Quoted from eldave1 Constructive is a nice ideal.  Some peeps misinterpret it as pandering - it's not. It's just giving advice in a non-destructive manner. Being "frank" is fine. I've never understood the benefit of being brutally frank when just being frank gets the job done.  It's a weak move, IMO.

Absolutely.

I've mentioned here that I participate in the NYC Midnight contests. Those paid judges break it down this way: "what the judges liked", then "what the judges think needs work". That works very well. I try to follow that model when I can, though the rapid read format for these challenges doesn't always allow it. But if there's something the writer has done well, why not try to find it and mention it? LC does a fantastic job of that here.

Jeff's method COULD scare off a new writer. But it didn't scare me off, and I was new when I came here. And my scripts were far worse in format than anything here now. He ripped me so many new ones I was like a walking crap shower. But I think once people realize he's doing that to almost every script they can live with it.

Man, I do some real work for a few hours, come back here, and there I am again, being tossed back and forth.

Same old, same old discussion here.

What I find absolutely amazing and appalling at the same time is the staggering amount of reviews where many negatives are thrown out about the completely illogical and boring story, then something to the affect, "But, don't worry, I'll grade you down the middle."

We have so many "stories" this round that are completely shoehorning in a sewer...because...well, they have to.  Yet, I bet they're receiving fairly high scores (a high score to me is 3 and over), when they should be getting 1's and 2's across the board.

We'll see come Friday, but I'm pretty sure, just as I was correct in Round 1 scoring.

Quoted from Dreamscale Man, I do some real work for a few hours, come back here, and there I am again, being tossed back and forth. Same old, same old discussion here. What I find absolutely amazing and appalling at the same time is the staggering amount of reviews where many negatives are thrown out about the completely illogical and boring story, then something to the affect, "But, don't worry, I'll grade you down the middle." We have so many "stories" this round that are completely shoehorning in a sewer...because...well, they have to.  Yet, I bet they're receiving fairly high scores (a high score to me is 3 and over), when they should be getting 1's and 2's across the board. We'll see come Friday, but I'm pretty sure, just as I was correct in Round 1 scoring.

Not to worry. If a person grades every script, then it comes out in the wash. My worst script might grade a 14, yours a 5. Same script would still be at the bottom of our respective piles.

(Not saying my worst script is a 14... it's purely a hypothetical.)

Quoted from eldave1 Being "frank" is fine. I've never understood the benefit of being brutally frank when just being frank gets the job done.  It's a weak move, IMO.

Maybe I should change my screen name to BrutallyFrank

Quoted from FrankM Maybe I should change my screen name to BrutallyFrank

But why, when just being Frank gets the job done?

Quoted from FrankM Maybe I should change my screen name to BrutallyFrank

or Perfectlyfrank

Quoted from Dreamscale Man, I do some real work for a few hours, come back here, and there I am again, being tossed back and forth. Same old, same old discussion here. What I find absolutely amazing and appalling at the same time is the staggering amount of reviews where many negatives are thrown out about the completely illogical and boring story, then something to the affect, "But, don't worry, I'll grade you down the middle." We have so many "stories" this round that are completely shoehorning in a sewer...because...well, they have to.  Yet, I bet they're receiving fairly high scores (a high score to me is 3 and over), when they should be getting 1's and 2's across the board. We'll see come Friday, but I'm pretty sure, just as I was correct in Round 1 scoring.

The cream will rise to the top - it always does in these things. Haven't seen an OWC yet where I had a real disagreement with the final outcome.

NotFrankEnough

Quoted from Dreamscale Man, I do some real work for a few hours, come back here, and there I am again, being tossed back and forth.

It's not easy being the most popular girl in school.

As for the topic of harsh reviews... I have no issues with a brutally honest review, as long as it's honest. The great Baltis once told me "Your script sucks goat nuts and porks chickens in the butt. Sorry, but SS isn't a back patting club. " God, I miss that guy.

Quoted from eldave1 The cream will rise to the top - it always does in these things. Haven't seen an OWC yet where I had a real disagreement with the final outcome.

I didn't really agree with the outcome last round. But I'm not knocking the scripts that were at the top. I didn't think any of them really stood out. Nor have any yet for me this round. I remember once you did(I thnk it was you) an elevator OWC that clearly stood above the others. Last round the spider one clearly stood above. So far this time we could have done a lottery.

As for Jeff, I'm not taking the bait, my friend. I did not share reads with a single person, I knew none of the writers. I tried to score them as fairly as I could. ALL of the stories were foregettable. And the parameters were tough, the time limited, the pages limted. If one didn't try try to find some positive in the work might as well just check them all out and cancel the contest. So I looked for any positive I could find.

What I find to be one of the most distasteful things in comments is when the reviewer actually criticises other reviewers for their opinions because they are different to their own...

ALL opinions are subjective and no one on here is some sort of uber screenwriter that we should value the opinion of over all others.

I don't mean debate over technical aspects or individual aspects of a script...

I mean...

'I think this is shit and can't believe other people think it's good'

Paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

Quoted from AnthonyCawood What I find to be one of the most distasteful things in comments is when the reviewer actually criticises other reviewers for their opinions because they are different to their own... ALL opinions are subjective and no one on here is some sort of uber screenwriter that we should value the opinion of over all others. I don't mean debate over technical aspects or individual aspects of a script... I mean... 'I think this is shit and can't believe other people think it's good' Paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

You must not be paraphrasing me, because I wouldn't say, "I think this sucks", I'd just say, "This sucks", and I'd be right 999 times out of 1,000.

Maybe next tourney should include a "Technical" category. For people who find the technical aspects of writing important, it would give an outlet for reflecting that.

Quoted from AnthonyCawood What I find to be one of the most distasteful things in comments is when the reviewer actually criticises other reviewers for their opinions because they are different to their own...

Completely agree. This happens far to often and it really needs to stop. Actually had someone do this on my round 2 script thread. Won't name names... But it's not cool.

Quoted from FrankM Maybe I should change my screen name to BrutallyFrank

We’re missing the obvious here:

FranklySpeaking