He was treated unfairly after putting a lot of effort into trying to do the right thing.  Writing is a nice way to vent frustration.  From my limited experience, a lot of people do so in blogs.  Would it be soap-boxy if he wasn't a working screenwriter?

Personally I have found over the years that the majority of un-produced writers are overly sensitive, viciously defensive people who often lack serious commitment to the art of storytelling.  When you tell the truth, you often get s*** on for it.  Olson experienced that one too many times and got annoyed.  Fair enough, by me.  

I think I agree with him.

I don't agree with the profanity, because I don't think it gets anywhere but I understand his point.

Say you spent $120,00 to learn how to write, and then succeeded in it and was nominated for an academy award and were highly revered in your writing community.

Then say a friend of a friend, someone you don't really know, asked you for your opinion because they were expecting a pat on the head, but you don't give it to them. I would be mad, sure, but I asked for the honest opinion and I got it. Can I complain? yes. Should I? Probably not.

No one on here is professional (that I know of) and so that is why this "give and recieve" thing we have going on here works. Because no one is professional. Who knows how many of us have actually studied and spent their money on screenwriting. If you are on here and helping us, I salute you.

But it was not the bloggers obligation to read the script, and he did it for free. And then he was called an a**hole .Not a lot of things are free these days, and I think we should be gracious for what we do have.

I realize I reiterated the whole article, but none of us can really say anything until we are in that position.

Unfortunately, it seems that the guy's attitude (in the nominal sense of the word) and his profanity (which I'm nonplussed by) have usurped his didactic and truly poignant disclosures. All of the "fucking script"s and the vitriol is, as many have rightly called it, a personal attack and yet I didn't take it personally and nobody here should either. It was a personal attack on the guy who handed him some unedited, unfinished and amateurish work who then went on to be most unappreciative about the time this professional writer had given him with absolutely no obligation to do so. (Maybe he should have told the guy he was going to nominate him for a Bulwer-Lytton Award? "An Award!" The guy would have been flattered, googled it and then learned the awful truth.)
Perhaps if Josh Whatshisname had waited a week and let the water stop boiling he could  have exorcised the rage from his piece and just left the lessons. I completely understand why he had to use analogies to make his point because it is so hard for people to separate "writing" from putting words on a page and even among people somehow miraculously employed in the business, the difference is lost. I recall several years ago when that horrible book came out "A Million Little Pieces" and it was chosen for the Oprah Book Club and blahblahblah, I picked it up because it was sitting on my mother's dining room table and she had already read it. The accolades in the front matter were of the highest order "Best writer of his generation in America..." Then, I read it. Or, I should say, I read 98 pages of it because the "writing" was as horrible as the rest of it and yet somehow those reviewing it for their major-city dailies thought it was the ultimate demonstration of talent. "Best writer in America!!!" (I should say, this was all before the truth came out about the book being a big fucking hoax.) Along those same lines, Stephen King was recently lambasted on some message boards for declaring that Stephanie Meyers (I think?) who wrote the New Moon books was a bad writer. All of her fans just couldn't understand that he was talking about the craft itself and not whether the books were precious to them and entertaining. It's like people arguing that  Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is a good movie because it made a lot of money. Nonsensical and specious.
Writing, like anything else in the world, is something you get better at as you spend more time honing the skill and talent to execute an engaging work. And, like anything else in the world, once you've gotten to the point where your strengths are profound (like Stephen King), you can see the weakness where they exist in others' works.
Another point this Josh guy diminished by proxy to his emotional diatribe was that so many "writers" don't have the introspection to look at their own work with a judicious eye. This isn't exclusive to writers but it just happens to be topical to this discussion. Of course, it is of great (almost indispensable) value to be hypercritical of one's own work as it is the primary impetus for improvement. One always finds things about oneself interesting and compelling but that doesn't make a piece of writing about oneself or from oneself a good piece of writing.
Alright, not trying to lecture here. Just putting in my 2 cents and offering that if you remove the "fucks" and the reactionary stuff from that guy's article and pull out the valid points, there's a lot there that could only be said by someone who has put the time into making himself into a writer. He's defending writers and proclaiming the truth that it is difficult, worthy and admirable to be a writer and not something available to just anyone with an ego in need of attention. I have to applaud that. (And, as someone stated, A History of Violence was a pretty damn good flick.)    
  

I kinda agree with this guy when he gives the example of  a

Quoted Text "painter to paint your living room for free"

He is right about it.


I loved the way simply embraces new writers and gives them a chance to grow.

hats off

check out one of the comments  haha

Nick says:

Quoted Text I hate to break it to you, but as a screenwriter you are not even exactly qualified to speak about writing. For us legitimate writers (prose, poetry, drama) screenwriting has always been a way to make a few bucks. But even in your article, your writing is sloppy and cliche-ridden. Most importantly, what makes you a wanna-be, not a writer, is that you lack empathy and humanity. It's as simple as that. So stick to adapting picture books into motion pictures, kid!

Quoted from Mr.Z Scroll down a bit to read the parody: http://hollywoodroaster.wordpress.com/

That blog is possibly one of the most depressing script related things I have ever read. Humerous but still very much depressing as hell.

As for the article Ill just copy what I said on the article into here.

'To be honest, If I were to ever make it as a scriptwriter big time, make a mediocre movie or two, and people were to ask me to read a script for them, I wouldn't say it like this. But it is a very much true statement. Writers want to write - they do not want to have to look through amateur stuff.

I would say instead, like I have always thought that it is down to you as a writer to succeed. It doesn't matter what quality of writer you ask to read it, or even if they read it or not, if they give encouragement or blast your confidence to ash - It is always down to you.

That pro writers opinion will not wreck your aspirations or make them - your talent and application will. And if you see it like this it makes the critique of a pro writer redundant. Get critique from sites, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, enter competitions, try and prise your way through the door that way. And if you are calling someone an asshole for saying they won't read your script you are taking your eye off the ball.'

I support the following commenter:

Frank "Grayhawk" Huminski says:
Josh, you have nailed it square on the head.

More to the point, this applies to many people in many professions. To you critics of Mr. Olsen's position, would you go up to a doctor at a party and say "Would you mind looking at this rash"? Or asking an IT person at that same party if they can help with your computer problems? A lawyer for legal advice?

(Actually, from some of the whining, I'd bet you would)

It's still rude & inconsiderate of you to do so. Don't do it. Don't be the dick.

Well said, Mr. Olsen. Well said.