Geena Asks - Wave-inatrix Answers

Our very own Geena, a loyal Rouge Waver, sent in this comment:

If I knew you had a booth at Expo, I would go just to say hello, meet other wavers and say thanks. Any chance you have weekend seminars on the way?By the way does your answer to the structure question, page 28, the length, 10, 20, 30, 75, apply to contests. I am under the impression contest readers have a different take than studio execs.

Yes Geena, I will be at the Creative Screenwriting Expo (Oct. 25-28th) here in LA! I will have a booth in the exhibitor hall . My partners and I are going to make sure that our booth is the funnest, must-see booth of the whole event. Be sure to stop by and say hello if you're planning to attend, Rouge Wavers.

There are a lot of exciting changes happening at The Script Whisperer in upcoming months and one of those will definitely be the addition of weekend seminars. So stay tuned for that.

You structure question is a good one, Geena but no, readers are readers. You made the distinction between competition readers and studio execs - readers get ahold of every single script first (with very rare exceptions) so the standards are what they are. The only difference in judging in a competition, in my experience, is that the commercial potential for the script is not taken into account. Because that's not the point of a competition, the point is to find good writing and reward it. When you read for a production company the point is to find good material that will make a good movie that will make m-o-n-e-y. But the basic standards of a good script are the same no matter what.

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