Do you think it's appropriate to comment on someone's script if you haven't read all of it?  Like only a first impression, or what you think about what you have read so far, would that be appropriate?  Sorry if this question sounds kind of dumb, but I haven't been able to find time to read some scripts I've been wanting to read due to finals.

If you let the writer know that you haven't finished it, though I wouldn't make a habit out of it.  And I wouldn't start another script until I finished the last one.


Phil

I don't like 'em on mine.  Other people might not care, though.

No matter what else you might say, what it really says is, "I got bored and stopped reading."  Especially if you never come back to finish.  Ouch.

The only thing I hate worse are posts that say, "I'm going to read this...sometime."

Who cares?  If you are one of those people, just let us know when you are finished, OK?

[quote=Bert]No matter what else you might say, what it really says is, "I got bored and stopped reading."  Especially if you never come back to finish.  Ouch./quote]

Sometimes this can't be avoided, Bert.  I've put down scripts fifteen and twenty pages in because they were extremely bad and I didn't want to subject myself to the other ninety pages.  They're not going to get any better, so I just give the script a review based on what I've read.


Phil

So, does the Simply Scripts community frown upon reviews like this? I just can't keep reading for that long of a time, because I get too distracted. I also have other things I need to attend to rather than reading for more than an hour.

I can read a short in one sitting, but a feature is very difficult. Especially one that surpasses 100 pages.

As I said earlier, don't make a habit out of it.  If a script is painful to raed, that's one thing.  If you're distracted by something shiny, that's just not good.

And you don't have to read a feature all in one sitting.

Quoted from Kamran Nikhad Do you think it's appropriate to comment on someone's script if you haven't read all of it?

Every review (full or partial) helps the writer. But when I read partial reviews I immediatly think of someone helping an old lady to cross the street... only half of the way. And it feels wrong.

Experienced readers can measure the suckiness of a script by just reading the first pages; I think it's possible -for the trained eye- to give an accurate "pass" without reading all the material.

But this site is not a production company, it's a place to get (and give in return) objective feedback. And the writer of a script that you want to put down after ten pages, needs objective feedback much more than a writer who's able to grab you by page 1.

Puting down the script a leaving a partial review -which will be limited to format and writing style mostly- pretty much beats the purpouse of this site. You may think that at least you're giving the author something to work on... but lets face it: after a "I didn't finish reading the script" comment, most writers will take the rest of the review with a grain of salt (even if the partial review is a "good" one).

I left a couple of partial reviews years ago, but then noticed -for the reasons explaned above- that it was much better to give complete reviews.

Quoted from Rice Grenades ...I just can't keep reading for that long of a time, because I get too distracted. I also have other things I need to attend to rather than reading for more than an hour.

No...it's not that big a deal.  It's just because somebody asked, you know?

Of course you can't always read a script in one sitting -- but those updates -- "I am up to page 20" -- then tomorrow, "I am up to page 40" -- and so on...

Now J.D. (for example) has 10 posts on his thread (this is plus responses) when it could just as easily have been two.  Consider saving your comments, particularly if you only have a few.

It gets tedious, and that is how threads get so bloated that people ignore them.

I know because I've got one.

Like I said tho -- no big deal, really.  I'm just sayin' because the conversation is here.

If a script is going nowhere fast and the characters are all two-dimensional sound-alikes, I'll stop reading and comment on what I've read.  I hate it when the writer says that it picks up after my stopping point.  The script should start getting interesting at page twenty; it should start at page one.


Phil

I agree with what all of you have said. For instance, instead of having 5 posts that are short reviews of 20-some pages. You could read 20 pages, take a break but don't post anything, then rinse and repeat until you've finished.

Dear BIGk, I particularly don't care about you read mine, because most of the scripts are short or very short (or yet shortest), but as MRZ said "I immediatly think of someone helping an old lady to cross the street... only half of the way. And it feels wrong."

It's is very dangerous because the old lady could be hit by a 26 wheels truck lodead with wood! Half of everything seems to be very...you know very half. Could you think to make half love with someone or have a half heart
surgery?

So do not review them, just stay silent!

When I find myself in the midst of a bad script, I will always finish it and leave a review of some kind. It's usually an overview of what worked and what didn't. I basically read the script a little quicker by not taking nitpicky notes, since it needs work on a higher level than the little stuff. On those I also don't usually mess with format or style, since those are the easiest things to fix and the story needs more work.

Then again, I will also read poorly formatted scripts with only a passing comment on the fact that they aren't formatted correctly. Usually, by the time I read something, this poor person has gotten 15 comments complaining about the format, and I figure there's no point in beating that dead horse.

When I first joined the boards, I would read the entire script, no matter how bad it was.  It gave me too much of a headache.  Now, I generally read the first twenty pages which is twice what agents/producers/Hollywood readers read.  If you don't hook someone buy page ten, then there's a problem.


Phil

I think if you start reading a script and then stop, there's no point in leaving any kind of comment altogether. Saying that you started reading it but that it didn't grab your attention is very discouraging. Whether the dialogue, structure or style is off/slow, it's unhelpful for the writer to say this to them, unless you can back that up with a full review of the entire thing. For me, it's like walking out of a movie theatre after a slow opening scene in a movie. If I start watching or reading, the least I can do is to get to the end and then offer my opinion or critique afterwards. Anything less is premature and that's just my personal opinion.

If the movie or book or script is a complete stinkburger, the author should know.  How else will he learn.  I've never written, this script stinks in itself.  I'll back up what I say.


Phil

I find when reading a review with a lot of notes, it's sometimes hard to keep track of them all. I take a lot of notes when I read so I often post reviews in parts so it's easier for the writer to take in. I'll usually do this when reading a script in the three digit page range or when I find myself taking more notes than normal.

Nevertheless, I always finish reading scripts and post complete reviews. If I find myself reading a really bad script and make the mistake of posting a partial review, I regard it as having screwed myself as I'm obligated to finish it. Reading scripts the way they do in the industry is not the way to go IMO. On this site, we're trying to help people improve their scripts before they try to sell it, to find mistakes that will make people stop reading. If you're reading a bad script and want to quit, that's fine, but if you're going to write a review saying you didn't feel like finishing, you end up wasting the time of both the writer and yourself.

Think of it this way. Even Balt finished all the scripts he read.

If a script is so bad that I want to stop reading, why should I keep reading?  I add it into my review that I have stopped, and why.  I don't think that information is any less helpful than a review on the entire script, personally.  A thorough review of the first ten pages and why they didn't grab me is in my mind a pretty good deal.

Or at least more helpful than nothing.

The reason I keep reading is for the suggestion of HOW to fix it. If I stop reading by page 10, and I say "it was boring and I couldn't continue," how will that help the writer? I would be far better to keep going and say, "Your script takes off on page 25. Dump your first 25 pages and start there." You could be missing out something that is really, but just hidden in veil of nonsense. If you stop reading, that person will never be able to improve. You may leave your comment, but comments need to not only be substantiated, but a GOOD comment will offer an idea of not only what's wrong, but why it's wrong, and a good way to correct it. If you stop at page 10, all you can say is it sucks, and you can't help the writer fix it.

If you have a script that you slaved on, do you want the reader to fix it, or just tell you it sucked? Sure, tell me it sucks, but tell me how to fix it.

Oh no no no no, lol, not like that guys, it's just like saying, "I'm in the middle of reading the script, then my roommates want to go out," or, "I'm in the middle of reading, and suddenly my manager calls me up and tells me I have to fill in for someone."  I get back to reading the scripts all right, I was just curious if I should post what I think so far of their script, and later on, give them a full review.

But after seeing what everyone thinks about that, I think it'd be best if I just hold onto my thoughts until after reading the script.  Sound good?

And Helio, your comment wins bigtime, lol, but again, thanks a lot for the advice guys.  Appreciate it.  

I do it all the time BigK, nothing wrong with posting comments and finishing the script the next day or whenever you can. I usually read the first half and give up my notes and read the next half the day or two  after, or I'll even break it up into three as I usually can't sit through a whole script in one sitting either. I also think you should if you consider the writer might need any comments as soon as possible for whatever reason.

Quoted from Steve-Dave I do it all the time BigK, nothing wrong with posting comments and finishing the script the next day or whenever you can.

Actually, it can be a problem when the reviewer posts things that he later has to revise or take back.

I've had people write their reviews as they read the script and it's pretty stupid when they say, "But how can this happen?  Oh wait, it's explained here."

Think about your review before you post it.


Phil

I found it okay to do segment comments, but let the author know not to reply. So once you are completely done, you can copy and paste your entire review into one post so you dont clutter the thread.

I say to let the author know, so when he replies to one or 2 of your small reviews, and then you delete them, its gets confusing.

Also what I generally do is type my notes on notepad as I read and and when i'm done post full or half review depending if im late getting thereview done. This lets the author know you are still there and reading.

Sure, it's easy to put down a script that's bad because you don't see the point to finishing it, but if that be the case then you can't provide any quality feedback, and, on this site at least, quality feedback is the point.  The way I see it, saying "I read 20 pages of your thing and it was so bad that I couldn't go on" doesn't really do anything for anyone.  By reading the entire script, one can then provide a full review and offer comparable feedback between the first crappy 20 pages and what could be a positive remaining 80-100 pages.  

The first 20 minutes of Back to the Future Part 2 I can't stand.  Everytime I plop the DVD in, I always start the film after Griff and his gang are arrested.  After that, I think the movie is great.  I think the same mentality should be exercised here.  Give the script a chance.  Read the whole thing so proper feedback can be provided on what specifically needs to be fixed.  Seeing a review which states "I didn't really like your script because xxx, but here's what I think can be fixed xxx" is better than seeing something like "I read 20 pages of your script and it was bad so I stopped and I think you're ugly.  Bye."  

But, that's just my opinion.  

Quoted from dogglebe Think about your review before you post it.

I'm not a great reviewer and I'm aware of this, but if I comment on a script (especially a feature) Know that I have read the script at least two times. I always print out the feature length scripts then I sit down and read it straight through. After this I know if I liked it or not. If I truly disliked it, I probably throw it away afterwards, but if not, then I reread it and I scribble comments onto the printed pages. Then I write my review.

If someone read something of mine, but quit just after a few pages, I really really would like to know why. I guess what I'm saying is that even though I don't do partial reviews myself, I wouldn't mind receiving one as long as the reviewer tells me why they didn't like it.

Quoted from tomson If someone read something of mine, but quit just after a few pages, I really really would like to know why. I guess what I'm saying is that even though I don't do partial reviews myself, I wouldn't mind receiving one as long as the reviewer tells me why they didn't like it.

Here's a review that I gave someone without finishing the script:


"I started reading this script about a week ago and put it down half way through.  The scenes were long and drawn out and there was no character developement.  I stopped reading at the dance club scene because it seemed to go on forever and nothing was happening.

Did you do any research on the supernatural before you started writing this?  Or are you relying on your imagination and movies you saw in the past?"


Bad characterization.  Bad dialogue.  Drawn out story.  Do you really think that this story will get better.  Three important factors in a script are (IMHO) very bad.  Why read the rest of the script?


Phil

Quoted from Kamran Nikhad Oh no no no no, lol, not like that guys, it's just like saying, "I'm in the middle of reading the script, then my roommates want to go out," or, "I'm in the middle of reading, and suddenly my manager calls me up and tells me I have to fill in for someone."  I get back to reading the scripts all right, I was just curious if I should post what I think so far of their script, and later on, give them a full review.

Personally, I would prefer that you hold your comments until you're done reading. I understand that not everyone can read that much in one sitting, but since most of us are writers, we can probably write down your comments either on a sheet of paper or in notepad or something and then when you are finished, you can post it all at once.

One of my scripts got the comment of "Your plotting is so meticulous that many of the comments I made as I was reading had to be scratched out later on in the story." These stories should have early setups that will later pay off and sometimes these setups don't make a lick of sense in the narrative until you get to where you're going. Also, you may not understand a particular point of the story and thing the author has really screwed up by not going into that point, when in reality, the author has withheld what you want to know until later. Commenting that it doesn't make sense early on will only lead to frustration.

I say write down your comments for yourself as you read, and then post it all at once when you're done. When I read here at work, it takes awhile because of interruptions. I keep a running list of stuff in notepad until I'm finally done. Sometimes I even save the file until the following day. One of few times I did post a partial review was for J_D, and I only did that because it was the second time I'd read and was reviewing it, so I already had an idea of the story.

ive noticed that even most bad scripts can have some very favorable redeeming qualities. Like the dialogue could be stilted and silly, but the story itself is very compelling. or maybe its the opposite... the story is shoddy, lame and has plot holes you could driver a truck through, but it has compelling character arcs.

these are the writers who need our feedback the most. the great scripts on this site will always get 10,000 reviews in 2 weeks... while most of the bad scripts are largely ignored... but its those scripts that need the reviews the most.

Um. . . I don't get it. Are you talking about people who leave a review after reading a script and never review the rest or people who review script sections at a time.

I'm the later and will conitune doing it.

I don't understand the big deal other than what Bert is talking about that it is bloating the number of messages for said script.

Of coarse most of us here will not be able to finish a feature length script in one sitting, cause we are all to busy writing our own scripts. That's why we are here.

I always read scripts in chunks cause I got a script to finish myself. It has nothing to do with the script keeping my attention or not. We are all writers here,  we should all understand the situation.  

Quoted from Kamran Nikhad Do you think it's appropriate to comment on someone's script if you haven't read all of it?  Like only a first impression, or what you think about what you have read so far, would that be appropriate?  Sorry if this question sounds kind of dumb, but I haven't been able to find time to read some scripts I've been wanting to read due to finals.

I do.  If I cannot finish the script, then there is a problem with the script.  Most good scripts I can read very quickly.  Fight Club comes to mind.  That script just flows.  Scarface is the same way.  You just cannot put it down.  Those are signs of a great script.  

Cheers,

tweak

I think it is useful to get partial update like reviews.  They give you a good idea of how a reader felt at different parts of the script  (That is as long as the reader doesn't update them later).   If a reader writes a complete review at the end of their read then the review usually gets flattened out as it is edited.  Their misunderstandings get edited out and I, as a writer,  want to know about those misunderstandings and when they occurred.