Question for Greg Beal (and other contest honchos)

[viclustig]

Hey,

Greg, you always provide such great advice and info about the Academy Awards fellowship.

I know you provide various statistics about winning scripts. I wonder if you have any additional statistic info about finalist/fellowship scripts.

In terms of:

Male lead vs Female lead
Voice-over vs No Voice-over
Flashbacks/non-linear vs straight linear
Happy Ending vs Down Ending
McKee's Archplot vs Mini-plot vs Anti-plot
Use of "we" vs no use of "we"
Use of Shane Black/Joe Esterhaz conversation style vs traditional objective style

I realize every script is unique flower and any technique can be helpful or harmful depending on execution. I love all types of films and know that all of the above can lead to either amazing or dreadful films.

But there must be statistical trends in the above dichotomies. There must be some culture, no matter how tenuous, among readers. Tastes, standards, cliches: all of these are subject to peer pressure.

So I wonder, are there statistics on such matters and what do they show?

Yours sincerely and such-and-such,

Admiral B.J. Smithee, HMRN, QR, and Duchy

[GregBeal]

Male lead vs Female lead
Have never counted -- but I'll guess 2 to 1.

Voice-over vs No Voice-over
Don't know, but a number of winning scripts used voice-over. More did not.

Flashbacks/non-linear vs straight linear
Don't know, but a number of winning scripts used flashbacks and non-linear structures. More did not.

Happy Ending vs Down Ending
Don't know. Certainly, there have been many of both, as well as some mixed endings.

McKee's Archplot vs Mini-plot vs Anti-plot
Don't know.

Use of "we" vs no use of "we"
Don't know. Certainly, many scripts among all entrants use "we." Many others do not.

Use of Shane Black/Joe Esterhaz conversation style vs traditional objective style
Don't know. Among all entrants, asides to the reader appear every once in a while.

[NikeeGoddess]

so basically, you just don't know anything :\












sorry, couldn't resist :b

[Leech]

viclustig -


I'm not claiming that you are, but I hope that you aren't going to use the stats that Greg Beal tried to provide as limitations to your script.

I hope the above remark doesn't sound accusatory but those pieces of information that you wanted stats on are the concerns that people have when they want their script to serve something else other than the story.