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What's the harshest critique you've ever received?
Did it make you a better writer?
Mine would have to be: "Dude, you've written 136 pages of overwritten melodrama. There isn't a clear protagonist, there are 10 of them and none of them are empathetical. You never give a clear indication of whats going on, where it's going down or why it's happening in the first place. I want you to start focusing on what it is you're trying to say here. Let me ask you one question and I want you to answer it in one sentence: what is your story about?"
Obviously I couldn't answer that question . I was totally destroyed by that comment. I was even angered and personally insulted by it . I couldn't write for about two years but when my ego healed and I started taking writing more seriously I realized it was probably the best thing anyone had ever said about my writing.
I can't recall any comment that has made me sit back like that, but criticism is the best kind of praise you can get. If people love your work and praise it then you'll never be able to see where you can improve it.
Lots of people don't know what they're doing. But when you point that out, they do take it personally. You have to make love before you criticise. You have to sugar-coat it. This is called tact, but it can be tiring. This is the basic idea behind "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
The more relevant point is that lots of people who don't know what they're doing criticise. So the difficulty (if you don't know what you're doing) is differentiating between those who do and don't know. You don't want to be in the gang where the blind lead the blind.
The solution is this - you seek the opinions of people who you know know and disregard others. You know if people know when they can demonstrate success.
I see too many posts on boards like these where people ask others to review their work - NEVER ask for opinions from boards like this. There are too many blind people around. It's a recipe for misdirection.
It's easier to look like you know what you're talking about it short burst, (Post on a message board), rather than prove you don't by showcasing a presentation of why you don't. That's why people love to write short-short scripts. The general format seems right for 4 to 10 pages, but the question I always ask is "can they keep that format going over 80 to 120 pages"? Many don't/can't. Many buckle and get sloppy around page 40 usually. The quality drops sharply and everything seems more and more basic as the pages are turned/scrolled. Then, in what should be the best part of the script, you always end up with a lesser script than what you had previously laid out.
I don't know Ralph from Paul... Maybe he's worth the salt on his chops -- This post is general.
Back in the day, when I smugly used to dish out 'advice' and critique 'the system', I was still basking in the grandeur of my first written screenplay -- which was probably the worst thing ever written in the history of writing.
It took three years and about 100 liters of Vodka to realize I was full of it.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion (and you know what they say about opinions) but all that really matters in this community and this industry is your writing. It's a simple, brutal, cold hard fact. That's why I love screenwriting. You can talk the talk until the cows come home, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is your work.
I'm willing to listen to any and all criticism but the things I take to heart come from people who either know how to tell a story (writers and non-writers) and people who have failed miserably but learned from their mistakes.
Hey, John, I wanna read your first script. I doubt it's the worst thing ever written.
And about the vodka, I've noticed that most people who say that drinking helps them write (yours truly included) are usually full of shit. They just like drinking.
About the harsh criticism, sometimes you need that slap in the face, because your ego can, and will, get in the way. You need to realize that what you've written is most likely NOT a masterpiece, and that you are, most likely, an average AT BEST writer, but that hopefully, someday you will be a great one.
About the harsh criticism, sometimes you need that slap in the face, because your ego can, and will, get in the way. You need to realize that what you've written is most likely NOT a masterpiece, and that you are, most likely, an average AT BEST writer, but that hopefully, someday you will be a great one.
I usually take instances such as this as little more than jealousy... Everyone is jelly of awesomeness. Be it a good script... A well groomed beard that connects. A new privacy fence that extends a foot higher than your own. Just things, man. Everything is under the gun and nothing is safe from individual insecurities.
I think that, when someone slams your script but doesn't explain why, then it's out of jealousy. Or some other immature reason. But if someone says, "This is terrible dialog," and then cites several examples of it, you should consider that he might be onto something.
Hey, John, I wanna read your first script. I doubt it's the worst thing ever written.
And about the vodka, I've noticed that most people who say that drinking helps them write (yours truly included) are usually full of shit. They just like drinking.
About the harsh criticism, sometimes you need that slap in the face, because your ego can, and will, get in the way. You need to realize that what you've written is most likely NOT a masterpiece, and that you are, most likely, an average AT BEST writer, but that hopefully, someday you will be a great one.
Agreed. Especially about the drinking part lol. That's so true. Guilty as charged!
My first script really sucks dude, I couldn't put you through an ordeal like that . In hindsight, what I do miss from that period was that smug, childish arrogance I had. You just KNOW that Hollywood is going to bend over backwards for your script. I would just smoke a joint, put on my headphones and write for hours and hours. I loved every minute of it, never questioned myself and wrote fearlessly.
The guy who 'slapped me in the face' was a studio exec by the way, which only made it more unbearable of an experience. I was 21 at the time and when I sent out that first draft I was already rehearsing my Oscar speech but when I get that email from him in my inbox a week later, the sky had officially fallen.
It's funny when I think about it today. I was literally delusional.
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Harsh but insightful criticism.
. I was totally destroyed by that comment. I was even angered and personally insulted by it 
. I couldn't write for about two years but when my ego healed and I started taking writing more seriously I realized it was probably the best thing anyone had ever said about my writing.
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. In hindsight, what I do miss from that period was that smug, childish arrogance I had. You just KNOW that Hollywood is going to bend over backwards for your script. I would just smoke a joint, put on my headphones and write for hours and hours. I loved every minute of it, never questioned myself and wrote fearlessly. 
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