A question for Readers

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16
    Re: A question for Readers

    Originally posted by Le Femme Joyeux
    sorry but the sad truth is yes it is safer to pass. it just is.
    Well....I see where your're coming from. But I far from agree with it.
    http://wasitsomethingiwrote.blogspot.com/

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: A question for Readers

      sorry if you disagree Dave. I like to keep my job(s) - so that's what is sometimes required. I'm not going to stick my neck out for a script that is good but not great just because the writer seems like a nice person. Consider is consider. Pass happens for 2 reasons: it's not what that particular company is looking for and/or it does not meet a minimum standard of quality. If you don't understand what the standard is where you read- they'll tell ya real quick. And not that politely. A company that is really successful gets literally 50-70 pieces of material a week. There is simply not enough time for the execs to read "okay" scripts. You have to be a bit brutal with the passes. There are definitely sometimes when I think oh....I could give this script a weak consider.... but not and piss off an exec I won't. Huh uh. Been there

      (I should add here that I have stuck my neck out a couple of times for a script. A reader will be asked to justify the consider. I did. They still didn't agree. That's where my job ends and the exec's starts and I accept that.)

      As far as likes and dislikes, I actually find it better to read a genre I dislike because then if the story is really good and really well done, I get caught up anyway - suddenly I really do care about car racing or sled dogs or the honeymooners who camped by the lake only to... well, you get the rest of that one. My problem is actually when I read a genre or a style that I LOVE because I get all swept up in that and forgive too much in the script. Then you get that lil' chat I mentioned above. It is tough sometimes to keep it all as objective as possible. I agree, there are good readers and bad readers. But the bad readers won't last. I consider it a responsibility to the company I work for and to the writer to do my best, I really do. I take each script seriously and I give each its due. If I feel too tired or cranky or distracted to read - I take a break. I figure I owe it to everyone involved to give it my best shot.

      Julie Gray



      Comment


      • #18
        Re: A question for Readers

        Thanks for your replies. It's a really interesting process that is becoming increasingly less mysterious the more I hang out here.

        Simply put, if a script is **** hot, it will be read by decision makers. (And probably picked up too - eventually.) If it's anything less than this, as 99.999% are, you have to find another way in.
        sigpic

        Website
        Tweets
        Book

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: A question for Readers

          Originally posted by Le Femme Joyeux
          sorry if you disagree Dave. I like to keep my job(s) - so that's what is sometimes required. I'm not going to stick my neck out for a script that is good but not great just because the writer seems like a nice person.
          Agreed that a reader's job is to recommend material that is up to standard and meets the employers requirements.

          Disagree that you don't recommend material which you think might do so but are scared to because you are covering your arse.

          We may be talking about different things. I certainly never recommended a script because I thought the writer was a nice guy.
          http://wasitsomethingiwrote.blogspot.com/

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: A question for Readers

            "career readers"... /shudders.
            The Complete IfilmPro DEVELOPMENT FORUM (PDF)

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: A question for Readers

              Originally posted by BestWriterEver

              Considering the statistically tiny amount of projects that start as a reader passing a submission up the ladder, it's no wonder it's safer to pass, as Le Femme Joyeux points out. It had better be that rare stupendous script to add to an execs reading. Or it had better be the writer find of the century.

              ."
              Better than Motzart? Not that again!

              It's true that many projects do not begin as specs passed up by readers. It is also true that vast numbers of pitches are made by esatblished writers which get nowhere.

              Of course no one is suggesting a reader pass a sub standard script on. But Stupendous and writer find of the century? Hardly.
              http://wasitsomethingiwrote.blogspot.com/

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: A question for Readers

                Could any of the pro readers share an overview of what their employers are looking for in a spec?

                I.e. genre, target age market, etc. As specific as you can get without telling tales out of school. Thanks!

                Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: A question for Readers

                  Originally posted by sc111
                  Could any of the pro readers share an overview of what their employers are looking for in a spec?

                  I.e. genre, target age market, etc. As specific as you can get without telling tales out of school. Thanks!

                  I'm going to suck up to sc and say that it's a very good idea (not sure if DDP has something like that available right now and how up to date it is. No disrespect here, just wondering.)
                  A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships.
                  Gore Vidal

                  "Aisatsu Yori Ensatsu"
                  Money is better than compliments.


                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: A question for Readers

                    I wonder ...

                    ...if as BestWriter says: "The big fat overpowering crushing earth-dominating majority" of projects are not specs passed up by readers (and I suspect it is true), then why do execs/producers even bother having readers do coverage on specs from newbies?
                    Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: A question for Readers

                      SC - it is 100% dependent upon the company you're reading for. There is no one answer. Research the prodco for their list of releases in the last couple of years, particularly those movies that did very well for them. Then stay on top of the trades and see what sales are going down for that company and try to stay abreast of their direction. One company I work for just recently narrowed their focus significantly, for example, due to the success of a movie they released in 2005.

                      Broughcut - career readers? I don't know any. If being good at what you do and doing it well because you have a good work ethic - for any period of time - makes that a "career" and therefore somehow an insulting position to occupy is odd. Bitter - party of one

                      Look - readers are not out to get writers. Just like Lucy in the candy factory episode, we have a job. Pick out the good ones. Not in a subjective way but with a set of standards and goals in mind. If yours wasn't picked out - it's not personal. Writers who villify readers have miles to go before they'll truly be a professional.

                      Julie Gray



                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: A question for Readers

                        Thanks Le Femme.

                        I ask because according to my manager only comedy specs have a chance when you're a never-sold writer. He won't even represent me on a drama at this point - maybe after a sale but not now.

                        Yet it seemed (in subtex?) the specs readers' in this thread were reading were more varied genre-wise. So - I was curious.
                        Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: A question for Readers

                          I've heard the same said of horror and thriller so go figure

                          as you've probably heard "if execs knew what made a hit movie, every movie would be a hit". your manager is probably watching trends but as I said above, I've heard that said of 2 completely different genres.

                          if you're a reader and you read for a prodco that produces primarily horror, then that's what you're looking for. A children's prodco - childrens. But within that, should it be a kids comedy or a kids scary movie? Doesn't matter. Believe me, and this is funny, I have seen agents submit horror to the kids prodco and romcom to the horror prodco. That really is odd because now you have an automatic pass - just because the subject matter is not right. I always wonder how on earth that goes down but I've seen it many times. Never from the big agencies though.

                          Julie Gray



                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: A question for Readers

                            I understand - however, combined with BestWriter's point that the overwhelming majority of projects in development are not specs by newbies passed up the chain by readers, I wonder why prodcos have readers cover so many specs.
                            Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: A question for Readers

                              Originally posted by sc111
                              Could any of the pro readers share an overview of what their employers are looking for in a spec?

                              I.e. genre, target age market, etc. As specific as you can get without telling tales out of school. Thanks!

                              The answer will no doubt depress you, so in the meantime here's a post from the d-forum by a dev exec that looks beyond genre and franchise potential:

                              Originally posted by 07.31.02 08:17 PM
                              I believe that 12:55 missed that I was talking about a spec script, one that must convey the feeling of "recommend", must compel a "buy." A spec is not a movie, per my years of on-set experience (where development continues into the cutting room and all through ADR.) I'm no guru or writing teacher or bored reader; but I'll repeat my specific analysis: if "style" is how all of one writer's scripts feel in the read, and "tone" is particular (unique) to each individual script as genre, POV, pace, et al, require -- then I consider "voice" to be that skill, that sound, that quality which blends the two. Craftsmanship. If the spec has a "sound" that makes me want to meet that writer, I say I like her voice. If the next spec of hers is written with a style that I recognize and like again, I'll think of her for an assignment that needs that style. If the script has a tone that gives the director a grasp of how to unify his departments into creating the expression of his take on the material, then the writer is a craftsman.
                              (Thread is on page 33 of the online edition)
                              The Complete IfilmPro DEVELOPMENT FORUM (PDF)

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: A question for Readers

                                Originally posted by BestWriterEver
                                It's not like every newbie can get an exec/producer to pay for a read. So there's already a hurdle.

                                Someone currently working as a reader in America can back me up on this, but I believe that some of the reading at studios is of incoming drafts on projects in development. Even though the execs will read the script, they like to have the coverage.

                                But for the newbie scripts that do get read by readers? Two reasons I can think of.

                                First, one diamond pays for a lot of digging. Once in awhile someone will read a query letter that will get their attention and the script goes to a reader.

                                But I bet the largest number of scripts that are read by readers get there because their agents don't have enough juice. That's why I said "a powerful agent is like a get-out-of-jail-free card."

                                A smaller agent without a good connection to an exec or producer at the company he's targeting may have to settle for getting a read from a reader.
                                I see - missed your post when posing the same to Le Femme.

                                The bottom line - the business is hard to break into.

                                My manager has gotten me reads & a boutique agent. I did get good coverage from a studio (a consider on both script & writer), however the script still ultimatley garnered a pass.

                                My quandry - I'd like to switch to drama but I lose the manager on drama specs. He has a specialty (comedy) and he sticks with it - he's a good manager too. I respect his prefernce. So, I noodle around with a drama on the side for now.

                                The thing is - the decent coverage just fed the scriptwriting addiction - I don't really have an excuse to bail on this aspiration right now.
                                Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X