Re: Blacklist Experience #1239932
'The never will be' comment was meant to be taken as perspective. The truth is that most of us 'never will be' good enough to be top tier at anything - comedy, sport, music etc - and writing is no different.
I am just trying to make it clear just how tough it is - and if you understand that then, hopefully, you won't take the BL scoring to heart so much. The chances of you being good enough to write professionally are as next-to-impossible as the chances of a football-loving kid playing for Manchester United. It takes more than being 'really good' compared to your friends, or your writing group, you need to be really good by pro-standards. Ie: English Premier League, NFL, NBA.
So right now you're either not good enough and never will be or you're just not good enough at the moment - and there is no shame in either because, as I said, 99.999% are not good enough to ever make it. (Hence only an absolute moron would think I attacked you). Whether you're only not good enough right now remains to be seen but the only way you'll get to where you want to go is if you stop blaming the Black List, stop blaming the readers and stop permutating as to how your script was erroneously misunderstood/overlooked. Instead, take ownership and take stock of just how good you actually have to be to make it.
I hope you do reflect on that as that was my only aim. That way you'll have a chance of seeing what I did - the excuses, the bemoaning, the 'not my fault'ery. There's a ton of threads whining about TBL giving them low scores but a conspicuous lack of acceptance despite the apparent acknowledgement that only 0.001% are good enough writers. As Americans like to say: 'do the math'. Only 99.999% are good enough yet 99.999% insist it means everyone else.
As has been said many times in many BL threads, ignore the coverage. All that matters is the score. They may fluff things up to let you down gently or writers misinterpret their comments for positives - eg: 'original' doesn't necessarily mean 'good' and 'funny' doesn't mean everything else about your script and writing is great - so just focus on the score.
Having said that, your feedback was clear: undeveloped, one-dimensional and voice-less characters, lack of connectivity between characters and plot, on-the-nose dialogue, heavy-handed exposition and weak structure. I mean, these are the Prime List of cardinal sins.
But before you slit your wrists, you scored 6/7 which tells us you can write to a fair degree and you also got feedback that backs this up by saying the foundations are there to be a strong sample (however I would take that with a pinch of salt, just to be on the safe side. in case it's the final slice of bread in a shit sandwich). And this is why I came back off-grid to spend an hour writing to you. Do you want to be a nearly-man, good but not good enough, looking elsewhere except inside himself or do you want the Simon Cowell bluntness that stings like hell but forces you to be honest with yourself and which gives you the best chance of pushing yourself to the requisite level? Do you want to be 'a good writer' in the amateur sense - like what your Aunty Mavis would say about you to her friends at the bridge club, but not in the professional sense, or do you want to be 'a good writer' - like when Ridley Scott is having lunch with the execs at Fox?
I am glad you see your attitude was poor. You will only improve by believing this to be so. Yes, most people's scripts just sit there - but that goes for those who get 8s and 9s as well. Most scripts aren't bought and most signed-up writers don't get anywhere, either. That's just the reality of the business: it's all-but impossible to be good enough to make it and even if you are, it's all-but impossible to make a sale let alone a career. We're talking lottery-style odds. Even so, give me a read and hosting for a month rather than the one-shot of a competition.
Exactly.
You're welcome. I guarantee you will come out of it for the better: either quitting because you can't write any better or can't cope with the lottery-style odds - or by raising your game and getting that 8.
Originally posted by Ryan Rodriguez
View Post
I am just trying to make it clear just how tough it is - and if you understand that then, hopefully, you won't take the BL scoring to heart so much. The chances of you being good enough to write professionally are as next-to-impossible as the chances of a football-loving kid playing for Manchester United. It takes more than being 'really good' compared to your friends, or your writing group, you need to be really good by pro-standards. Ie: English Premier League, NFL, NBA.
So right now you're either not good enough and never will be or you're just not good enough at the moment - and there is no shame in either because, as I said, 99.999% are not good enough to ever make it. (Hence only an absolute moron would think I attacked you). Whether you're only not good enough right now remains to be seen but the only way you'll get to where you want to go is if you stop blaming the Black List, stop blaming the readers and stop permutating as to how your script was erroneously misunderstood/overlooked. Instead, take ownership and take stock of just how good you actually have to be to make it.
As for the bitterness, I'll reflect on that. I don't think I have a fantastic script. I don't think the readers didn't "get it-. I just know that based on the coverage you get, it's hard to tell what exactly the readers thought of it. The coverage is cursory. And I even had a hard time agreeing with some of the strengths. So it was a confusing experience for me.
As has been said many times in many BL threads, ignore the coverage. All that matters is the score. They may fluff things up to let you down gently or writers misinterpret their comments for positives - eg: 'original' doesn't necessarily mean 'good' and 'funny' doesn't mean everything else about your script and writing is great - so just focus on the score.
Having said that, your feedback was clear: undeveloped, one-dimensional and voice-less characters, lack of connectivity between characters and plot, on-the-nose dialogue, heavy-handed exposition and weak structure. I mean, these are the Prime List of cardinal sins.
But before you slit your wrists, you scored 6/7 which tells us you can write to a fair degree and you also got feedback that backs this up by saying the foundations are there to be a strong sample (however I would take that with a pinch of salt, just to be on the safe side. in case it's the final slice of bread in a shit sandwich). And this is why I came back off-grid to spend an hour writing to you. Do you want to be a nearly-man, good but not good enough, looking elsewhere except inside himself or do you want the Simon Cowell bluntness that stings like hell but forces you to be honest with yourself and which gives you the best chance of pushing yourself to the requisite level? Do you want to be 'a good writer' in the amateur sense - like what your Aunty Mavis would say about you to her friends at the bridge club, but not in the professional sense, or do you want to be 'a good writer' - like when Ridley Scott is having lunch with the execs at Fox?
I agree that my attitude about the scoring system is poor. I never paid for a competition and the only thing I put stock in was the lowest possible number I could get that would garner attention. I read a lot of reviews by people who scored lower and they said the script just sat there. I can't really afford that. So my goal was 8.
I think the overall message of your reply is that I should always be looking to self-improve and make no excuses for my failures, especially at the cost of others.
Again, thanks for taking the time to read what I wrote, offer the criticism, and inspire me to be honest with myself.
Comment