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All screenwriters deal with it: the dreaded
negative review. Does it mean you have
no talent? Does it mean you should give
up? Absolutely, positively not! Here’s why:
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Every Script Gets Negative
Feedback
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I remember watching Guardians of the Galaxy with my family. A half hour into it, my daughter said it was boring
and left the room. My son hung on for
about an hour, but ultimately said it didn’t interest him. My wife said, “This is stupid.”
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So in this particular poll, 3 out of 4 viewers
gave this movie a definitive thumbs down.
They gave it very negative feedback. Does that mean the story isn’t good? Does that mean the writers are hopeless hacks?
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Hell no.
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Within the first few minutes of Guardians, I was thinking, wow, the
writers (James Gunn and Nicole Perlman) have some serious talent. They wrote for the eyes and the ears, with
imaginative visuals and snappy, genuinely funny dialogue. Many people agree with me, including those in
control of the WGA nominations.
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If a movie like Guardians can get its share of very negative reviews, then you can bet
that just about every script (of every level of quality) can and will get the
same.
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So next time you get a bad review (which anyone
who writes prolifically will get from time to time), don’t sweat
it. If you tend to take chances, and all
good writers do in one way or another, then it’s inevitable that you’re going
to run into this kind of thing.
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If it happens to be the first review of a new
script, that’s unfortunate and can feel like a kick in the gut, but it’s still
very possible that your script is excellent.
It may appeal to 9 out of 10 readers, and you may have simply started
with the 1 out of 10.
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Even if you get a lot of negative reviews on a script,
it doesn’t mean your story is “bad”. It
just means you may need to adjust your execution.
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It’s not like singing. If you can’t hit a note, there’s no fixing
that. But I truly believe that with
enough effort every writer can eventually produce a strong script.
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Natural talent can make the process quicker and easier
– true, but in the end the only “talent” anyone in this industry really cares
about is getting it done. And if a
script is good, no one in Hollywood cares how long you took to write it.
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One, two or even ten negative reviews end up not
mattering at all if those reviews are on a prior draft that looks nothing like
your final product. That final product
is what you’re shooting for – the ultimate version of your vision that will
perform consistently, get you work and maybe even get made.
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Will even that version get negative feedback once
in a while?
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Of course it will.
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Every script gets negative
feedback.
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