November Write Club Week #3: Set Yourself Up For Success With Feedback On Your Project!

Inception

You have an idea. Well, maybe a kernel of an idea at this point, but it’s there. Could make a great movie or TV series. The idea starts to grow and take shape in your mind. You crack a story beat while driving, type it into your phone, or write it into a notebook the next time you stop. You think of that amazing character's name and laugh out loud to yourself, “That’s great”. The notes become an outline, your thoughts start to take shape, and the bones of the story start to come together. Your characters start to come to life, they’re becoming three-dimensional people, and they live. It’s all starting to make sense, there’s a beginning, middle, and end. You might just have something here! Perhaps you even flesh that outline into a treatment. More detail, more character backstory, more sequences.

You sleep on it, take walks, and talk to yourself while making dinner. Yup, you think you’re there, you’re ready.

Time to go to draft.

Conception

A blank page. A blinking cursor. A deep breath. You type…..FADE IN. It has begun! Your prep work has allowed you to hit the ground running. It’s not easy by any means, but at least you have a blueprint, something to work from. The first 10, done. Characters, themes, conflicts, and motivations are being established. Keep moving, keep pushing forward. Maybe you have set goals for yourself, 5 pages a day, 10 pages a day. You carve out specific times to write. First thing in the morning, maybe at night after the kids are asleep. You like to write at home, in the kitchen, in bed, or maybe you go to a coffee shop or the library. Wherever, whenever. Just get it done.

Act 1 is complete. At this point, you must resist the temptation to go back and revise what you’ve already written. Don’t go back, please just don’t. Keep pressing forward. It’s not easy, but you’ll thank yourself for it later. (Heck, I’m resisting that urge right now as I write this blog!). It’s really humming now. Some things are going exactly according to plan, and other plot points and character arcs are evolving as you go. The muse can surprise sometimes. You’re in it, living every line of dialogue, sweating the details of an action sequence, pacing the room trying to refine that joke.

You stare at the ceiling at night while trying to sleep. The 3rd act remains. You’ve got this. You push on through, dig deep. Just get that first draft out and done. Does it all make sense? Will it all hold together upon a full read? It doesn’t matter right now, you need to complete the circle and close the loop. Almost done, the finish line is in sight.

There you go, you did it! FADE OUT!

Now you back and read it. Ok, some work is to be done for sure. Very raw, very rough. But there’s something there, as you always believed.

Time to revise. And revise. And revise. And yeah, maybe revise one more time. Hmmm, maybe that works better over there. Wait, if I change that beat in the second act it could affect that scene in act one. Do we really need both of these characters? Can they be combined into one? Work the draft, again and again, until you sit back, take a breath, and go…ok, I think it’s there.

So, what now? Do you dare seek the dreaded F word……FEEDBACK!!??

Reception

Ok, this story, now a full-fledged script, has lived only in your head and now on pages only you have seen for days, weeks, months, maybe even years! Who gets to see it? A trusted friend? A family member? A significant other? A fellow writer? Who gets the first, second, and third look at your precious creation?

Any one of those folks would be more than happy to read it, and I’m sure they’d give you a very conscientious read. I had friends, loved ones, etc. read my stuff all the time back in the day, and I’m grateful to this day that they did. But do you know what the feedback was on the scripts that I wrote?

“So good” “LOVED it”” Oh my gosh I want to read it again” and “It would make much SUCH a good movie”.

Now look, I had some level of confidence in my writing in those days, deserved or not (likely the latter). But did I really believe that my work actually warranted this level of across-the-board effusive praise?

No, of course, it didn’t.

Now, if you have people in your orbit who provide you with constructive, honest, and helpful feedback, then consider yourself lucky! I envy you, and can I have their emails? : )

But what about the other 99% of writers who don’t get that type of feedback from the folks in their network but really want and need it? Where can they go to receive good, productive feedback, ideally from an experienced industry professional, and in so doing learn to evolve as a writer as well as learn to receive, process, and incorporate the feedback itself?

Say it with me, everyone….STAGE 32 of course!

That’s right, it might seem obvious given where you are reading this blog, but it’s true. If you’re going to put your precious and incredibly valuable work out into the world, and we know that that’s not an easy thing to do, having your writing read and analyzed by an experienced pro is the way to go.

Again, this is definitely not an easy hurdle to overcome, but it’s incredibly valuable and you will thank yourself after you do. Ok so let’s say you do put yourself out there and place an order on Stage 32 for coverage on your feature or TV script, you sign up to pitch an exec, or to get a review of your reel/short film or book adaptation. What now?

First off, kudos to you for going out on that limb. I mean that, I’ve been there myself. But more importantly, you’re out there now, in the ecosystem, and that’s exciting man! I’m stoked just writing that!

Next, Comes Patience

Every second of every day spent waiting for those notes and feedback can feel like a century in and of itself. Just go Zen, there’s nothing you can do about it now. Trust the process.

Then…DING! You receive a notification that your feedback has come in, or the exec has listed times for your consult call. Here we go…. take a deep breath.

Whether it’s on a consult call or in written form, you take in the notes. That’s exactly what you need to do, just take them in and process. I have been on both sides of this conversation many times over many years. It’s not easy to give or receive notes, granted it’s likely more difficult to receive them, but the key is to make the process as constructive and positive as possible. There might be notes that you absolutely disagree with, like vehemently; and there might be notes which make you think “Oh wait, yeah, that works. Hm, that hadn’t occurred to me before.” Be civil, be nice, be polite. Take these notes in, and let them live in your head. Think about them while you lay awake that night (there certainly are a lot of sleepless nights in my scenario, no?). Go back through the script with the notes sitting next to you and see how they feel.

It’s not easy to hear criticism of your work, but it is part of the artistic process and part of this business, like it or not. Let’s be frank, your script might not be the opus you had imagined it to be, and that’s ok. You needed to put it out into the world, and that’s scary, it really is. But executives on Stage 32, and producers on projects, they truly are coming from a place of respect for you and your work, they want to help craft into something even better. Yes, sure, it’s a subjective medium, but these are experienced folks who have been there, trust them.

Again, whether it’s here on the platform or out in the field making a film or TV show, you will be given feedback on your work, and notes on the script, it’s inevitable. The best advice I can give is to listen, be open and collaborative, and write them down if they aren’t written down for you already. Then give them a day or two to breathe, to bounce around in your head. If there are notes you truly do not think will make the script better, and you have a cogent counternarrative to present, then, by all means, go for it. Most producers are happy to be talked out of a note if it is presented in an intelligent, thoughtful way. We all want to work together to make something great, and part of that is listening, learning, and collaborating, from all sides. Teamwork truly does make the dream work.

So listen, be patient, learn, teach, pick your battles. But throughout it all be calm and professional. Producers, S32 execs, and everyone else involved want the work to be great, for the movie or series to be great. They want you to succeed!

So if you’re ready to put your work out there for some constructive feedback, I couldn’t recommend Stage 32’s Development Services any more highly. Pitch sessions, consult calls. This is you having your work seen and read and discussed with folks who do this for a living. If they like your work, they could keep you in mind for something down the road, who knows? And if you approach the process of taking, receiving, processing, and incorporating notes like a pro, then you’re one step closer to actually being a pro!

This Week's November Write Club Challenges!

For your third week of November Write Club, we're continuing this conversation about seeking, interpreting, and utilizing feedback to strengthen your material and craft! By completing this week's challenges, you can set yourself up for success with your goals and be entered to win either a FREE Stage 32 Contest Entry of your choice OR a FREE Review of your First 10 Pages, which will be announced LIVE on Stage 32's Instagram this Friday, November 22nd at 10:00 am PT!

Week Three Challenges:

• Comment on this blog below, sharing your thoughts about the writing & feedback process or any questions that you have for Nick!
• Post in the Stage 32 Screenwriting Lounge sharing the best advice that you've received about writing and/or the entertainment industry. The advice or piece of wisdom that has stuck with you or changed your journey. (You can find it quickly by clicking HERE)
• Share your material, whether it's a synopsis, description of your most recent short film, logline, story idea(s), link to your script draft, outline, treatment, pitch deck, etc. in the Stage 32 Screenwriting Lounge and give respectful constructive feedback in the comments of at least 2 other posts.

Make sure you're following @Stage32, @Stage32scripts, and @rbwalksintoabar to keep up with all of the exciting November Write Club announcements all month long!

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Got an idea for a post? Or have you collaborated with Stage 32 members to create a project? We'd love to hear about it. Email Ashley at blog@stage32.com and let's get your post published!

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