What about the parameters for couple? I just read one where some were saying it didn't meet the couple parameters. There were two people in it, but they were not married or anything.

Quoted from Grandma Bear What about the parameters for couple? I just read one where some were saying it didn't meet the couple parameters. There were two people in it, but they were not married or anything.

Don had asked that question on this thread early on. It could have been a traditional or non-traditional couple.

Quoted from SAC And maybe some of that was on me. Suburban home was not one of the challenge parameters, rather just something I wrote in a grabber. It could have been an isolated farmhouse or, as Jeff said, a “tiny” home. Sorry if there was any confusion.

Thanks for the confirmation - a surprise to me, I have to say.

But that is a good reason why I think we have be open minded with the criteria

Or to steal a therapeutic phrase, we should ‘hold them lightly’ , be open to difference, or reasons we don’t yet know.

Ok, there are times when enough is enough. The script without an elevator in the elevator challenge comes to mind. But other than that, we should be chilled.

In this OWC I thought I applied one factor - which I look forward to explaining later on - in a creative manner, but this has passed people by. Now I am as guilty as anybody on missing things, it can often be a rush to read them. But I don’t hold them against the script just because I would do it differently, or feel they are not as strong as I would like.

Without being prescriptive, it almost seems like an OWC could have A and B criteria. A you must include, eg a wheelchair, scream, and B ones that are open to interpretation, eg suburban house.

Then again it could take the fun away of arguing about them  

Quoted from Reef Dreamer Thanks for the confirmation - a surprise to me, I have to say. But that is a good reason why I think we have be open minded with the criteria Or to steal a therapeutic phrase, we should ‘hold them lightly’ , be open to difference, or reasons we don’t yet know. Ok, there are times when enough is enough. The script without an elevator in the elevator challenge comes to mind. But other than that, we should be chilled. In this OWC I thought I applied one factor - which I look forward to explaining later on - in a creative manner, but this has passed people by. Now I am as guilty as anybody on missing things, it can often be a rush to read them. But I don’t hold them against the script just because I would do it differently, or feel they are not as strong as I would like. Without being prescriptive, it almost seems like an OWC could have A and B criteria. A you must include, eg a wheelchair, scream, and B ones that are open to interpretation, eg suburban house. Then again it could take the fun away of arguing about them

The only thing that anyone really stretched in this one was whether "the scream" had to relate to the rest of the story. I would have assumed that it should be central. A couple of these scripts did not (i.e., the scream was incidental). I would have let them both pass since it was really specified - although implied.

Quoted from eldave1 Thought you were saying that you didn't like Suburban home is a slug. That is that it was an incorrect header. If you're saying you just would have liked to see something more inventive, okay.

I HATE "SUBURBAN HOME" as a Slug!

There's nothing inherently "wrong" with it.  It's just boring, it tells us nothing, and, in this challenge, look how many God Damned times it was used.  That should tell you something right off the bat.

It's like using "STREET", or some other dumbass, boring Slug that one sees over and over.

A "Suburban home" can be so many different things, just like a "street" can be.

I say, give your script some life.  Make it unique, whether the story and action is unique or not - you can at least make it look like it is.

Quoted from Dreamscale I HATE "SUBURBAN HOME" as a Slug! There's nothing inherently "wrong" with it.  It's just boring, it tells us nothing, and, in this challenge, look how many God Damned times it was used.  That should tell you something right off the bat. It's like using "STREET", or some other dumbass, boring Slug that one sees over and over. A "Suburban home" can be so many different things, just like a "street" can be. I say, give your script some life.  Make it unique, whether the story and action is unique or not - you can at least make it look like it is.

It was used 6 times as the opening slug.

For me, personally - I would have never made a comment on it. Not a deal.  But that's for me. That being said, I do agree with you that wherever you can add "pop" to your header - wise to do so. BUT -- I can also say that I didn't find any of the other SLUGS special either. The rest were simply OWNER'S NAME/HOUSE, A SPECIFIC ROOM IN A HOUSE - A SPECIFIC BUILDING (e.g., FARM HOUSE). Long winded way of saying SUBURBAN HOUSE pretty much drew the same reaction from me as every other header.

It is an interesting topic you bring up here and may be a good general thread discussion  i.e., how to write headers that pop.  

Will be leaving for Tahoe soon - so won't be very active after this Friday - wanted to give my shout out to all who entered.

I think this is going to be real close. There were six that I thought were contenders. Will be interesting to see how the voting goes.

My computer rebooted during the night and cleared my score sheet!   > > > > >

Quoted from Grandma Bear My computer rebooted during the night and cleared my score sheet!   > > > > >

A bummer, just vote for mine  

But you know what, after all the various voting models there are out there, I still like the old Movie Poet option. Seemed to sum it up well without the extra fluff.

Quoted from eldave1 It was used 6 times as the opening slug. For me, personally - I would have never made a comment on it. Not a deal.  But that's for me. That being said, I do agree with you that wherever you can add "pop" to your header - wise to do so. BUT -- I can also say that I didn't find any of the other SLUGS special either. The rest were simply OWNER'S NAME/HOUSE, A SPECIFIC ROOM IN A HOUSE - A SPECIFIC BUILDING (e.g., FARM HOUSE). Long winded way of saying SUBURBAN HOUSE pretty much drew the same reaction from me as every other header. It is an interesting topic you bring up here and may be a good general thread discussion  i.e., how to write headers that pop.

Great suggestion, Dave.
https://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?m-1571265713/

And, I just changed the thread title cause the 'pop' was better.

I honestly feel like I must be reading a different draft or completely different script than the vast majority...or else I just have no clue anymore...or maybe ever.

I read a script and give very detailed feedback and then read over the previous feedback and I'm completely baffled at what I'm reading.  It must be me, and maybe I just don't get it.

Sorry for negative feedback on scripts that are praised.  It must be me, and please don't take my feedback to heart.

3 more to go and then everyone gets a bye for a long time.  My apologies, again, and I do mean that.

Quoted from Dreamscale I honestly feel like I must be reading a different draft or completely different script than the vast majority...or else I just have no clue anymore...or maybe ever. I read a script and give very detailed feedback and then read over the previous feedback and I'm completely baffled at what I'm reading.  It must be me, and maybe I just don't get it. Sorry for negative feedback on scripts that are praised.  It must be me, and please don't take my feedback to heart. 3 more to go and then everyone gets a bye for a long time.  My apologies, again, and I do mean that.

Dude, you've got absolutely nothing to apologise for. Your feedback is honest and valuable. So you really disliked something a few other praised. Big deal. Everyone has their own opinion. Stick by yours. Anyone has a problem with that, then that's on them.

Quoted from Zack Dude, you've got absolutely nothing to apologise for. Your feedback is honest and valuable. So you really disliked something a few other praised. Big deal. Everyone has their own opinion. Stick by yours. Anyone has a problem with that, then that's on them.

It's not that.  It's that I'm shocked at alot of the feedback, praising scripts that are...well...uhhhh...aren't great, by any means.

I don't get it.

Quoted from Dreamscale It's not that.  It's that I'm shocked at alot of the feedback, praising scripts that are...well...uhhhh...aren't great, by any means. I don't get it.

It’s hard to say, I think. In the past I’ve usually agreed with your feedback, or just generally whether you liked a script or not. There are times where I scratch my head and wonder what others are thinking, so you’re not alone in that respect.

It’s subjective. There are things that speak to me in certain scripts that maybe others aren’t seeing or aren’t getting or just doesn’t strike others the same way. Those “certain” things can elevate a script greatly for me, to the point I’ll overlook formatting miscues or other things, like camera angles. There was one script I read that I liked, then I went back and read the comments and peeps were bitching about the use of camera direction. I was like - wow, I didn’t even notice.

Then there’s reviewing style. If I see a script that was obviously written by someone new to screenwriting I’ll take a softer approach in my critique and avoid using phrases like “poorly written” or “this is terrible.” I’ll try to highlight things that did work. It’s not necessarily sugarcoating, so it’s possible some reviews might seem more positive than others. Then again, I usually keep my comments brief during the OWC.

I don’t know. But you give very detailed feedback, as well as some others, and that’s awesome IMO.

Quoted from Dreamscale It's not that.  It's that I'm shocked at alot of the feedback, praising scripts that are...well...uhhhh...aren't great, by any means. I don't get it.

Just my opinion, but you may want to re-calibrate what your perspective is on "praise." Because you really can't tell what the genuine feedback is until the scores on in. In my experience, regardless of comments, the scripts that are the best usually come out on top - there are exceptions - but it is rare. i.e., the ratings/rankings are the most genuine feedback.

The other thing is that there are things you care about that others don't. No judgement on right or wrong here - but I don't think I've ever made a comment in the OWCs on the title page or logline. For me, in an OWC, they are irrelevant. For you they are important. Let's assume that you are right and I am wrong (i.e., one should comment on them) - well - your going to have negative comments on these in many places - I'm not going to have any comments at all. Same with things like asides, orphans, wrylies, etc.  They are not as important issues to some as they are to others.

So the bottom line is that how many times over the years do you think crap scripts made the top three - isn't it extremely rare? IMO, there are six scripts here that I think are contenders with three that are probably battling out for the top spot. I'll bet that 90% of the reviewers have the same scripts when the ratings come out - only because in the 20 of these that I have been involved in - they do.