Re: The actual article – I might actually kill a man to see more of this. Is there anything else you want us to get a certain amount of reviews for within a set time-frame? Maybe you need us to actually review someone to death? In 24 hours?

Re: Perseus’ people skills – You’re not going to make any friends that way, Einstein. (But did you see the way that Andromeda chick was looking at him?)

Still, good that you’re learning and everything, and according to the “rules” you are correct. But when people show you something as rough as this, they are generally looking for your thoughts on the general idea of it.

Just my two cents. But again, Sarah has every right to say what she said, and she is right, but IMO you might want to lay off of comments like that on rough scenes in the future.

A fight based upon misunderstandings on both sides isn’t good. I don’t like to fight. I didn’t mean it the way like it’s been interpreted. It had nothing to do with criticism (maybe I picked the wrong words which made it sound saucy and maybe I should have started with “What if you’d rewrite this scene… were my following choices made right…” – again, I’m currently trying to get a feeling for rewriting scenes. I didn’t mean to criticise a “note” – I got tons of notes in my books as well which would look differently in a spec) and I really appreciate John’s work – he’s my #1 screenwriter and I’m very greatful for this blog!

Bill, because he came out of the box fighting gladiator style, flinging the F word; Sarah, because her remarks missed the entire point of the post, and dabba because, dear God, whoever you are, it’s spelled YOU not U, and John never said it was subpar work, he said it was a screenplay he set aside and didn’t go back to. Not-polished is not the same thing as subpar.

During this fight I elect Blitzen to play the referee. Someone fetch me some popcorn and a diet Coke, please, I’ll be sitting in the front row.

Also, you still have not defended your “Ola kala” suggestion. I think everyone on this board would agree that was pretty tone-deaf.

Thanks for taking the risk of showing us an example of ur admittedly sub par work instead of ur usual awesomeness. Appreciate all that u do for us. cheers.

When I saw the post I thought it said “Geeks,” and I thought, “Yeah, we’re screenwriting geeks, thanks for calling us out on it, John.”

Instead, I just need new glasses.

Thanks for the post.

My take is that they help with the rhythm of the scene. There’s economy in writing, and there’s writing something that’s entertaining to read. You have to consider both.

For example, look at the “Perseus shrugs it off. Then reconsiders…” line. Obviously, John wants a quick silent beat there. So does he write “Beat” or does he write something that reads more enjoyably? Both options take up one line, so in terms of screenwriting economy, they’re the same.