I’ve been working on a pilot episode for my first TV series for a year.
So far, I have sent my pilot episode to FOUR addresses of various script doctors.
Of all of them, I got the best words about my script. But ... something always needed to be "fixed" !!!
I spent a lot of dollars on "fixing" the script that all those script doctors praised !!!
I asked those famous script doctors if after their "correction" of my script (since my script was already great, they all told me that it needed "only" light polishing) I would get RECOMMENDID they all told me OF COURSE !!!
After their light polishing of my great script, I paid a pitch to some executive producers and got an average grade of 3 out of 6 possible points !!!!
Who's crazy here ???
Who reads our scripts?
Who do we pay to be so humiliated?
Who reads our scripts for our money?
Does the rule apply here as well: "Whoever doesn't play is a coach"?
The conclusion that is tempting in my humble opinion is the following:
- It seems that when we pay someone to read our script we have to consider whether the reader of our script:
- slept well the night before,
- whether he had an argument with a girl,
- whether he had a stomach ache,
- whether he had an argument with his boss,
- whether he got wet on the way to work ........
We should pray to God that the one who reads our script will be in the mood to get at least CONSIDER for the polished script !!!!!!
I know that even when you are lucky enough to arrange a deal with the strongest players in the industry (HBO, FOX, NETFLIX ...) they will always ask for some "fixes" to your script. BUT, when you pay for a script polishing service and then after that some fifth assistant of some production company rate your script as if you sent him the first draft .... It's humiliating!
In my humble opinion, everyone earns a lot here, and we writers leave a lot of money to each script doctor which we earned bloodily!
Maybe I'm stupid, but if you don't know someone who knows someone who knows a decision makers, don't even start writing screenplays !!!!!
I wish all fellow writers to succeed and sell their stories!
Thanks Shahriar.
3 people like this
It sounds like you're expecting everyone to have the same opinion and to give the same notes. That is simply not going to happen.
It's not, and never will be a case of someone giving you bad feedback because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed on the day they read your script. Some may love your script, some may hate your script and some may just say, "Meh" to the same script, but it's important to get multiple feedback, and that's what you're getting.
The same comment from multiple sources is a good indication that a change is required. A one-off comment from one source only is something you should evaluate. Any comment you agree with, you can implement and any comment you disagree with, you should discard. DO NOT make every change that they advise. That's just going to ruin your script.
And as for feeling humiliated because of a comment from "some fifth assistant of some production company"? Why are you letting that get to you?
Everyone has different opinions and changing your script to suit their notes and then expecting praise from a different person? Highly unlikely.
Thank you for sharing! Try a one on one mentor.
Dear Pierre,
I don't think you understood me.
I received EXTREMELY good notes from FOUR consultants !!!!
However, they all had a suggestion that light polishing should be done and they told me that after their service everyone would give me RECOMMENDED !!!
I paid for that service (light polishing).
To check the result I paid coverage, and ... guess what? I got a PASS !!!!!!!!! FOR THE SCRIPT AND FOR THE WRITER !!!!
And YES, I know that it really depends on which side of the bed the one who evaluates my script for my money got up on!
I say this responsibly from my own experience!
1 person likes this
If someone is telling you that you will receive a Recommend after applying their notes then they are outright lying to you. If this was something that you paid for then you have been cheated out of your money. Who told you that? They deserve to be named and shamed. You also misunderstood my comment, I said it has nothing to do with which side of the bed they got up from.
Dear Pierre,
Regardless of the fact that I have seven awards for my stories in the US, as a writer from Serbia, I am nobody and nothing in the US! And YES, I can only contact the fifth or sixth assistant producers.
If it is a comedy, that fifth assistant can be a woman, a man, a young man, an old man, a blonde, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, African American, Latin American, Indian, Asian, Arab, conservative, democrat, fascist, communist ....
How can I know who he / she is when I submit my pitch?
Can anyone convince me that everyone I mentioned has the same sense of humor ????
Don't be fooled !!!
That;s nothing I have been working on multiple scripts for years and they haven't been published.
Pierre,
I didn’t pay for the polishing services of my script on the street where hot dogs with ketchup are sold!
Polishing my script was done by writers who made a dozen movies and series.
Are you saying that when they tell me that after their job my script will get a recommendation that they lie?
I doubt it.
Their names are online and the testimonials of their clients are also online.
So those from whom I got the pass are not worthy of their job, and that is exactly what I want to talk about!
4 people like this
Steven, I'm trying to clarify what you're saying. Are you saying that you have paid professionals to polish your script? And if that's correct and those professionals told you that the industry will give your script a Recommend based on their work, then yes, they lied. No one can guarantee a Recommend, no one can guarantee that a production company will pick up your script. Or did they tell you that they themselves would give your script a Recommend after they did their own work to it? Then that would be a pointless statement to make.
By the way, a Recommend means nothing to the writer. I could give you a Recommend right now but it's meaningless, it's not transferrable to anyone, you can't use it for anything and it holds no power.
1 person likes this
I am comfortable with my skill level (and arrogant). I write and see if it is commercial. Sometimes I write something and think “the world doesn’t need this”.
When I write something that I think is worth putting out in the world I host it on Script Revolution. This has got me two sales and I am in discussion for a third.
I am now starting to get requests from people that know people I am working with. This is the “green shoots” of a growing network.
If you are confident in your skill don’t pay people. If you have the urge to ask “how do I know if it is ready”, you are not confident.
Sometimes I am desperate for people to read my work because I am excited about the story. So I give it to friends. But out of enthusiasm, not for notes.
There are two factors in your and everyone else's experience. One, there are thousands of scripts out there and, two, what the reader is looking for. They don't consider great scripts unless they have what the market is looking for. Right now it seems they are looking for female-driven stories. So if your script is not that, you really need something very special to be considered. It's the way of the world.
Stevan Šerban. You're just paying for opinions and the more people you pay the more different opinions you'll get. You've written a few screenplays so you really should have a pretty good idea if your script is good and works. If you want to get an opinion you might find just one person you trust.
Do also keep in mind that a pitch is not a script. My pitch is not as strong as the actual script, based on feedback so far. This is a problem :D and one I am working to rectify. It is extremely difficult to boil 10 hours of TV down to 300 pithy words that will convey how awesome it is going to be.
Another common issue is that paid readers are just trying to get through a stack as quickly as possible. They will skim your material looking for obvious things to either praise or critique, sometimes out of context.
Lastly, sometimes a reader just doesn't connect with the material. For example, I have had both Americans and Europeans read my script, which is set in Greece. It is quite clear, based on the feedback, that the Europeans connect with the story more effortlessly than the Americans.
1 person likes this
Craig D Griffiths Yes, friends are useful. They may not want to tell you if it sucks, but when they like it, you can tell from their comments and recaps of the story if the necessary points and the tone you wanted came across.
Charles Baldwin just curious, why was it recommended you go to college?
1 person likes this
this post makes me sad. Reeks of desperation.
The dark reality of trying to break into the industry.
1 person likes this
Stevan Serban, don't give up. There haven't been too many good movies produced lately. Sooner or later the industry will evolve again and you'll be in demand.
Dan - yeah, me too.
Christiane Lange I think the most important skill a writer can develop is their “internal suck radar”.
I know when the stuff I write is bad. I have a few 20-30 page false starts. Thought it was great, but soon found it was bad.
1 person likes this
Craig D Griffiths :D True enough, but I was more speaking to the common opinion that friends&family are useless because they won't want to criticize. Assuming the script doesn't suck, the friendly type of feedback has been useful to me at various turns. I also have my daughter, who has no problem criticizing and was extremely helpful in tweaking local cultural behaviors. She is a native speaker, which I am not, and has a good eye for detail.
Pierre said it all!