Faced with reading over 20 scripts before Monday's team meeting, I decided that since I had absolutely no idea how or where to start, I should consult my trusty Google search bar for some answers. Literally, all I did was type in "How to judge a good script" and I find this brilliant article by Charles Deemer, a participant on the judging panel of the Pacific Northwest Writers Association's screenwriting competition and screenwriting lecturer at Portland State University. In the article, he mentions a number of good points to look out for when choosing a script that is good or has some good qualities. Here are a few that stood out for me:
1. "The first thing I did was throw away the loglines and synopses... what I knew about each story and characters I wanted to learn directly from the script." - I found this interesting as you would assume a panelist who has the prospect of reading over 50 scripts would go straight to the one liner to see if there is a hint of something interesting for the main meal but Deemer is adamant that this process should be avoided. Thinking about it a little more, I suppose it makes sense. You don't want to be lazy with your script choice. Skim the wrong part and you may not understand the film's complex ending. Only read the ending/beginning and you cheat yourself out of discovering a beautiful story. Throw away the whole thing before you finish it and you're bound to have Karma come bite you in the arse later on in production. Moral of the story: Read the whole script and nothing but the script.
2. "Almost no one seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing. Three-fourths of the scripts were shooting scripts formatted in a style popular twenty years ago but out of fashion today. In fact, I was appalled by how many writers were shooting themselves in the foot by not presenting a script in contemporary spec script format and style." - This is something I was anticipating for our script-reading challenge and its interesting that Deemer also encountered the same problem. Just from browsing through some of these scripts, I can tell that I am going to have an issue on my hands with formatting. At a glance, it looks like nearly half of the 20 scripts I have to read have formatting errors which really shits me because I know that its going to put me off and that there is only so much I will be able to take before I lose it and quit Adobe to move onto the next one. Moral of the story: Do your research. Poor formatting is no excuse.
3. "It also was clear to me by now that two of the four scripts were contending for first and second, the other two for third. I read the last two scripts cover-to-cover and made my selection for third place. Then I read the other two but couldn't make an immediate decision. I let the scripts sit for a few days and picked up the two contenders again." - Giving yourself space from the material can be really handy. It's like that saying "Can't see the wood for the trees" where you become so immersed in what you're doing that you can't work out what it is you set out to do in the first place. I'll have to keep this in mind for when I'm on one of my power surges that I get when I am determined to finish reading all of the scripts. Moral of the story: Take a tea break and breath.
4. "Comparing them was like comparing apples and oranges. One was a sci-fi thriller, the other a witty comedy. Both were over-written but not nearly as badly as the others. I finally asked myself this question: if these were both movies, which would I go see first? The sci-fi thriller, I decided, and this was the script I selected as the winner." - I found this point most interesting. How on earth do you judge two scripts which belong to completely different genres? I found that question Deemer poses a really interesting thought to have during the script selection process as in the end, it is all subjective and just bottles down to what you like. Moral of the story: Go with your feelings.
Thanks to Deemer, I'm a little less daunted by the task ahead. Hopefully I'll get through them all without any hissyfits but we'll see how we go. To finish, I thought I'd leave you with Deemer's final points:
* A spec script is not a shooting script.
* Screenwriting is not fiction writing.
* Consult a screenwriting book less than five years old, written by a competent author.
* Don't let your writing get in the way of your story.
* Less is more.
* Less is more.
* Less is more.
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