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Oh and I want to echo something LC said about making the parameters a little more production friendly - Aeroplane location may be fun to write, but I can image expensive as hell for a 5 minute short - I wouldn't want to reduce the difficulty, but more budget friendly locations might be nice - after all, if we get usable shorts from this AND still keep it as a challenge, win-win.
However, even if Jeff is correct with the numbers, then it is possible that my theory on the psychology of the reviewers may be the reason. Many writers that had weaknesses in their own criteria would have been easier on the other writers - in the hope that they also get a 5.
A reasonable guess, but, at least in my case, not accurate. I was on record before I even wrote my own story that if people kept up this rigid demand in meeting criteria it was going to result in an awful reading experience. For several years I've been involved with a similar contest, but where there are paid judges, and the criteria requirements are not taken to such severe levels.
Since I’m getting absolutely roasted this round and will fall out of the top ten, at least I have the freedom now not to worry anymore about my place in the standings and write absolutely batshit crazy stuff the next couple of rounds and not worry whether people care.
One other note about these OWC’s, I had a film student contact me about wanting to make my script “The Option” from a couple of challenges back (the romantic comedy one). If that happens, that would be the third script I’ve had made from these challenges, following “Roadside Attraction” and “Skip” (which is being submitted to festivals now). So these challenges are worth the effort — people outside of the writers and reviewers are looking at these for sure.
Some of my scripts:
Bounty (TV Pilot) -- Top 1% of discoverable screenplays on Coverfly I'll Be Seeing You (short) - OWC winner The Gambler (short) - OWC winner Skip (short) - filmed Country Road 12 (short) - filmed The Family Man (short) - filmed The Journeyers (feature) - optioned
I think what Jeff is describing is the Central Limit Theorem, which is part of why bell curves seem to show up so often in nature. In a nutshell, it says that if you take averages of a whole lot of batches of measurements, the distribution of the averages tends to a bell curve. When there are a plethora of influences on an individual measurement, those tend to cancel each other out and the single measurement turns into an average effect which would also tend to a bell curve.
Leaving aside the censoring effects (lower limit of 1, upper limit of 5), I’d otherwise expect the scripts’ score to look roughly bell-shaped... given a large enough sample. Roughly twenty measurements, in an environment with fairly wide variance (differences in taste), just doesn’t get us there with any confidence.
If there happens to be broad agreement that a particular script sucks (to pick a purely random example, Image Problem ), scores ought to look bell-y. When reviewers can’t agree on the color of an orange, all bets are off for small samples.
Oh and I want to echo something LC said about making the parameters a little more production friendly - Aeroplane location may be fun to write, but I can image expensive as hell for a 5 minute short - I wouldn't want to reduce the difficulty, but more budget friendly locations might be nice - after all, if we get usable shorts from this AND still keep it as a challenge, win-win.
Glad you're back in, Matthew.
I've been selling shorts and getting them produced lately, so I was in a period of writing only what could be produced. However, I don't mind having parameters that are more budget loose. It lets me try ideas that I couldn't write with a low budget in mind.
Ultimately, I prefer writing shorts that at least have a shot at being produced, so five rounds of astronomically expensive scripts seems like a bit of a waste, but even expensive scripts are worth adding to the portfolio if they're good.
Since I’m getting absolutely roasted this round and will fall out of the top ten, at least I have the freedom now not to worry anymore about my place in the standings and write absolutely batshit crazy stuff the next couple of rounds and not worry whether people care.
Can't wait to see what you throw at us.
Congrats on another possible OWC getting produced!
Maybe we can give the math theory a rest and just go with the flow. We aren't going to get the data so it's all conjecture. I choose to have faith in the process and our Grand Overloard Sean and the Almighty Don have put in place. This isn't their first rodeo.
Maybe we can give the math theory a rest and just go with the flow. We aren't going to get the data so it's all conjecture. I choose to have faith in the process and our Grand Overloard Sean and the Almighty Don have put in place. This isn't their first rodeo.
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2019 Writers' Tournament Standings
I much prefer panic writing scripts on Mondays rather than doing actual work anyway
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), scores ought to look bell-y. When reviewers can’t agree on the color of an orange, all bets are off for small samples.
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