I always find it’s crucial to have at least one or two readers who have NOT heard you talk about your idea before and especially not read any outline or prior draft.

But I also asked basic stuff like: what were your three favorite moments?…. were you ever unclear about what the main character’s objective was — and if so, what scene?… were there any moments that felt predictable?…. Did you find yourself putting the script down at any point because you were starting to lose interest? If so, what page? (etc.)

I love having an apples to apples comparison on the feedback. I’ve never quite had that before. On previous scripts, my reader feedback was all over the place. I felt like the questions made the feedback more objective and I didn’t have to sit down with someone over coffee while they figured out the best way to tell me a part of the script they hated.

And now based on the responses, I feel like I can follow up some certain people about certain points if I need to bounce a specific idea around.

Highly recommended.

One thing I learned: how to move beyond the defensive and welcome the indication of a possible script problem. Even non-experienced readers can provide this. For example, if someone says “he needs to blow somebody’s head off here”, instead of thinking “well that’s a stupid suggestion” as I might once have done, I think about the fact that, at this point in the story, the reader felt a need for a) more tension b) a stronger character reaction c) a reversal, or any of a number of things that might improve a dead moment in the script. You don’t have to follow people’s specific suggestions, but I think it’s wise to identify the underlying issues beneath them. Then you can address them in your own unique way.

Even so (or if you haven’t managed that trick in the first place), I also ask certain friends to do reads. I offer them reads in return, which some of them decline, but the offer is always there. For those who don’t take it, I try to buy the lunch or something nice like that. I have developed a pool of them that I can ask (many, but not all, I first started exchanging notes with in a workshop or writers’ group), and try to avoid burning them out. I also agree with the “know your reader” advice. You need to understand that person’s tastes and personality — and if you find yourself getting pissed off with their notes, maybe there’s such an impedance mismatch you should save the friendship and skip the notes part.

Additionally, I try to attend as many workshops, classes, and writers’ groups as I can stomach (sometimes they’re great, sometimes I’d rather be eating broken glass).

Even so, I also employ the services of a professional reader. The right ones are smart, experienced, and deal with producers all the time. They are forced to read every genre, and have learned to squelch their own tastes as much as humanly possible. A professional reader doesn’t get burned out, and since they’re not your friend (at least, not at first), they don’t tiptoe around difficult pieces of your story. A freelance reader currently makes about $60/script from studios and prodcos. Some will offer notes to individuals for somewhere around the same price. I recommend those people over the “experts” that charge an arm and a leg (especially the ones that offer special mumbo-jumbo that will help you unlock some secret thing or whatnot).

Another thing people need to do is know how to receive notes. Here are my main tips on this:

• Don’t defend (perhaps unless you’re in a development meeting where often the most passionate voice wins, but we’re not talking about that situation). What that means is, you asked the person for notes, don’t counter their every note with some explanation of why they didn’t “get it” and you were right all along. Ask clarifying questions, and if absolutely necessary offer a clarification or correction — but don’t get defensive.

• Don’t believe everything anyone says. Writing is subjective. Nobody is always right. Something that one person loves, another will hate, and vice-versa. You can’t please them all and you shouldn’t address every note you get because some of them aren’t what your story needs. In the end, it’s your story, not design by committee.

• Write your own notes about their notes (even if they sent you written notes). The process of writing your own notes filters them back through your own ideas about your story. Also, your own notes will still be comprehensible to you after you kick over your computer in frustration, get drunk, vow never to touch that piece of crap script ever again and to become an investment banker or mountaintop hermit, realize you’re addicted and write a whole other script, and then come back to the stupid pile of rubbish in six months.

• Thank the person, even if their notes were totally retarded and you’d rather have been punched in the back of the head a hundred times than endure one more moment of their raging stupidity. Being rude isn’t going to make their notes any better, and it’s not going to make you any happier.

My $0.02.

That was my defining moment. That’s when I graduated.

Basically, you review four screenplays then you’re allowed to post your own screenplay for feedback.

Mark

The other thing I ask myself is what I am worried about with this draft. If I have a nagging feeling that it isn’t visual enough I might ask a cinematographer-friend to look at it. If I know it’s too long I might ask an editor-friend to take a peek. If the premise feels murky, I have an ex-copywriter-turned-screenwriter-friend who is great at distilling the idea into strong concepts.

The last important point in asking friends to read is that it makes everything real. I am no longer just playing on my own with my little ideas. The pressing of the SEND-button on my mail-browser, or the handing over of a printed script always makes it painfully clear to myself what I should have written but didn’t. So the notes I write myself while waiting for feedback are often the best notes I’ll ever get.

(Of course sometimes you just need someone to say “that’s great dear” – so don’t knock the “giving-your-script-to-mom”-routine)

I’ve since had several professionals read it and it’s gotten an option and is currently in pre-production. Thank goodness. But for a while there it was somewhat disheartening. The producers who finally did give it a go really took the time to understand it and had the ability to [i]see[/i] it. It made me gain more respect for that title.