Screenplay Critique--aka "Coverage"

Many budding screenwriters pay big bucks to send their scripts out for critiques by supposed experts.

The purpose is to get tips about how to improve the screenplay.

However, sometimes the coverage can go beyond constructive criticism and be brutal.

With this in mind, a writer friend of mine (Chris Neiman) recently sent the following message to a company called Scriptapalooza about the coverage a fellow screenwriter (not me) had received:

Dear Scriptapalooza:

I am sending this to explain why I did not order coverage from Scriptapalooza.

I recently saw coverage that another writer received from Scriptapalooza. It's understandable and desirable that you would be negative in your coverage; no script is perfect, and it is helpful to the writer that you point out flaws to be corrected. However, this coverage went far beyond that. It was extremely negative, to the point of seeming, at worst, hostile, and at best, annoyed. There was not one word of encouragement in the coverage. The overall tone of the coverage was rude and condescending and almost angry.

It's a miracle to me that the writer who received your coverage – who is actually quite talented – went on to write another script.

I think the people who do your coverage need to be aware that writers tend to be sensitive people who can be easily hurt and easily discouraged. The writer who received your coverage apparently isn't, but I am. And because I am, I don't want to risk getting the kind of rude, discouraging, and condescending coverage that was given to this other screenwriter. I certainly don't want to pay $100 for the level of hostility and verbal abuse that I observed in that coverage document.

I hope that reading this will remind you that the people who order coverage are your customers, and that while you are certainly being paid to point out flaws, it is possible to do so and to be kind and supportive and encouraging at the same time. That's what good coverage and good customer service are about, and if your coverage writers in particular and Scriptapalooza in general are unable to do this, you should not be providing coverage.

I hope this message is helpful to you.

Chris Neiman


In fairness to Scriptapalooza, I want to add that the president, Mark Andrushko, promptly wrote a nice note to Chris, in which he said, in part, "I completely agree with you."

Let's Work Together: Part Five

This is a very long blog entry, in six parts, about how indie writers, musicians, and film people need to work together and support each other. (Scroll down to see Parts One though Four.)

Part Five: Don’t Be a “Flame Pisser”

Perhaps because the Powers in the film industry are even more monolithic and foreboding than those in the book industry, the Indie option has been available and successful for much longer than other anti-paternalistic choices.

So there’s less room for change. But I include the film industry here because I see so many screenwriters on Twitter who are working with and encouraging each other, through vehicles such as Twitter’s #Scriptchat.

That’s great, and it brings me to what #Scriptchat co-founder Jeanne Veillette Bowerman calls “flame pissers.”

Last week in a Script Magazine column, Bowman said the following: “Above all, do not ever allow someone to piss on your flame. . . . If someone in your life drains your energy, causes you to doubt yourself, or takes too much of your time from your work and passion, [don’t allow the flame pisser] to sabotage you. This is your journey. Own it. Take control of it. Don’t let someone else drive your career (Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, “Balls of Steel: How to Grow a Set,” Script, April 29, 2011, http://www.scriptmag.com/2011/04/29/balls-of-steel-how-to-grow-a-set).

When I went to leave a comment on YouTube for the first rap/hiphop video I was asked to look at, I saw a lot of really nasty remarks. REALLY nasty. The people making them seemed totally invested in destroying the artists who had made the video.

You see these people everywhere there’s a “comment space” on the Internet. “Flame pissers.”

I try not to let the flame pissers into my life. But sometimes it’s unavoidable.

Just last week I received an unnecessarily nasty email from a literary agent to whom I’d pitched something. It was a brutal rejection and I cried for two days.

Now, this person might simply have said, “This is not what I’m looking for, but I wish you luck elsewhere”—a response that might be tepid and unoriginal and discouraging, but that at least is civil.

But instead, this person went into “flame pisser” mode—and seemed to enjoy doing so, just like the YouTube commenters.

The flame pissers are out there, lurking.

And we need to support each other against them.

Next: A Call to Action