Because I’m on this screenwriting kick, I’m sharing a bit of advice that makes sense to me.
It comes from a book called Kill the Dog. Enjoy a brief laugh if you’ve ever read the Save the Cat books!
An amateur screenwriter only wants to hear what’s good about their script; a professional only wants to hear what’s bad.
— Brain Koppelman, from Paul Guyot’s Kill the Dog
I value feedback. At least sometimes!
Lots of writers may ask for feedback, but they don’t want it. Not really. I’ve tried to provide feedback on quite a few scripts. Only a few people have thanked me for doing this. More people have ignored my concerns or have started arguing with me.
I get it. When you put words to a page, that’s your baby. You don’t want to hear what’s wrong with it.
But if you can’t learn how to improve a screenplay that’s not ready, then you’re going to remain stuck.
And while being stuck is part of the process, I don’t want to stay stuck longer than necessary! I want to move forward.
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