PGL torpedoes

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  • PGL torpedoes

    In PGL II, the script I entered got torpedoed. I'm fairly sure of this as I was fortunate enough to receive consistently high scores from every reviewer (I averaged 8s on a scale of 1-10) except one, who gave me the lowest possible score, a 1, in every scoring category. As much as I was pissed off by it, I knew going in that there could be unscrupulous reviewers, so I ultimately accepted the fact that for whatever reason, it wasn't meant for me to advance.

    I'm trying to prepare myself for this potentiality in PGL III. As luck would have it, someone mentioned one of my current entries in the "Best PGL 3 screenplays" thread, and was very complimentary. So I know got one good review. But this of course just sets up me up for further disappointment if I learn I was again torpedoed.

    Was anyone else torpedoed in a past PGL? Did you enter again?

    If anyone gets torpedoed this time around, do you plan on appealing to Liveplanet (though it would almost certainly be futile)?

  • #2
    In this competition, just like in PGL2, the most positive review and the most negative review are REMOVED from your scoring, so that "torpedo" review probably had little to no effect on your scroe.

    I had one or two reviews in PGL2 that were almost all extremely low rankings and virtually nothing (and in one case, ABSOLUTELY nothing) to comment on about the script. I think that's the rudest thing you can do in this competition, to say you don't like a script and then refuse to offer any advice. Even as I read scripts I think should be abandoned rather than rewritten, I tell the writer... well, I probably do say they should abandon it, but that if they don't, here's what i would recommend they do... and I also offer advice on what I think they need to improve, whether its dialogue, or telling the story visually.

    I'd say half the scripts I read this year were literature in screenplay format, telling the reader things in the action that could not possibly be translated to the screen, telling stories that were not visual at all... and I don't mean visually spectacular. My Dinner with Andre is a visual film, for instance. Seeing those two men have that discussion is more interesting than reading it. But I read so many stories that had to be read to be understood, most of the time because they had a tone that was not in keeping with human behavior as we are willing to accept it on screen...I'm having a hard time describing it, because I'm trying to talk about several different scripts at once. I'm just tired of people who think screenwriting is just telling a story on the page, and that including INT/EXTs will make it transferrable to screen.

    What were we talking about?

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    • #3
      dearth of reviews

      I know they intended to drop the highest and lowest scores, but I think a number of scripts failed to generate enough reviews to allow for it. I imagine this will be the case this year as well.

      Not at all surprising when you look at the rank amateurs flooding the contest with their first scripts.

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      • #4
        pgl torpedoes

        Don't know if it was torpedoed or just different strokes for different strokes but I entered PGL II. My first two reviews were rated high, the third very low. The next couple very high.

        Didn't get out of the first round but the same draft of script got me a manager and agent two weeks later and a decent option a few months after that.

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        • #5
          Re: pgl torpedoes

          The bottom line - don't put too much weight on your PGL reviews, especially if there inconsistent. Take what you can from them and move on, approach agents, producers, anyone who could buy your script.

          If PGL really was after the best script, there would be no peer reviewing.

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          • #6
            Re: pgl torpedoes

            if you check over at pub18.ezboard.com/btheoff...ssageboard
            there is a message from a PGL moderator that said that there were at least 5 reviews for every script. This would help in removing the torpedoes.

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            • #7
              Re: pgl torpedoes

              Fred from PGL has reported on another message board that each script has received at least 5 reviews. This means the high and low scores will be dropped.

              They were NOT dropped in PGL2, so the first three reviews that were completed counted. Having 5 reviews per script will make things MUCH more fair.

              Good luck to everyone!

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              • #8
                Oh, TheKeenGuy! I have to say- my ABSOLUTE pet peeve when reading scripts is just what you mentioned- descriptions that absolutely cannot be translated from words to images.
                I don't know why it bugs me so... But it does. It just does.

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