Forget about Trigger Street, Zoetrope, Scripted, ect . The most probable reasons they passed on your script without reading it is formatting, punctuation, or spelling. The membership in both groups has remained relatively constant which indicates they have settled into a defined peer group. Any script which may pose a threat to the established hierarchy is panned without a thought. I heard they even called scripts and writers into what they call "The halls of justice". Those sites are a waste of time an energy and have in many cases devolved into a an illusion that simply feeds the lofty egos of the marginally talented within their core group. True talent will eventually rear it's beautiful head. So keep writing and *^!# the rest.  

godonthewire,

I agree with everything you said - except that, at the risk of sounding immodest, I write remarkably cleanly. To the best of my knowledge I don't have a single spelling or punctuation error...

What probably turned them off is length - it's 113 pages, a bit lengthy for a comedy, but necessary I believe since there are quite a few characters and an element of drama attached to it as well.

That, and the fact that, as you said, it's very cliquey over there...

I'm sorry things aren't working out for you on Trigger Street. I don't like any of those sites to be honest. In the early days of Zoetrope I used to converse online with Francis Ford Coppolla a bit, if you can believe that. He got chased off his own site by people abusing him. Incredible.

I can, however, see why some people assume it's a drama. I had a quick scan of it recently and the first three pages struck me as a serious noir/crime drama. You've got the worn out streets, the drugs and the deep, nihilistic voice over.

The opening tone really sticks with you.

I didn't review the script because it's not something I can really offer any advice on. Off-beat comedy is a genre that is so subjective that it makes my opinion almost irrelevant anyway.

Personally I found the script almost impenetrable...I couldn't get a grasp on what was going on. I noticed that a lot of the British guys really got it, so it must just be me, but I found it was such an intense slice of americana, that it was incomprehensible to me.

The only thing I can say is that i think a thing like this is your third film. I think you'd really need a firm reputation to get it moving. If I was to give you advice I'd say pick something more accessible for your next script, so you can introduce people to your preferred style more gradually.

Those are just my thoughts, for good or ill.

All the best,

Rick.

Hey Rick,

I do agree with you in a way - almost like Charlie said to Rick Springfield on "Californication", that this is my "passion project".

Which is why I hope to get a few shorts on film first. And I may have a lead on writing something else that's much more mainstream.

Thanks for the thoughts - AJR

Quoted from Brian M I'm 50/50 on Triggerstreet. I hated having to read and review, which takes hours, only to get a review back that barely reaches the minimum word count required, not half as detailed as the ones you spent hours preparing for other writers. Some reviews were great though, some guy even contacted me offering to do a 5-10 page coverage for my script on the condition he could use it as a sample to show around. Most of the scripts I reviewed, the authors posted a thank you on my page, so I can't complain about that. I do admit to rejecting an assignment or two. One case was because I couldn't get past the way the guy wrote his action lines. I had never seen anything like this before and because it was an action script, it was impossible for me to get through. In short, I'd pick this place over Triggerstreet any day of the week. Brian

I have genuine reasons for hating TS though I have pacified myself
and I am still active there.

I have to admit that I wrote the minimum 100 words review there , because I was assigned sci-horror scripts  and as I am not comfortable with this genre  I could not write much.

Another reason is a person shouted hoarsely that we should see the personalities and review . I don't know any personality .
padma

Okay, final tally on this was 7 reviews and 44 rejections.

To be fair, I probably should have done more reviews myself. Then again, if you look at the fact that newbies have to pay it forward at a 4-1 ratio, it would seem that each script should get more reviews than the author gives.

At the end I started to just flat out reject everything that was sent to me, just to see what would be sent to me next. There's a fair amount of slop over there, some of which is getting decent reviews.

I guess it's a clique like everything else in this business and I just didn't get in the door.

AJR

I had to open this thread on a count of the fact I didn't know what the hell Trigger Street was.  

So I read here to discover it's a place where word count and review count seems king?

Wella, if that's the case, I think if we wanted to, we could all win a Bullshit Award over there if we wanted to for all the numbers and values we can churn out despite any quotas.

Fact is, here, we need to place the quotas on ourselves and determine how much, how often and for whom we're reading. As others in this thread have stated, it's a matter of preference. Some people need to feel "ordered", other people like to make a direct order upon themselves. (The ultimate control freaks. Ones who control themselves.)  

Personally, I like to be able to study and work in a variety of ways, with different people and in different mediums. Simplyscripts offers loads of work, but also choice in the forms that work will take.

Sandra