10-Page Torture Test - looking for submissions

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  • 10-Page Torture Test - looking for submissions

    http://10PTT.COM/ is a new site devoted to polishing your screenplay's critical first ten pages. Currently we're in read-only mode but membership will open soon.

    I'm looking for submissions to kickstart content and discussion.

    WHAT?

    For any script you've written and retain copyright, the first ten pages submitted in one of these formats: Final Draft, Movie Magic Screenwriter, PDF.

    HOW?

    Email your ten pages to [email protected] with the following boilerplate copy/pasted into the body:

    -----
    Permission to use:

    I declare I am the sole author and copyright holder in the submitted work. I hereby permit you and 10PTT.COM users to publish the submitted work on 10PTT.COM in original or annotated form for the purposes of comment and instruction. I understand that work published on 10PTT.COM may receive praise or criticism, and I will not withdraw this 'permission to use' due to adverse comments from users.
    -----

    In other words, here's your chance to develop the thick skin all professional screenwriters require.

    Also include in the email how you'd like to receive attribution. Can be name or nym. We may not use your submitted work. Whether we do depends on factors like:

    * If the writing's already good, with no polishing needed, can we instead point out the effective techniques you've used?

    * Is there an overall storytelling issue that rewriting can't fix?

    Lots of sites out there want to help screenwriters become better storytellers. 10PTT.COM wants to make you better writers. Put more effective words on the page. Write scripts where the page is like the glass bottom of a diving boat: an invisible window into another world.

    I hope you'll join us.

    Right now I'm knotted up with some kind of 24-hour virus, but I hope to begin the first batch of 10PTTs soon.

    Note: this is not in any way a professional reader service, paid or otherwise. But it would be cool if down the track we get professional readers joining to participate in the 10PTTs, just for the fun of it.

    Cheers,
    [email protected]

  • #2
    Re: 10-Page Torture Test - looking for submissions

    I think it would be very helpful if you gave us more info to go on besides your gmail account.

    Personally, I believe screenwriters would be more apt to submit work if they knew who they were dealing with. For example, your name, credentials, and expertise to critique one's screenplay. Are you screenwriter?

    Honestly, I would never post the first ten pages of my screenplay online that's just playing with fire.

    I suppose if your doing this just for the fun of it..I guess that's okay, but if this eventually becomes a paid service with professional readers with credentials, then more info would be required. Just my opinion.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: 10-Page Torture Test - looking for submissions

      >> Honestly, I would never post the first ten pages of my screenplay online that's just playing with fire.

      Agreed. Your first ten will include your inciting incident. If you've got a killer intro you'd be nuts to give it away. Don't be nuts. Submit something else, folks, if you intend to. Something that doesn't work, or something you're unhappy with. Don't give away the crown jewels.

      10PTT is about improving the writing. Once you know how to rewrite effectively -- what to look for, how to polish and energize your words and style -- you can use that to rewrite your most promising scripts. It's the 'teach a man to fish' scenario.

      >>I suppose if your doing this just for the fun of it..I guess that's okay, but if this eventually becomes a paid service with professional readers with credentials, then more info would be required.

      Yes, it's a for-the-fun-of-it gig. Ten pages means it's not a slog and not a commitment. It's a quick test to gauge if your writing's hurting or supporting your storytelling.

      How does the 10PTT'er benefit? A short burst of focused rewriting on someone else's work helps you see what you're doing right and wrong in your own. Disassembling sentences and rebuilding them makes you understand why one word works and another doesn't, or why a sentence grinds when arranged one way but sings when arranged another. I've learned plenty of clever writing techniques by breaking down pages from successful screenwriters.

      How does the 10PTT'ee benefit? By affirmative feedback and constructive critical feedback. Affirmative: people read your pages and love it, giving positive reinforcement that your writing is firing on all cylinders, which lets you happily focus on the equally important matter of storycrafting. Critical: seeing someone rip the guts out of your pages yet the thing emerges still alive, slimmer, stronger, sleek and sexy. The realization that all it took was stopping to apply some fundamental tenets of good writing. Stopping to think about the words on the page is something many non-pro writers don't do.

      I'm stupidly passionate about two things: story structure and readable writing. An effective screenplay needs both. I've read too many non-pro screenplays, loglines, and treatments where lousy writing ruined the experience. The material was good but the telling got in the way. Lousy writing is easily fixed when you know how. A lousy story... not so easy.

      A year or two ago I conceived the 10PTT concept on another private forum and wrote a half dozen. (I won't be posting those on the new site, because I haven't cleared permission.) It got good feedback. I was encouraged. Writers seem to enjoy finding new ways to write better (Duh!). So I'm launching the dedicated site discussed in the OP. Maybe I'll be the only one posting 10PTTs. Maybe others will join and post their own 10PTTs. Who knows. At the very least I'll be improving my writing along the way.

      If you love language and you love communicating ideas clearly, come join me in a few weeks when the site goes live.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: 10-Page Torture Test - looking for submissions

        Thank you for clearing up a few points and agreeing that posting the first ten pages of a well crafted screenplay can be a bit dangerous. On that note, I suppose if people require help in that area then in retrospect it makes sense to polish up the story hence tightening up scenes, etc. I'm also passionate about story structure and readable writing because each word is critical to enhancing the feel and mood of the script. Just out of curiosity, are you a reader? You don't have to answer on the board, but maybe as time goes by it would be nice to know. Could you shoot me a pm when your site goes viral so I may check it out. Thanks

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