The importance of providing feedback

[scottmyers]

This is a peer review site -- which means that you can post your pages here for feedback from other writers. But like 'dialogue' has 'subtext,' there's a subtext to the idea of peer review as well:

If you post your own pages for feedback, you should be willing to read and provide comments on other people's pages.

Why?

(1) Fairness: If you receive the benefit of someone else's feedback, they should get the benefit of your feedback.

(2) Karma. Enough said.

(3) And perhaps the most important issue is experience. A professional screenwriter makes most of their income off OWA's (Open Writing Assignments). What that means is your agent and/or manager puts you up for an assignment or a producer or studio exec has liked your work and inquired about your availability. In either case, the primary source material of the project ends up on your lap and you are expected to read it, then come up with a take of how you'd handle writing it. If it's a rewrite, that means you must read the script with a critical eye, looking for its strengths and weaknesses. How do you develop a critical eye? By critiquing scripts. Where can you do that? At The GITS Club.

In other words, you're not just providing feedback to a fellow writer, which is both fair and good karma, you're also - with each critique - developing your own analytical capabilities.

I can not emphasize the importance of you developing your story analysis muscles: If you have any serious desire to become a working Hollywood screenwriter, you <U>have</U> to be able to read a script, tell what's wrong with it, and suggest how to make it work.

That is precisely what you will do when you read and analyze other people's pages.

So to sum up...
Fairness.
Karma.
Analytical skills.

Now go to one of the forums, review some pages, provide some feedback, feel good about yourself, <B>and</B> improve your chops as a screenwriter.

[DangerousWriter]

Sincere thanks for the great site & blog Scott. This particular board seems like a very encouraging, "safe" place to post questions, encourage free discourse & provide feedback. Mission accomplished!

[echenry]

Was going to stop reading other's work for several different reasons, BUT since your my Capt'n, guess I'll suit up and get back in the ring.

Thanks for taking the time to post here, Scott. Your guidance is ALWAYS appreciated.

- E.C. Henry

[oz]

Amen to everything you said, Scott.

I'm as much to blame as the majority here who don't read enough. The usual excuses; life, my own pages, reading the other pile on my desk, etc. I'll try to do better because this is a terrific group. I have noticed, though, the unsavory trend of some (usually newbies dropping off one script then never hearing from them again) not having the decency to thank the person who took the time to read and give you notes. This will ruin the site quicker than anything. Yes, we benefit from the reading/critiquing experience, but it's a give/take relationship.

Show some consideration. We're all busy. We're all working on pages and have lives and all the other excuses we use. If someone extends this kindness to you, be a grown up and send a virtual thank you in the form of a quick response. You'd do it if you got a 'no thanks' to a query out in the real world, why not here where you get a great deal more than a form letter?

Just a thought.

[songswithoutwords]

Oops. Have been thinking about this a lot lately. I have given snippets of feedback on small bits here and there. But nothing to compare with what I have received from this board.

There's no excuse for taking and not giving back. Time constraints are nothing other than a failure of prioritization.

I pledge to read and feed back on 2 of the longer pieces (50+ pages) in March. Plus something from E.C. --- I owe him 3 hours of invested time at least.

@scott: Used your technique. Made a very public deadline.

[mscherer]

Scott,

Thanks for your valuable input -- much appreciated by all of us I am sure.

I for one will follow songswithoutwords' lead and also pledge to read/critique more. Time is a valuable commodity, but then again, so are writing skills and helping our fellow writers.

Maybe I should change my tag line to,
Keep Reading!

[echomusic]

I....don't know how to read......I'm sorry.....I should have learned before signing up for the board.





having said that, I certainly have the goal to read the scripts I've already downloaded from the board.

[Deleted]

Scott,

Point well taken.

Being a new writer makes me feel inadequate to offer pointers, but how will I gain experience if I never try?

I know I would appreciate all opinions on my work, so I will do the same for others.

[dave243]

Scott, you a god among men.
I completely agree. One thing that I have noticed as I critique more and more, is that it helps when you begin to bring out the internal editor for your own work. You automatically read it and see how others would view your material. I am now on a mission to read and critique the majority of work on here. I hope it helps others as much as it will help me.

[scottmyers]

A re-post of something from awhile back:

This is a peer review site -- which means that you can post your pages here for feedback from other writers. But like 'dialogue' has 'subtext,' there's a subtext to the idea of peer review as well:

If you post your own pages for feedback, you should be willing to read and provide comments on other people's pages.

Why?

(1) Fairness: If you receive the benefit of someone else's feedback, they should get the benefit of your feedback.

(2) Karma. Enough said.

(3) And perhaps the most important issue is experience. A professional screenwriter makes most of their income off OWA's (Open Writing Assignments). What that means is your agent and/or manager puts you up for an assignment or a producer or studio exec has liked your work and inquired about your availability. In either case, the primary source material of the project ends up on your lap and you are expected to read it, then come up with a take of how you'd handle writing it. If it's a rewrite, that means you must read the script with a critical eye, looking for its strengths and weaknesses. How do you develop a critical eye? By critiquing scripts. Where can you do that? At The GITS Club.

In other words, you're not just providing feedback to a fellow writer, which is both fair and good karma, you're also - with each critique - developing your own analytical capabilities.

I can not emphasize the importance of you developing your story analysis muscles: If you have any serious desire to become a working Hollywood screenwriter, you <U>have</U> to be able to read a script, tell what's wrong with it, and suggest how to make it work.

That is precisely what you will do when you read and analyze other people's pages.

So to sum up...
Fairness.
Karma.
Analytical skills.

Now go to one of the forums, review some pages, provide some feedback, feel good about yourself, <B>and</B> improve your chops as a screenwriter.