Slumdog of Sundance: Part II

Wow, I will probably irritate quite a few people with this but -- I have still not seen a film yet. It's not that I don't want to. I really, really do, it's just that I'm a young writer trying to meet people and when opportunities arise I feel I have to take them. So maybe this blog is more about networking then anything.

Yesterday we went to several parties. Two were at Hollywoodlife for premiere after-parties. One for a film Denise Richards was in, I'm not sure the other. Paris Hilton was there with her many assistants. She of course was upstairs in the blocked off section, but it's not like meeting her is going to help a screenwriter's career anyway, right? Or maybe it would?

I met tons of publicists. I guess that makes sense. It's just funny that they would take an interest in a writer. I guess everyone needs publicity these days, though. They are great people to meet at parties because they introduce you to people right there on the spot. I met several people that way.

I met one of the producers of Harry Potter - she was very sweet and her husband was so nice. We talked to him quite a bit actually. She just did a documentary called The Cove that was at Slamdance I believe. We were at the after-party for it when we met her.

I'm loving Sundance. I've probably made over 10 valuable connections through it and already have meetings for next week when I get back to LA. And a name actor who recognized my director from the New York Film Festival told him he's interested in one of the roles for our movie!!

Monday was again more parties; however, Park City seems to be winding down. We went to Rock Band Lounge for the premiere after-party of Once More With Feeling. It's in Sundance noncompetition but it's nearly sold out for the entire week! Awesome because I have mutual friends with the filmmakers and I love when little films get some buzz!

I really want to go to the Slamdance happy hour. Some of the greatest people I've met both this year and last year have actually been at Slamdance events, not Sundance.

I promised myself I will see a movie if it's the last thing I do. How can I not?


DJ Halferty has written in the independent world writing paid assignments. He's optioned a script and recently signed a purchase agreement for teen comedy Aunt Sylvia's List, which he's currently doing rewrites on. It's in development/pre-production to be shot in Salt Lake City, Utah later this year.

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Put Your TiVo to Work

So earlier today while nursing a slight cold and doing Very Useful Things, I noticed that my TiVo didn't have my favorite channels listed. Despite the fact that I actually don't watch much in the way of TV other than Seinfeld reruns and the occasional - OKAY FINE - Dancing With the Stars, I chose a handful of faves. Then began flipping through them idly (wow cold medicine makes you feel all fluffy inside) when I noticed a plethora of movies that I either haven't seen or I loved. Check out this fun list:

JOHNNY BELINDA: Ahhhhh....never saw it? Has Jane Wyman? Good enough for me.

A DRY WHITE SEASON: Ohhhh I remember when that came out. I remember the trailer which may be why I have a vague sense I've seen this when I'm pretty sure I have not. (Does that happen to anybody else?)

BATS: Wait, didn't a friend tell me recently this is a HILARIOUSLY bad movie? Always TiVo the Funny-Badness.

NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER: Esther Williams, technicolor, synchronized swimming. Thank you. You're welcome.

CRY, THE BELOVED COUNTRY: That is definitely a movie I think I thought I saw. Either that or the Long Term Movie Memory disk is offloading information. Anyway, South Africa, politics, tragedy, based on a book...Must seem serious and learned at parties concerning such.

HELLBOY: Have not seen that. And really should have. Whooo - just saved three bucks at the video store!

NINOTCHKA: Have not seen this. Oh Greta. I'm never as lonely as when I'm with you.

IT WAITS: This looks like a tragi-comically bad movie. Must TiVo the Funny-Badness. Always.

THE PETRIFIED FOREST: Horrified to admit I have not seen this. But - should I be? Ohhhh okay, Bette Davis and Leslie Howard. Done.

MARTY: I just gotta know why that line in QUIZ SHOW was so significant. Plus, two words: Paddy Chayefsky.

I WANT TO LIVE!: I am 95% sure I have seen this sort of goofy Susan Hayward tear-jerker. But what the hell. Live dangerously.

THE ITALIAN JOB: Haven't seen it. Might like it. Not that invested.

FIERCE PEOPLE: What's this?! Diane Lane movie I haven't seen?

SHAMPOO: Due to an intense aversion to Warren Beatty when I was a child (god I despised the whole overtan, tight white pantsed, hairy chest, gold necklace thing in the '70s, among so many other things) I have not seen this. And I should.

Are you making the most of your TiVo? Check out the future listings today and see if there are any movies on your Hall of Shame or What the Hell lists. It's fun, it's free and Wavers know how aspiring screenwriters with a dearth of film viewing hours particularly when it comes to seminal and classic movies gives me an EYE TWITCH. Do it for mama, guys. Watch more movies.

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The Slumdog of Sundance

I was meaning to blog each day for at least the first weekend since that's when most things go on, but we decided to take an already busy schedule and throw in a 24 hour film competition. So friday I wrote a 3 page script in roughly 20 minutes, went to meet up with some people that manage the main hotels for the week (Hotel Park City, The Yarrow, etc) to see about getting into certain events, then shot some scenes, and then went back to Park City. For friday night we weren't on any lists so we just figured we'd show up and see what we can do. We did talk to some publicists, via our friend April, about possibilities for us later on this week. We'll see...

Like I said, Sundance is about the parties. celebrities, money, etc. Not that I care about those things very much, but those are the things that get films made. Specifically, and hopefully, my films. So we went up to some place on Main Street (If you've never been, most of Sundance takes place on this street.) This place had a huge line. We slip up to the front and the doorman is telling everyone how it's at capacity. No one can be let in. Even on a list. Riight. I think they just say that. And my theory held true because the guy turns away all these people, but looks at my friend and I and says, "You two can go on in." Random? Yes.

After the party we went to go shoot another scene for this 24 hour contest. Part of the competition was they give you a prop you have to use. Haha, Therefore, I was dressed in a match costume, lol, and couldn't even move! I'm at the top of the stairs with no eye holes, hoping to God I don't trip and plummet down the steps.

We were up until 9:30 am shooting, but had to be at some SAG panel at 10:30. Haha...needless to say, we missed the panel. (A friend took notes for us, though.) Apparently an increasing number of projects are starting to be shot in Utah. Not just indie or LDS films either. (Nothing against either of those -- great films are great films regardless) But some major productions are deciding to shoot here as well. Anybody out there with any Utah contacts might want to consider this.

So we didn't make it to any screenings today (but we do know some volunteers who can hook us up -- another important thing to consider -- be a volunteer at Sundance. A lot of times you can even get a place to stay up in Park City for free.)

Instead, we met up with other friends to catch up and talk about projects. I met a few possibly good contacts at random places (waiting in lines while avoiding the cold, at a couple parties) who are looking for writers. Again, we'll see...

A lot of the celebs we're out to play today. I heard about tons of them, but only saw Ashley Judd, Brett Ratner, Alan Cummings, Kevin Bacon. I've noticed how much friendlier they are than what you would see on TMZ. Pretty sure it was Kim Bassinger today walking in front of me. Some girls pointed and screamed how much they love her. She smiled back and said she loved them even more. Easy enough, but still polite and kind.

What am I forgetting? Oh yeah went to an Ed Hardy show (and we might be heading to an Ed hardy party here pretty soon, but we're exhausted and our contact for it hasn't texted us back yet.)

Tomorrow I've got a meeting and I'm determined to finally go see one of the films. I'm hearing a lot about the 500 days of summer one. I love how people will ask each other "is this a good one?" "what have you heard?" "Yeah, it's supposed to be good." "No, I have no idea what it's about."

Just like last year, Sundance isn't changing my life, but it's fun and you can definitely meet people. So far I'm enjoying it despite the lack of sleep and cold philangees.

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The Slumdog of Sundance

Have you ever wanted to go to the Sundance Film Festival? I'm torn. The friends I have who have gone complain of the bitter cold, the scene-y atmosphere and the lack of quality films. But sure, I'd go just once to say I did. I might do it next year. But for this year, The Rouge Wave has a mole at Sundance. My friend DJ has made his way out there as of yesterday and will be sending Rouge Wavers blog reports of his experiences. Armed with the list of the hottest screenings and parties to talk his way into, he's mostly winging it so we'll take what we can get.

****

So here's our first message from Sundance:

So I just got into Utah. Cold! Nothing really happened today. I think this is partly due to the festival being cut back so much this year and most people just getting in or coming in Friday. It sure does seem scaled back. Way fewer parties from what I've been hearing.

So tonight I just walked around with my Utah filmmaker friends Colton Tran and April Frampton. (I won't bore you but they're amazingly talented. Colton's directing Aunt Sylvia's List, April does PR/pretty much everything.) We talked to some other people and just put together our game plan for the week. We saw Nikki Sixx from Motley Crue! April was joking and called out to a guy she thought looked like him. Turns out it was him. He said all of hi.

So tomorrow (16th) is when things really start going. So far what I have planned is a couple meetings, some screenings, a couple fashion shows, some parties of course. Sundance is all about the parties.

And yes, I promise I'll mention any celebrities I see. Last year I remember seeing Jimmy Fallon EVERY SINGLE DAY I was there. It's like he was omnipresent. I know as writers we don't care about celebrities...but let's be honest. You know you do.



DJ Halferty has written in the independent world writing paid assignments. He's optioned a script and recently signed a purchase agreement for teen comedy Aunt Sylvia's List, which he's currently doing rewrites on. It's in development/pre-production to be shot in Salt Lake City, Utah later this year.

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New Speak: It's JUST for Texting!

So how many Rouge Wavers text their family and friends? I do it a lot now. Texting has become part of my life. I was never one of those self-described Luddites. I can upload, download and update many things. Nevertheless, texting as far as I was concerned initially was a sort of last ditch thing for confirmation, etc., but now I text friends and colleagues about any number of things. When I first started texting I would text something like this: Hey, my flight is late. See you at the gate. I'm wearing a red coat which took me 3 minutes to text and gets a reply like: C U thr. So now I am down with the texting lingo: U R cmg @ 8? It was a brief learning curve but I can now text with the best of 'em.

As a sidenote, I'm fairly certain my Blackberry's "smart type" has some kind of content editor because no, I am not texting the work "duck" or "ducking" - ever.

Texting and IMing using a truncated new speak is not new. We're all familiar with brb, lol, omg, cya, kk and my funny newest - zomg! But one pitfall of new speak, whether it's in texting, IM or message boards is that we become lazy. It's fine to say "your gng 2 B lte!" - the operative word there being "your" instead of "you're". I have noticed that spelling in scripts I read has gotten worse and worse. And this is the truly horrible part - I have to catch myself more and more too.

Not that you're going to catch me writing: 2 B or nt 2 B anytime soon in a script or anywhere else, but it is a challenge when your brain shifts back and forth from proper spelling to new speak. Proper spelling and grammar is slowly eroding. On the one hand, that is the way of things. We no longer speak the way Shakespeare wrote - iffin that was the way Joe Average spoke at that time, or anywhere close. We no longer speak the way we did in the 1950s for that matter: Say, you are looking very nice today, Jody! Today that would be: Girl, you're hot!

Language is an organic thing and we have plenty of evidence to prove that. But make sure that you do check yourself when working on scripts or anything else that will be publicly consumed. Watch your "your" versus "you're," "to" versus "too" and duck versus...well - you get my point.

The hilarious thing is that your script will be read by people who are probably texting while reading it: Ths scrpt kicks ass! brb! Mtng! - but they'll still slam you if your script has spelling errors or language usage problems. Because the way we speak in some mediums is not the way we speak in others. Scripts are still expected to be written properly. I am not referring to the fact that you may have a character who uses slang, but particularly in your action lines - get it right.

So even if you are a texting aficionado, but sure to flip that switch when you write. It matters. No j/k.

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The TV Tattler

Woot! Brand new weekly column on the Rouge Wave! The TV Tattler is written by my friend, the gorgeous, glamorous television aficionada Lisabeth Laiken. Feast on this, Wavers!

The third week of January there will be an unusual conjunction of events. Like Jupiter and Venus in alignment to make a smiley face with a crescent moon, Friday Night Lights has its third season finale on Wednesday and then its third season premiere on Friday. Time is not going backwards, despite what happens on some of our current TV shows - but it is occurring in order to save something precious. Last year trying to find a way to renew a critic favorite with a relatively small but very ardent audience, NBC went looking for a partner. This would give them a way to keep the show on the air despite the fact that the ratings were too low for them to continue to produce it. Luckily DirectTV was looking to increase its original programming, and, for first airing rights, took on the production costs. NBC is gambling that the relatively small portion of the viewing audience that has satellite will not take too much away from their ratings. Whether fans have also viewed it through illegal torrents in enough numbers to make a difference is yet to be seen.

TV is in the midst of a turbulent time, above and beyond the continued impact of the writers' strike last year. Look at FNL, or NBC’s Hail Mary play moving Leno to prime time, or the canceled Dead Like Me returning as a direct to DVD movie or Sanctuary - a show that started as pay to view on the internet, was picked up by SCI-FI and then renewed for its second season - or Childrens’ Hospital, original programming on the website for the defunct television network The WB. This is a time when a million viewers on one channel means success and major award victories but six million on another is cause for the cancellation for a critics darling. And speaking of ratings, are they counting the night's numbers or live plus three?

This is a time of continued erosion of scripted time-slots on networks, growing original programming on basic and pay cable, and a year-round TV season. Television is confusing right now, absolutely, and there are grave issues - but there is also new potential and exciting opportunities. And while it's been bumpy the last few years with no one place that seems to have a corner on the “Must See TV” market, like HBO did and NBC before that and ABC before that, going back to the early days of broadcast...there is great scripted television out there. Wonderful shows of all types that grab you and make you want more. The question now is where to find it, when to find it and how to find it. And does or will it even ever appear on your television set? What the landscape will look like in a year or five is still anyone’s guess, although it will no longer be dominated by a stand-alone box in our homes. But there are trends and decisions to be watching. And beyond the business aspects, there is what's going on with the shows themselves. What type of shows are being programmed and, more importantly, watched. And in this time of The Long Tail, where do the numbers come into play? But everything going on does have it’s own sense and logic. There is a "how" to the workings of television. Storytelling in this medium is a complex set of intersecting issues and challenges before you even get to the plot, theme, arc and character development. So these postings will aim to look at all that, to shine a light, to throw down an anchor or two in these unsettled waters.

And finally I’ll ask you the question: Why do we watch what we watch? With so much out there, what draws you to one show rather than another? Unlike movies, television is the writers’ medium. Showrunners, producers, are most often the writers. Television tells the long format story. Week in, week out, with great convolutions or none, with characters changing and growing or staying comfortably the same, with the acknowledgment of time passing or characters that don’t seem to age a day from beginning to end, it has to hold your attention for six episodes or 13 or 23. It has to hold the audience over time. And for that you need the wonder of the writers' minds creating a world that the viewers will want to visit — 100 times if they are lucky. And maybe some of you want to be lucky like that. Hopefully here there will be some good information, insights and explanations to help you.

-Lisabeth Laiken has been scrutinizing television since they got the breed of dog wrong on Little House on the Prairie. After ending her college years watching movies and television critically in a joint Film Studies and Semiotics program, she went on to use two VCRs to collect and catalog all her favorite shows (over 500 tapes) long before DVR was a glimmer in anyone’s eye.

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Cayman Island Writing Retreat

So my friend Christopher Keane, screenwriter and author of Romancing the A-List, is hosting a fabulous writing retreat in the Cayman Islands this summer. Wow. It sounds amazing. It's from July 11th through July 25th and it sounds like a great atmosphere for learning the nuts and bolts of screenwriting in gorgeous place. So check it out, you lucky ducks who can go! You might just find me in your luggage!

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TV Staffing Season

By Margaux Froley

You might think that TV staffing season is more of a spring event. Yes, generally new and returning shows do the majority of their hiring, or as we call it, staffing, around May. However, January is here and the prepared writer should be acting like May is tomorrow.

If this is your first staffing season and you are still trying to get that first elusive staff writer job, you should be getting your material ready to shop to agents and possible representatives. Giving an agent as much time as possible to get to know your work and your own personality only helps them pitch you to shows that might be hiring. Now is the time to solidify any representation relationships. With this jump on the season, an agent can do his/her work getting you general meetings with the networks and studios that will be doing the hiring in months to come. Again, this all allows you to build stronger relationships with people who will be in the position to hire you or to pass your work onto showrunners looking for new writers. Creating fans of your writing early on only helps the staffing process for when you need agents and executives in your corner come April. And, don’t forget, because of cable programming staffing is more of a year round job than ever before. Sure, the majority of jobs come up in the spring, but being ready to go when that hot new HBO show comes looking in February is always a smart move.

Now, the bigger concern many of you might have: What about my material? Is my DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES spec going to work for me this year? Do I need to write another spec? What if I only have a pilot? I would say that having a current spec is first and foremost. If you don’t have a functioning spec, get writing! The market is seeing a lot of specs of DEXTER, HOUSE, and THE OFFICE. New shows that are relevant to spec might be THE MENTALIST, MAD MEN or even DAMAGES, and comedies 30 ROCK, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, and maybe for the kookier writers, IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA. You should be spec-ing a show that is in the genre you want to get hired in. Don’t write a HOUSE and wonder why THE BIG BANG THEORY didn’t call you. A spec should be of a show that is critically acclaimed and has some commercial viability too. You won’t get a lot of fans of your work if no one has seen the show you are mimicing. And watch out for those stunt specs. Writing the DEXTER spec where his sister dies might be a great sample, but that doesn’t show off your skills to work with the given components of a show. The people hiring you want to know you can work with their cast of characters week after week; you can’t kill a series regular every week.

Having original material, preferably a pilot or a play, has become more and more in demand. Specs are a necessary evil to show people you can mimic someone else’s voice, but with so many people trying to break into TV, you also need material to show that you have a voice. If you are aiming to get staffed, your pilot is being read as a sample. Feel free to make it memorable. You don’t have to worry about production limitations yet; this pilot is purely an example of you showing off your voice. Maybe in a few years someone might want to make it, once you get more experience under your belt, but for now, your original work should be just that, original.

Breaking into TV has become more and more difficult. I highly recommend taking advantage of the many fellowship opportunities around town. Even being a finalist in the ABC or the Warner Brothers Fellowships might get that agent who was hip pocketing you to want to push harder for you this staffing season. These fellowships are a great way to stand out from the pack of writers trying to break in. Even then there are no guarantees.

Good luck getting your scripts in order. Happy Staffing!

Margaux Froley is a staff writer on the CW's Privileged. A long time member of The Script Department, Margaux is available on a limited basis to read and review your television scripts. Rouge Wavers receive a 15% discount on all television services.

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Interpreting GOOD Notes

Rouge Waver Luzid left a very relevant and interesting comment that I thought would be best addressed here:

Julie,

Something else for us to consider when receiving notes is what to make of *good* coverage. Knowing that a little padding goes into critiques to protect writers from taking too much critical flak, how does it work in cases where the coverage is favorable?

Actually, in prodco coverage, no padding is added for the writer. Ever. In my earlier post, I am primarily referring to coverage or notes that writers have paid for. Notes aimed at them, specifically. In my class, I advocate that all readers use care and respect toward the writer - whether the writer sees the notes or not. It's about intentionality and ethics.

When two or more readers (independent of each other) say things like "overall the visuals were stunning with poetic language," "very compelling premise" or "the script could attract name talent due to its overall ingenuity," what does one take away from it?

As writers, we all want to know others are responding to our work. But we also know to be careful not to just hear what we want to hear. What's the best way to analyze positive coverage to avoid getting the wrong idea?

***

You should feel GREAT if you get comments like that. Really great. For about 10 minutes. Then take about 25% off of that great comment and chalk it up to subjectivity and smoke blowing. That's really the best advice I can give you. If you get good feedback there's only one way to view that - as terrific, subjective and slightly inflated. But it's still very, very good overall. If I could tell you the number of times I have gotten AMAZING notes from people who later dropped the ball, walked away or otherwise then back-pedaled, you'd be amazed. Take notes like that as a good sign, be encouraged by it but don't overinflate yourself, your writing or your prospects. Take it in stride and just know that you are doing something very, very right. Then get back to work and keep producing more of what got you that nice note.

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Bad Coverage Sucks

We've all gotten it. Really bad coverage. Bad because the script needed work and it got slammed or bad because the reader was mean-spirited and a bad writer him or herself. The latter is the WORST feeling.

As many Wavers know, I teach a class on how to become a production company reader. A prodco reader is a bit different than a reader for, say, a company such as my own. Production company readers do not need to hand hold but they do need to come from a neutral, professional jumping off point of rating the writer and project based on an almost clinical set of guidelines. You won't see your coverage if it comes from a production company, good or bad. You'll just be told that it was good or bad.

But you might get coverage or notes from a script coverage service such as mine or a competition that gives notes and I know from experience how infuriating it is when the notes are just written badly. Because you have put so much effort into that script - whether it came out good or bad - and when someone appears to just phone in their comments without really making the effort to articulate them with insight, neutrality and half an ounce of respect - well, it makes my blood boil. I won't have it when it comes to my clientele and it makes me mad when I hear about writers getting bad coverage from other services or sources. I guess it's because I've been on the receiving end of that and because I know from experience that it isn't that hard to write great coverage. It's about respect for the writer. I mean - come on.

As I grade the coverage samples that my Reader students generate, I find myself grading them on the accuracy of their statements (because of course, I am intimately familiar with the scripts they are given for homework), their use of "coverage-speak" and their tone in general. Coverage speak is something I talked about on the Rouge Wave a million years ago and is just a sort of soft-pedal couching of statements by using words like "however" or "unfortunately" or "potential."

So rather than saying (and let me preface THIS by saying the following is pretty much the type of coverage that I have seen some readers produce): SQUIRRELS OF DETROIT is unfunny, executed badly and has a cliched premise.

Rather, one could say: SQUIRRELS OF DETROIT has a charming comedic premise with much potential; unfortunately the writer missed opportunities to really execute a unique and engaging narrative.

Both comments sum up that the script sucks. But what a difference in the way they land, right?

It's like that old methodology of not saying to a person "You always do this and you always do that" but rather "I feel this way when you do that sometimes." You know - it's all about the delivery. If you are telling someone something difficult, you want to keep your focus on a good outcome, right? So if you dash off coverage notes that are sloppy and disrespectful, the writer will of course feel TERRIBLE and probably MAD and then not really be receiving this information in such a way that they'll do a better job in their rewrite. I don't care how bad a script is: The writer, by receiving notes, just climbed a rung on the ladder and can now do better for the next go round. But not if they feel bad after having read the notes.

Being a good reader is more than identifying what doesn't work - it's about identifying it in an organized, articulate, neutral way. Slamming the writer is a no fly zone as far as I am concerned. Whether at my company or anywhere else.

Many of my students are taking the Reader Class simply to get an inside view of how scripts are covered so they can be armed with what NOT to do, etc. Which I think is pretty damn smart as a strategy. I wish I had known this stuff when I first began submitting scripts. Oh how I wish I had known.

My readers are pretty damn experienced and good at what they do and they've worked for me long enough to know what coverage makes mama happy. But by teaching this class to new readers, my objective is to raise the bar for readers - to really ask more of them. It's not rocket science to see what's wrong with a script. But it does take a certain skill set to identify problems, seek solutions, organize all of that in an easy to understand way and to give the writer this information in a way that makes them feel empowered and excited about the rewrite - not beaten down and crappy. That, believe it or not, is sometimes a reach for some readers. It's all about giving a damn how the writer will feel when they read our coverage.

As I tell the Mini-W, it's not about studying HARDER at school, it's about caring about the subject and about the work you turn in. And I am proud to say that my readers all come from that jumping off place. I wouldn't hire a reader who felt otherwise.

So this from Week Two of the Reader Course may offer more insight to you writers out there wondering how a production company rates writers and how I instruct new readers to do that from my own experience with production companies. My goal is to instruct as many readers as possible so that slowly, over time, industry readers will begin to take more pride in the importance of their jobs and slow down a bit and be thorough, professional and kind. I am not saying current prodco readers are not those things - but there are a lot of bad apples. And they're rating YOUR scripts. I hope to change the prevailing winds a little bit over time:

RATING THE WRITER
You are rating the writer as much as you are rating the project. Writers receive “pass,” “consider” and “recommend” ratings in the same way that the script does. A writer with a “pass” script can still receive a “consider” rating. A “consider” writer is one who executed the script very well, it’s just that this particular material is not right for the company. A “consider” writer should be considered for rewrite or assignment work down the line. He/she is, simply put, a good writer. A “pass” writer is one who just didn’t pull it off. Clumsy writing, spelling errors, poor structure, thin characters, missing theme – things of this nature. This is a writer whom the production company probably wouldn’t want to tap for assignment work because he/she just isn’t up to snuff as a writer. A “recommend” writer is obviously a stellar writer – again, you can have a “pass” script with a “recommend” writer – that just means this is a great writer but the material is not a fit for the production company.

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10,000 Hours

So my best buddy ever, Keith*, gave me a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers and I have been most fascinated by it. In chapter two, Gladwell discusses the 10,000 hour theorem: that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice and repetition before a person is truly head and shoulders above others doing the same thing. 10,000 hours of computer programming, cooking, writing, skiing - whatever. Gladwell makes a pretty salient and compelling point that practice does indeed make perfect.

*This is a rarefied status subject to change, bribery** and favoritism. Just FYI.

**Cupcakes and tiny dog sweaters. [--Ed.]


I think we all remember the Great Computer Meltdown of '08. That horrible day when my hard drive failed and I hadn't been backing up and - well - I lost a lot of stuff. One of the things I lost was the curriculum I had prepared for the Learn to be a Reader correspondence course. So I had to either pay a bunch of money to get that and other things retrieved from the hard drive or just write it again. So I wrote it again. That added another several hours to my cume.

There are a number of students taking this nifty correspondence course and as I am grading their synopses, comments and logline generating skills and giving them new homework for the following week, I am amazed at how much more there is to being a reader than I had appreciated. In having to write the entire curriculum - and then rewrite it all again a month or two later, I have put quite a number of hours into breaking down and expressing the ins and outs of story analysis. And though I do some type of story analysis just about every day, it really has made me stand back and think - wow, this really is not something just anybody can do and do well. I am struck by how much I have learned about reading and covering scripts, about the methodology, the politics and the presentation. I think I probably have spent 10,000 hours doing what I do and it's become second nature. That's a good feeling.

For example, in Week Three, the lecture and homework are about synopsizing a script.

Did you know:

Do not ever, ever, EVER comment within the synopsis – this is a story summary and there is absolutely no room here for your opinions. Strictly separate the synopsis (an accurate retelling of what happens) from the commentary (a breakdown of what is and isn’t working by element).

or -

Do NOT synopsize as you go. This will slow you down terribly in completing the coverage and it will also take you out of the read. Just read the script straight through, as you normally would. Use a highlighter or a red pen and read along swiftly but mark those pages, names or moments that you KNOW are significant enough to include in the synopsis.

or -

Very frequently, the script isn’t very entertaining at all. Your job is then not to write a highly entertaining synopsis because that is misrepresenting the script. However, if the script has ANY funny, moving, scary or action-packed moments that stuck with you – really get that feeling and description down in the synopsis. The ability to write a well-crafted synopsis is what separates okay readers from GREAT readers.

I wish I had been able to take this class several years back when I began reading. I knew the basics but I really had to feel my way through finessing my process. The other day, The Script Department received an order to do some coverage from Seed Productions (Hugh Jackman's company). As I prepared to assign the work to a reader, Seed emailed me again. Could you do it personally? Nobody has the thoughtful insight that you do. You have spoiled us. That compliment really made my day. Though now I have to read, synopsize and cover two 100+ page plays by Monday. But it's all good. I always get GREAT stuff from Seed.

So - how many hours are you putting into your writing on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual and cumulative basis? If Gladwell is really onto something - and I think he obviously is - can Wavers understand why, based on the 10,000 hour observation, that it's not super likely you're going to sell your first script? Ten scripts - 100 hours each - that adds up.

So that's all I have to say this Sunday. Tonight I am hosting a Golden Globes party with ballots and the whole nine yards. Be careful, Keith, you could get bumped in the Best Pal category. Do your homework, show up looking pretty and you might retain your status.

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