Victor Brooke Miller: Screenwriter in Alameda, California.

@Chaz - I understand, Paul Thomas Anderson, being who he is would get away with a few spelling errors, to be honest I think he's a better director then he is a writer but the point I was trying to make was that even the best make errors but I guess it helps being the best before writing a sloppy screenplay, something I would never do in the first place.

Jeremy - one last time because I feel talked out on this subject and I'm starting to go in circles here (a la William Goldman's well known verse about Hollywood being a gooney bird flying in ever shrinking concentric circles until it is swallowed up by it's own asshole). I like some of Paul Thomas Anderson's work. Not all. Hated The Master, and it bombed at the box office. Point is - it was NOT his first work - so he gets more of a pass from studios or readers than you would. Also - not sure if what you read was a copy of his actual work or someone's knockoff copy of it. Doesn't matter. My initial point is what counts. Your script being read is NOT in the same category as his. Or any other established writer. I agree with you - and have said so already - that an engaging ORIGINAL story, memorable characters and whip smart dialogue is essential. But you cannot separate out the spelling and grammar as an afterthought. For you - as a novice, first timer trying to make a splash and break in based on your srcipt - it is ALL OF A PIECE. And as Chaz has written above - in agreement with the point I have been trying to hammer home here - a reader with a stack of scripts is literally looking for the first opportunity to PASS on a writing sample and go on to the next one. And if you give them that opening - a grammatical error on page one - or a plethora of spelling/typo mistakes in the first few pages - it will be interpreted as a lack of professionalism - and no matter how good the rest may be going forward to Fade Out - they will never get that far. You are toast. No - this is not Facebook. Stage 32 is a tool. More novices here looking for advice than pros giving it - but when you ask - and are steered toward your goal by helping hands - listen. I've been doing this a long time. Written about a dozen spec originals - two were made and almost 80% were optioned and I made money on them - which is a pretty good track record. I've been hired to write a bunch more on assignment. I'm not a genius. I don't know everything. But I do know some of the trails through the jungle that is Hollywood. The path is never easy - but if you're determined to walk it - go in with your eyes wide open and beware the pifalls - especially when someone tries to help and map them out for you.

Yep, agree with everything Michael said. I'm no genius either, but I did spend a year handling all the coverage comings and goings at Miramax and that was one hell of an eye opener - just the material coming from repped leading writers got slaughtered most of the time! Those readers are brutal, don't give them any reason to say no because they also want to keep getting hired and not have an executive pissed off at them for writing "consider" on a script that then became a box office tank - it's just easier to pass on most things unless they are mind-blowingly amazingly brilliant. Just keep that in mind, there are a lot of gatekeepers to get past to even reach an exec or producer bothering to pick the script up (they'll tell you they will read it, but 90% will send it out for coverage and send a generic pass/rejection letter - with a few lines of feedback their assistant pulled out of the coverage report if you're lucky). That's most likely why myself and some others have encouraged you to make it 110% coverage/reader proof as much as you can before approaching execs/producers - be sure it's as good as it can be based on multiple objective opinions and tests, not a blind "I wrote it, of course it's great" mentality. We all think that starting out, but I believe "professional writer" status comes when we have the self-awareness to know it's never really finished, it's only as good as it can be - right now. Same goes for a finished film - you always would do things differently a week later, but that's art...you do the best you can with the resources/skills etc available to you and strive for excellence - that's really what that film is, a captured version of your team's collective capability at the time so I guess a script would be the same. Hope these ramblings from us have helped, they are candid but intended to help avoid the pitfalls and bumps in the road that many of us know all too well from seeing others do it or doing it ourselves :)

Thanks very much for your work.

Thank you very much for the note, Victor...I appreciate it greatly. And thank you in advance for sharing Stage 32 with your creative friends.

Many thanks.