This article came across my desk this morning.
It's a frank tale of how professional readers look at the development process.
How budding amateurs can best benefit from it, too.
And equally important, how you're viewed by them based on your behavior.
It's a contentious mix of ego and industry...

http://www.scriptmag.com/featu.....31&rid=233804156

Let's discuss!

Regards,
E.D.

Great story Brett!

The true difference between and amateur and a pro is how criticism is perceived. I like that!

A pro, or at least someone who has been in it for a while, will ultimately welcome criticism for what it is.

An honest attempt to point out a weakness in your work

Notice I said HONEST. Sometime we all get the...

Hey, I’m just trying to help line followed up by some of the most useless mean spirited crap imaginable.

But honest feedback, stinging as it may be, and given in the spirit of helping the writer, IMO is SOLID GOLD.


Shawn.....><

Crap.

They know something is wrong with a script if it's 83 pages.

Damn, I hate being singled out.

Pretty interesting article, though.  Definately some good advice in there for taking criticism and working with directors and producers during those first very important conversations.

- Mark

"Don’t expect us to agree with your writers group.  Nothing personal, but what do they know?  They may have spent four days with McKee, but how many scripts have they read?  How many projects have they taken into studios?  How many breakfasts, lunches and drinks have they spent learning what other people in the industry are looking for?

Chances are, they’re your friends; they’d rather not tell you that you look like a hippo, or they’re busy admiring their own ass.  Meaning writers’ feedback for other writers is all too often laden with iffy or irrelevant ideas. They’re imagining the story as if they were telling it. "

Someone begged me to let him read my found footage vampire script. I told him it was a second draft, but if he wanted to read it, he could. He came back with me how poorly written it was and how the story sucked. He pointed out a bunch of stuff that needed to be changed. Like 3 pages worth. He even offered to rewrite it... I tried to tell him there isn't a whole lot I can do to change it. They're starting to shoot it next week.

Critique is great and I love it, but I think in my case, he wanted to change it into how he imagined the story. The story has already been changed into how the producer and director sees it...  

Don’t do what we say, do what we mean.  Get at what’s really bothering the note giver, not merely what they’re complaining about on the surface.  What’s the underlying problem?

This has often been the case for me when I get others notes. Sometimes I might not agree with the specifics of the criticism, but usually the reader correctly identifies a problem, he just isn't 100% sure what it is. If 5 people read a script, and they all have a problem with act 2, but they all site different things, clearly act 2 is an issue and it's up to the writer to finish it.

We stop reading slug lines within the first 15 pages.  If you want us to know where we are, describe it in the description.

lol, I knew it!

We quit reading character names by the end of Act One.  So yes, each character should sound distinctive.

If these are your only methods of conveying where we are and who’s who, you’re sunk.

Really good advice I will try to keep in mind. Really good.


Don’t expect us to agree with your writers group...How many projects have they taken into studios?

Ouch, that hurts! But this certainly is true. That's why when I do reviews I always say: I'm an amateur. WTF do I know?

Quoted from Ledbetter Great story Brett! The true difference between and amateur and a pro is how criticism is perceived. I like that!

Nicely said, pal!
Being super receptive and upbeat about notes has gotten me meetings for sure!
Notes are a declaration that the project's got the glimmer to go big.
So, I take them that way and use everything I can to improve the page and contacts.

Regards,
E.D.

Quoted from Grandma Bear Chances are, they’re your friends; they’d rather not tell you that you look like a hippo, or they’re busy admiring their own ass.  Meaning writers’ feedback for other writers is all too often laden with iffy or irrelevant ideas. They’re imagining the story as if they were telling it. " Someone begged me to let him read my found footage vampire script. I told him it was a second draft, but if he wanted to read it, he could. He came back with me how poorly written it was and how the story sucked. He pointed out a bunch of stuff that needed to be changed. Like 3 pages worth. He even offered to rewrite it... I tried to tell him there isn't a whole lot I can do to change it. They're starting to shoot it next week. Critique is great and I love it, but I think in my case, he wanted to change it into how he imagined the story. The story has already been changed into how the producer and director sees it...

Totally understandable, I'm guilty of it in notes.
But I suggest scenes and bits to inspire the actual writer.

It's up to you to decide what's BETTER for your script or just merely DIFFERENT.
Besides, you could just drink them under the table...
And then drop the table on him!

Regards,
E.D.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Totally understandable, I'm guilty of it in notes.

I think we all see the scripts we read differently and all we can do is offer our opinion on how we see it. This guy though, was adamant about me fixing it his way. And no, this was not someone from SS!  

Quoted from Electric Dreamer Besides, you could just drink them under the table...

Now that's something I'm good at!  

Good article E.D.

This is what I got from it.  If someone here says my script sucks, I just say bollocks, what do you know, you're not a professional so screw you. lol Only joking.

I think the point about not reading character names after Act 1 is very good advice.  A character should have their own voice throughout the story.

Actually, I think every bit of feedback is helpful even if sometimes we don't agree with it.  I'm not saying it's always right, after all it's just the opinions of the reader and everyone reads things differently, as pointed out Pia.

Thanks for sharing, Brett. A good article.

I liked how he spoke about critique and the difference between pro's and amateur, I definitely think there is some truth in that.

Making characters memorable is a given so that doesn't surprise me but stopping to read slugs by page 15...that one has caught me off-guard.

And not agreeing with writers groups...what does he know.

Quoted from CoopBazinga Thanks for sharing, Brett. A good article. Making characters memorable is a given so that doesn't surprise me but stopping to read slugs by page 15...that one has caught me off-guard.

Hey Coop!

It's funny, everyone seems to zero in on that speed reading trick.
Quite the eye opener when you see how development folks look at cold scripts.
Gives one extra pause to construct a killer script just to get noticed.

Regards,
E.D.

Interesting read.

Personally, I'm late to the party and have miles to go before I reach, "Yeah, that's OK" so I'm open to constructive input or anything written by an expert.

Another take away from this article is there's simply too much product available. So much so they have to use a sieve to sort new submittals; this one's got too few pages, this one has too many….The brads on this one didn't look right.

So the reasons for immediate rejection increase in direct proportion to amount of materials available.

In contrast, on a building site short of materials I watched a carpenter going thru a pile of discarded lumber.

I asked the man what he was doing.

He smiled and replied, "I'm culling my culls."

John