Rough Draft

Zak Forsman said:
the game? the business? are you a "player" in "the industry"?
rotflmao.gif
this only demonstrates a complete apathy toward actual storytelling. admittedly, i don.t know who you are, and you clearly don.t know who you.re talking to. so we'll leave it at that.


btw, periods for apostrophies is the latest formal trend in screenwriting. sorry to break it to you. :)
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I sure do know who I'm talking to--a student with an unfinished screenplay.

You're real clever there guy with a smiley faces and all...I'm glad you're so happy with yourself.
 
I lost interest. Always a downer to debate with someone who really does pull irrelvance from a hat.
 
I’m going to chime in here regarding the whole 'only reading 10 pages' thing.

I've read for two companies as a script reader, and my job was to read the whole document from start to finish. I never had the advantage of ditching a script based on just 10pgs - because I had to write up coverage based on the whole script.

There are for sure people (indie producers) who would only read 10 pgs and then ditch your project based on just that, but most legit companies employ readers who have the job of reviewing the whole material, and then assess it's abilities to present in coverage-form to their bosses.

Not to fan the fires here, but that's my view on the 10pgs rule.

That all said, your first 10pgs sure do make an impression on the reader. It's like buying a home, and the first room you walk into is in bad condition and has crap all over the place. You simply don't want that.

Make a good first impression with the reader, further still, make an even greater impression with the rest of the story.

EJ
 
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EJ Pennypacker said:
I’m going to chime in here regarding the whole 'only reading 10 pages' thing.

I've read for two companies as a script reader, and my job was to read the whole document from start to finish. I never had the advantage of ditching a script based on just 10pgs - because I had to write up coverage based on the whole script.

There are for sure people (indie producers) who would only read 10 pgs and then ditch your project based on just that, but most legit companies employ readers who have the job of reviewing the whole material, and then assess it's abilities to present in coverage-form to their bosses.

Not to fan the fires here, but that's my view on the 10pgs rule.

EJ
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Yep. This was my experience too--regarding the obligation to read cover to cover. It's your job after all.

However I don't work as reader any more. And I CAN tell a lot after 1 page and more after 10 pages. In my opinion, the most important thing after 10 pages is do I want to read the rest of the script? I can forgive anything and everything if I want to keep reading. That's just me though.

For those naysayers that think 1 page is not enough ink to assess, consider this sample:

Wilson's first impression of Los Angeles was blue. He was in
the sky at the time, so it was a curious reversal, looking
down rather than up at the color he had always felt was
nature's finest.

Swimming pools. Hundreds of them. Pockmarking the landscape
like miniature lakes. A flat landscape of straight streets
and square blocks and sparse grass that didn't look quite
green enough.

As far as Wilson could remember, he had only ever seen seven
or eight swimming pools in his entire life and they had been
public ones. Here everyone had their own. Marvellous.

There was the one at the Butlin's holiday camp where he had
enjoyed his last legitimate employment -- as driver of a tour
bus. And there was the one at Crystal Palace he had gone to
once or twice when he was younger. He was most familiar,
though, with the Chelsea Baths as he had lived for some time
in a flat nearby in what he now thought of as his good years
-- before he'd gone grey, went to prison, and found himself in
a plane over a foreign town arriving to avenge the death of
his daughter.

..........................................
 
brianluce said:
I sure do know who I'm talking to--a student with an unfinished screenplay.
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that's right! and so i ask, how does reading the first ten pages help someone who is still developing the story? (aside from bolstering your ego, i mean)
 
I'm not a usually a peacemaker but can't you guys bury the hatchet? When all is said and done these boards are an open forum for both new and old to the industry and are a great way for people to both network and refine their skills. I'm not saying I don't go off the deep end now and then but in the long run it usually gets me nowhere. So if any one is offended just think big picture and you'll be able to see how pointless arguing here is.
 
I'm not a reader, and as far as reading only "10 pages" that's all I will do for
strangers. Those whom I have known for awhile, I will read their entire script.

The second act is usually where people get stuck, because they don't treat it as
2 parts of an act, so trying to write the act as one solid chunk makes it more
difficult.

The first act sets the pace, the tone, the events into play. If the first steps
are weak, the rest of the script will be weak as well.

If a person offers to read 10 pages, if a person offers to read 50, does it really
matter? If people are will to take time out of their day to even read 1 of your pages,
why is there a debate? Take that offer. See if they find points within your
script that you can take into consideration.

TIME is our more valued commodity. If someone offers you time out of their day to
read however many pages, why not take a person up on that offer? You might
get inspired by what they see.

Well, that's my two cents on that.
 
Wow...this has certainly turned into a sort of flame war - not my intention at all. I was not turning up my nose at an offer of reading only ten pages - it simply wasn.t what I was asking for -- I think my biggest problems are in the last 1/3 of the script - It feels rushed to me. Yes, insight into the begining is always welcome and I am thankful for anyone who would take time to help with that - but someone who just read the first ten pages would not really be able to help with the situation I am in. I didn't mean to offend anyone, and I took no offence at the offers. Hopefully that can put an end to this conversation which was blown way out of proportion.

Mark.
 
Wow, come on people? Need we argue about reading a script? It is the internet. Funny part is anyone can say whatever they want from behind the monitor.

That aside, if you can send me a plot overview, what you want the story to be (in paragraph format) and a properly formatted script I will take a look at it if I have time. Working on a feature and a musical with a few friends. So, I can try.

The reason I ask for your story is, more often than not a script has mltiple discrepencies with what you are attempting to convey, and it just doesn't work.

PM me if interested.

-Matty
 
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