What would you rather write?

[Pen Dragon]

A clever script that 50% of readers got and loved and the other 50% didn't get at all, or a script that is less clever that 90% seem to just like?

[vmf]

Re: What would you rather write?

A clever script that everyone got and loved.

[Pen Dragon]

Re: What would you rather write?

good luck

[whistlelock]

Re: What would you rather write?

#1. That way I could claim some indy/arthouse credit. Then I could sell out, dumb my stuff down and still be considered a genius. A sell-out genius, but a genius non the less.

[sarajb]

Re: What would you rather write?

I write with the mindset of number one, but clever for me would probably end up being number two, anyway.



If I'm lucky.

[dpaterso]

Re: What would you rather write?

Blast these trick questions! Right now I'd be happy with 50% of a script I liked.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity.

The Absolute Write Ultimate Screenwriting Challenge Contest
Rules & Prizes
Read the Entries for Task 1
Read Task 2 Goals
1st voting period extended to midnight on Saturday, October 1st.

[Insanity In A Jar]

Re: What would you rather write?

The first one.

If 50% of my readers get it and love it, I'm in pretty good shape.

If 100% of my readers get it and 90% seem to just like it, well...

Yeah, I'd rather have a few who absolutely love it than a bunch who are "meh, it was good" about it.

[Hairy Lime]

Re: What would you rather write?

I shoot for about 25% love, 25% like, 25% dislike, and 25% don't get.

[Willoughby]

Re: What would you rather write?

I'd go for the first one, but so far I'm writing just for myself and I'd rather love my story than think its mediocrity is coming along nicely.

I may never sell a word, but if I find a day job I like and keep writing stuff that makes me do the geeky-writer-happy-dance all around my apartment when I finish it, that may just be okay.

[santino2699]

Re: What would you rather write?

I'd go for the first one, but so far I'm writing just for myself and I'd rather love my story than think its mediocrity is coming along nicely.

I may never sell a word, but if I find a day job I like and keep writing stuff that makes me do the geeky-writer-happy-dance all around my apartment when I finish it, that may just be okay.

Something tells me the geeky writer dance would get old after the scripts start collecting dust.

I'm in the opposite camp. I'd write the second one. Break your way in. Then, once you have a career with all the right connections...write that amazing script that YOU love.

S

[Writer1]

Re: What would you rather write?

I'd prefer to write a script that 50% of READERS loved. If they love it...there's a good chance it'll get purchased/made.

But, if I wrote a script that got produced...I'd want 90% of VIEWERS to like it. Achieving that 90% figure whould translate into a huge blockbuster.

[refriedwhiskey]

Re: What would you rather write?

I think to succeed, you need somebody to love your script. If you write something that almost everyone just sorta likes, it may well get you nowhere. But if you write something that half the readers genuinely love, you're in much better shape. Because you only need one person to love your work, if it's the right person.

Never deliberately "dumb down" your work. Unless you're being paid to do it.

[Hairy Lime]

Re: What would you rather write?

Just the opposite. I "smart up" my work to weed out the dumbass producers who might screw it up.

[odriftwood]

Re: What would you rather write?

I was never good at math. I write to please me first. If everyone else grooves it then that's a bonus. Once I start getting notes, I'm writing for other people, in a sense, to help them see what I saw when I wrote it.

"You can write for some of the readers all of the time and all of the readers some of the time but you can't write for all of the readers all of the time."

[Ire]

Re: What would you rather write?

I'd rather kill two birds with one stone and write the first screenplay to win the Nobel prize and make my parents proud.

Aside from that, I try to do both although not always with the same script:

Write to please i.e., sell, and write to please me, myself and I.