beccaelizabeth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beccaelizabeth) wrote2007-06-26 12:41 am
beccaelizabeth) wrote2007-06-26 12:41 am
Screenwriters looking for betas
Am reading "Crafty TV Writing"
Am up to the section on rewriting
he's talking about how to get feedback on spec scripts:
I'd recommend seeking out intelligent fans and writers on the Net. Fans are better than other aspiring writers because they don't want to take over your episode and won't be offended if you don't rewrite it the way they would.
Most popular shows have fan sites. Fan sites often have forums where people post critiques of the latest episodes. Many shows have their own fan newsgroups, for instance, rec.tv.buffy. Many also have Television Without Pity forums. See whose comments you think are insightful. Write to those fans, compliment them, and ask if they'd be willing to read your spec script. They'll probably be thrilled.
I had one of those oddly dizzy moments of looking at us from outside and sideways.
It's like he's recommending spec script writers to go play with fanfic and get a beta reader, only not quite getting there and not getting the terminology.
It also misses out the part where most people asked to beta will figure the result will go into the fan story-economy eventually, and since he's talking about spec scripts to try and sell... maybe not so much.
I don't know as I'd be 'thrilled' by that.
Also, and I don't say this to start wank because it's surely not what he intends, after the whole FanLib debacle I'm a bit jumpy about some ways of phrasing things.
I know what's vaguely bugging me. If someone is trying to write a spec script for a show, why do they need telling there are fan forums? Why are they not already in fandom? Well, because they're doing it for business and money and stuff. They're not actually fans. But the book sends them over to use fans to make their money-maker better. Even though spec scripts aren't actually for selling (they sell the writer's talents, not the specific story) that feels a bit wonky. Not How We Do Things?
I'm not actually saying he's suggesting something wrong, I'm poking my reaction to see why it made me thinky.
I think there are some very different basic assumptions floating around about the whole reader-writer relationship. I mean, up there? He says fans are better than writers. Which is flattering, but he's making two categories, 'fan' and 'writer', and somehow in his head they are seperate categories. Which in my experience isn't so very true, you know? I mean, it's not like fic making is obligatory, but a whole ton of people do it. Maybe fanwriters won't so much try to take over how someone else writes; maybe because if they don't like it they can just wander off and do it their way. Different attitudes of writer, not seperate boxes of non-writer. Yesno? I don't know.
I go away now.
Am up to the section on rewriting
he's talking about how to get feedback on spec scripts:
I'd recommend seeking out intelligent fans and writers on the Net. Fans are better than other aspiring writers because they don't want to take over your episode and won't be offended if you don't rewrite it the way they would.
Most popular shows have fan sites. Fan sites often have forums where people post critiques of the latest episodes. Many shows have their own fan newsgroups, for instance, rec.tv.buffy. Many also have Television Without Pity forums. See whose comments you think are insightful. Write to those fans, compliment them, and ask if they'd be willing to read your spec script. They'll probably be thrilled.
I had one of those oddly dizzy moments of looking at us from outside and sideways.
It's like he's recommending spec script writers to go play with fanfic and get a beta reader, only not quite getting there and not getting the terminology.
It also misses out the part where most people asked to beta will figure the result will go into the fan story-economy eventually, and since he's talking about spec scripts to try and sell... maybe not so much.
I don't know as I'd be 'thrilled' by that.
Also, and I don't say this to start wank because it's surely not what he intends, after the whole FanLib debacle I'm a bit jumpy about some ways of phrasing things.
I know what's vaguely bugging me. If someone is trying to write a spec script for a show, why do they need telling there are fan forums? Why are they not already in fandom? Well, because they're doing it for business and money and stuff. They're not actually fans. But the book sends them over to use fans to make their money-maker better. Even though spec scripts aren't actually for selling (they sell the writer's talents, not the specific story) that feels a bit wonky. Not How We Do Things?
I'm not actually saying he's suggesting something wrong, I'm poking my reaction to see why it made me thinky.
I think there are some very different basic assumptions floating around about the whole reader-writer relationship. I mean, up there? He says fans are better than writers. Which is flattering, but he's making two categories, 'fan' and 'writer', and somehow in his head they are seperate categories. Which in my experience isn't so very true, you know? I mean, it's not like fic making is obligatory, but a whole ton of people do it. Maybe fanwriters won't so much try to take over how someone else writes; maybe because if they don't like it they can just wander off and do it their way. Different attitudes of writer, not seperate boxes of non-writer. Yesno? I don't know.
I go away now.