Seven years ago, I had two bad feedback experiences in close proximity. One with another writer and one with a Blacklist reviewer. The Blacklist guy was extremely venomous and not remotely constructive. I was so insulted by the review, I deleted it and have never used their service again. Soon afterward, the script the reviewer hated was recognized by Screencraft, Austin Film Festival, Richmond Film Festival and several others. That was the first and last time I paid for a review or feedback. My only regret is not keeping the review so I could remind myself what not to do to other people. In spite of that I aim to always be respectful to my fellow writers.
My question for ya'll, is when does criticism go from being constructive to nasty?
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I have not given much feedback. But what I have read is pretty poor. So I try to focus on skill development. I’ll talk about problems that I am having with the story. If I talk about my experience I am being honest. Plus I may not be target audience. So my feelings may not be valid. I will always pose questions if I can “Why did he do that?”.
I got some feedback that I found interesting a few weeks back from a producer in Germany. He said he found it boring and starting too slow. Great feedback. I had no idea of the pacing of the film. I loved the story, but thought it felt like a stage play. He validated by fears. It is slow and boring. So I have some rewriting to do.
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The problem with most feedback is the context of the request. People tend to leave it open ended, which is just asking for trouble.
If the feedback is just where the script is at for that draft, it's just going to be a high level summary of the facts (characters, description, dialogue, et cetera).
If a person wants feedback and any ideas on how to improve the script's execution, then that's a different request. That review has to talk about the concept quality, which can be radically different from how well it's written.
If the writer wants to also know how to improve the concept, that's another topic. Some writers don't want to know that their concept doesn't work, they just want the facts and they want to keep chugging along trying to make a bad concept work better. That's usually where I get the "just let me know about the typos and grammar..."
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Critique must at all times remain constructive and must remain focused on the work submitted. There is never any reason for crude, rude obnoxious behaviour or comments. PERIOD. An awful lot of newer, up & coming screenwriters have a tendency to personalize critique of their work with critique of themselves. Criticism is hard on their ears and egos - they personalize it. I suppose that's natural to a point - they've just expended an enormous amount of time/energy on their story/script that they and it have merged into one. I've had to read numerous scripts that have scored up & off the scale of the ol' suckonometer - but I would NEVER tell a writer that their work sucks. "It sucks" is a personal observation and opinion only - not a critique. Screenwriting is one of the basic foundations upon which the entire film industry is built. Remember, it's an INDUSTRY - a business and as a writer, you must be willing to recognize that it's a business, and behave accordingly That's true for all involved..
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Critique past lessons learned? 1) Use more power-verb short-sentences, less adverbs (runs vs. running) and 2) Too many exclamation points diminishes their value - only use 5 (maximum) in any work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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CJ:
I've changed very little story content with the exception of a few suggestions from producers that were shopping scripts around.
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Agreed on you post and you should feel gratified that you've help writers place at AFF and other festivals. Well done.
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Nick
Some folks just can't take a joke.
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Nick Assunto - Stage32 Script Services - You would also do very well as a development executive. It is an admirable skill set to have. I always start from a place of, "What is the writer's original intention with this scene/line of dialogue/character action/etc.?" and then try and go from the core of that idea to see how it might be better expressed or represented.
Nasty notes will be out there and at Stage 32, we make it a point that our readers and executives need to be constructive and productive with their notes. If you get notes that are not actionable or mean-spirited, it is a disservice to the script, writer, and the development process as a whole. And that is something we don't tolerate here.
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I feel like for the criticism to be constructive, the person critiquing must know the author's intent for the work and the critique must help build to that. A lot of times, personal preference regarding the style, genre, or creative decision making colors the critique and a lot of it ends up being bad and even harmful to the project. That's when it turns sour to me, when the critique, intentionally or not, veers the creator away from their original vision.
After you're done with "Ubiquitous" Phil, perhaps consider "Erudite Party" - aka Phillip "Erudite Party" Hardy ;-) May the Tony Williams be with you sir! ("Fred" or "Snake Oil")
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I just got some feedback on my pitch that was super-constructive. Instead of making judgments, the guy basically told me which questions he had that were not answered in my doc. It was also clear that he had actually read it carefully.