How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

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  • #31
    Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

    OP, stop trying to manage factors you cannot control and just write the best frickin' stories that YOU can write to the best of YOUR ability, based on what YOU think is a great story.

    That's the only formula you need to implement.

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    • #32
      Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

      Originally posted by Richmond Weems View Post
      God help me, I think I agree with this.
      We'd be fools not to agree.
      All the best,
      Lee
      __________________________________
      I'm not just a screenwriter...
      I also write and illustrate picture books!

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      • #33
        Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

        Hecky, you make some good points about taste, and that's why stats are helpful. They don't have taste, but what statistics can do is organize taste in an understandable way. With higher numbers of responses (scores), a curve can be drawn that tells us what is the typical score or taste to a script. If 20 people rate a script 8-10, and 4 people rate it 4, then we know more people have a positive taste to a script than don't, and that taste is typically 8-10. Without stats, a series of numbers might look no more than a series of numbers with no discernable conclusion. A ratings service could use the statistical bell curve to handle and give meaning to a series of running numbers or scores.

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        • #34
          Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

          On the taste issue I do feel that BL would be better tackling the causes of polarisation then manipulating the numbers.

          Scripts need to be better aligned to the readers that will appreciate them. I've had a few reviews where the reviewer was never going to like the script and I've read of similar issues from other members. There is one guy here who's horror script review opened with something like 'Horror movies are the cockroaches of the film industry' - that's not good, that shouldn't happen.

          I write dumb action scripts for young males, I don't want them being reviewed by a forty year old women who are aching for rich character development and find car chases tedious. I had a reviewer praise how I blended modern day and futuristic weaponry, and I appreciate that compliment, accept, well, muskets aren't futuristic weaponry.
          Script Revolution - A free to use script hosting website that offers screenwriters a platform to promote their scripts and a way for filmmakers to search through them.

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          • #35
            Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

            Agreed. Readers who don't like a particular genre have a bias to begin with. I've read that BL gives scripts to readers who express an interest in a type of genre. With only one reader reviewing a script, it's obviously important for the reader not to be biased.

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            • #36
              Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

              Originally posted by MikeD View Post
              I've read that BL gives scripts to readers who express an interest in a type of genre.
              That's what's supposed to happen, but there seems to be some anecdotal evidence it's not always the case -- plus the genres may not be specific enough -- or some sort of target market needs identifying -- I'm not sure -- it's just frustrating when it's clear you were pretty damned from the get go.

              I do worry that BL readers may be incentivised to broaden their reading genres, skim etc because more reads equals more dollars -- I don't see how that can be fixed either.
              Script Revolution - A free to use script hosting website that offers screenwriters a platform to promote their scripts and a way for filmmakers to search through them.

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              • #37
                Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                Originally posted by thestuart View Post
                On the taste issue I do feel that BL would be better tackling the causes of polarisation then manipulating the numbers.

                Scripts need to be better aligned to the readers that will appreciate them. I've had a few reviews where the reviewer was never going to like the script and I've read of similar issues from other members. There is one guy here who's horror script review opened with something like 'Horror movies are the cockroaches of the film industry' - that's not good, that shouldn't happen.

                I write dumb action scripts for young males, I don't want them being reviewed by a forty year old women who are aching for rich character development and find car chases tedious. I had a reviewer praise how I blended modern day and futuristic weaponry, and I appreciate that compliment, accept, well, muskets aren't futuristic weaponry.
                I'd encourage you to read the complete review that includes the "Horror movies are the cockroaches of the film industry" (which for the record isn't the correct quote.) It's not my place to share it in its entirety. I'll let the writer do that, but your excerpt wholly misrepresents the quality of that review, and the intent behind that statement specifically.

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                • #38
                  Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                  Originally posted by thestuart View Post
                  That's what's supposed to happen, but there seems to be some anecdotal evidence it's not always the case -- plus the genres may not be specific enough -- or some sort of target market needs identifying -- I'm not sure -- it's just frustrating when it's clear you were pretty damned from the get go.

                  I do worry that BL readers may be incentivised to broaden their reading genres, skim etc because more reads equals more dollars -- I don't see how that can be fixed either.
                  We have more than enough scripts regardless of the genre. The readers aren't improving their #s by broadening their genres selections.

                  If anyone has substantive evidence of a reader with real bias against a genre they're reading, I'd love to see it. We do monitor it closely though, and there has yet to be any evidence of it.

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                  • #39
                    Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                    Sorry Franklin, I wasn't implying these problems existed, just that they were a concern.
                    Script Revolution - A free to use script hosting website that offers screenwriters a platform to promote their scripts and a way for filmmakers to search through them.

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                    • #40
                      Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                      Originally posted by thestuart View Post
                      Sorry Franklin, I wasn't implying these problems existed, just that they were a concern.
                      That's the most American distinction I've ever heard. LOL

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                      • #41
                        Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                        Originally posted by Armak View Post
                        That's the most American distinction I've ever heard. LOL
                        Lol I should go into politics.

                        What I was trying to write was, I don't think these are current problems with BL. Just that I hope the targeting of scripts to readers only gets better.

                        I've had some very fortunate alignment with some BL readers, it's brilliant when it happens, I'd love more of that if it's somehow possible.
                        Script Revolution - A free to use script hosting website that offers screenwriters a platform to promote their scripts and a way for filmmakers to search through them.

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                        • #42
                          Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                          Originally posted by FranklinLeonard View Post
                          I'd encourage you to read the complete review that includes the "Horror movies are the cockroaches of the film industry" (which for the record isn't the correct quote.) It's not my place to share it in its entirety. I'll let the writer do that, but your excerpt wholly misrepresents the quality of that review, and the intent behind that statement specifically.
                          Franklin is correct here. Re-reading my coverage, the reader was simply being a bit lyrical with his wording. He wasn't insulting the horror genre, he was saying that no matter how the industry changes, the low-budget horror film will always be around.

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                          • #43
                            Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                            Originally posted by The Dark Shape View Post
                            Franklin is correct here. Re-reading my coverage, the reader was simply being a bit lyrical with his wording. He wasn't insulting the horror genre, he was saying that no matter how the industry changes, the low-budget horror film will always be around.
                            Thanks for the explanation, I apologise for my error.
                            Script Revolution - A free to use script hosting website that offers screenwriters a platform to promote their scripts and a way for filmmakers to search through them.

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                            • #44
                              Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                              Wasn't your error, so don't worry about it.

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                              • #45
                                Re: How A Ratings Service Can Deal With Subjectivity

                                Because 42 percent of people misuse statistics, perhaps a different approach is needed. I've always advocated a zero-three rating system; it works like this:

                                0 - I don't like this script, period.
                                1 - I like this script/writer but not enough to recommend them to anyone.
                                2 - I would recommend this script/writer to my boss.
                                3 - I would stake my career on this work.

                                It relies on all the same input data as any other rating system, is sublimely simple and less fallible, but most importantly the practical result is no different from any vastly more complex approach. As you can imagine, its simplicity has a lot of appeal for those of us whose intellectual skills are ... well, let's just say less than staggering.
                                "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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