Screenwriting : Negative feedback from contest/competition by Tamim Almousa

Just use the feedback to improve your script and try in another competition. Don't quit.

How negative? It's really hard to tell from your post.

All was well till they got to the third act. The word "offensive" was used to describe a particular line of dialogue.

Possibly the former rather than the latter.

Like Martin said - use the feedback as a guideline to improve. The readers used in contests follow 'industry standards' and their own personal feelings to judge. Every contest has hundreds, maybe thousands, of entries - so it takes a very strong story and almost perfect formatting to win. If you believe in your concept/story - just use the feedback as you see fit and make it a stronger/better story. I enter contests with feedback just to get someone else's perspective - it is a lot like the lottery....

There is hope but not much. The comment is just one person's opinion but reader has already submitted a score and it probably wasn't good. You shouldn't hang all your hopes on one contest to begin with. After I finish a script I enter 5 or 6, especially those that offer feedback, not specifically trying to win (Although that would be great!) but to use as a gauge to see how that script may be received by an agent, manager or producer. If it makes the finals or semi-finals then I've got something worth showing someone. If not, I use the accumulated feedback to decide how I will write the next draft. You could change the line or simply submit to another contest. The important thing is to keep writing. Start on your next one while you're waiting on this one.

Some of you misunderstood. I'm not enquiring about what to do next. I'm asking about whether or not I'll move to the next round, given that there were a bunch of negative notes (as well as positive ones) from the reader. "Take the criticism in and improve your screenplay" doesn't help me, I was going to do that way. Do bad notes automatically rule you out? That's my question.

No, it doesn't. I had a script get bad feedback but still made the finals. If your script is judged on ten or more criteria, an offensive comment may hurt you in dialogue but won't do anything in formatting or originality. It totally depends how the scoring is setup. The person providing the feedback may not even be scoring the contest.

Bad notes probably lead to bad scores. There is nothing worse than bad notes from a contest judge - well except for maybe finding a few cooked cockroaches in a bowl of spicy noodle soup. I hate when that happens.

Good Luck and Happy Writing, Taaaaaa-mim Allllllll-moooooo-uuuuuusa!

It's hard to say, it's all so subjective. Did they provide a score as well?

They did NOT.

We just got some really great feedback from a contest, and I joked that now we prob won't even make the quarterfinals. At the end of the day, it's one reader's opinion and I think there are a lot of other things at play when they select scripts for contests. So don't give up hope! Ya never know.

I don't think I'd fret over it. I have a script that has won in a couple of major contests but when I submitted it to a modest little contest - it didn't even make the cut.

Claude - Nope, nadda, nothing - frankly, I don't care. But I think it validates the lack of consistency from contest to contest - which is sad. Buyer beware!

Feedback - good, bad or indifferent - is all of value to you as the writer in some form or another. It often tells you who your dealing with more than anything else. There are lots & lots of scrip contests out there - the vast majority are simply a waste of time & your money. A few may be a match for you, most won't be.

Claude, I am a Producer and I'm getting old enough that I tend to talk to myself - so yeah, I speak to a Producer every day. Nowadays, I only work for beer.