Reviewing Screenplays on Talentville.com

Thanks for the review, Jim...and now it's my turn...

So I have read through some screenplays on this up-and-coming community site for screenwriters, Talentville.com.  The first feature script that I read was pretty good. The writer adapted the story from an award winning juvenile novel. I appreciate adaptations, knowing something firsthand about the process, having adapted Jack London's novel, Martin Eden for the screen.

 The way that the Talentville community is structured is pretty simple: you read scripts from others in the community within a designated time period, generally about a week. Once you complete your reading assignment, you can post your review, comments, ratings and suggestions to the author for all to see. Once your review is posted, you receive payment in the form of Talentdollars, which can then be exchanged to purchase reviews from Talentville members of your own uploaded script.

It seems to all work very well and this really is a good means of fine-tuning your work as other people provide valuable feedback, suggestions, while also highlighting some errors, format mistakes and typos that you have overlooked.  Of course, this all depends on the reviewer. I find some tend to be over critical and amateurish, while others are thoughtful and seasoned script writers. I have experienced some of both, so you must also decide for yourself those suggestions that are of real value and those that you must disregard.

The difficult part is how you handle an assigned script that is not very good. The first two scripts that I was assigned were a pleasure to both read and to provide reviews for. As I said earlier, the first was an adapted feature, the second was a one hour episode: sort of a Game of Thrones or Spartacus type of drama about the Trojan Wars.  The story and characters were great and I enjoyed it very much. My third assignment was a raunchy, poorly written "comedy" that was agonizing to get through.

 This is when it gets tricky, at least for me. How do you write a review for something that is not very good and poorly executed, while at the same time, remaining positive and trying not to deflate the author's pride?  I had to really apply my skill as a writer here. I mean, as poorly as I believe this script was, this is still every bit as much an effort to complete a 100+ page screenplay as it was for anybody. This is a work that the writer is very close to and has invested much thought and many long hours to complete.

I thought I was honest, but generous in my overall assessment. I did offer thoughtful suggestions and did give higher rating for the writing itself, as I believe the author had some genuine talent. It was really just the story, characters and pacing that were poor. So I posted my review, shared a few friendly back-and-forth email exchanges with the writer, earned enough Talentdollars to exchange for reviews of Martin Eden.  Well as it turned out, this particular author had recently had knee surgery, affording him all kinds of time during his recovery to read scripts and post reviews. And guess whose script he decided to hunt down?

So Martin Eden got a bit of a blasting. I knew that the motivation here was part retaliatory, but still...my first review! I didn't take it too badly though. I graciously thanked the reader for his feedback, and took the opportunity to show him how well Martin Eden did in the 4 competitions it was entered. The next review of Martin Eden came from a seasoned professional in the industry  somebody who'd actually sold his work. He gave Martin Eden very high marks and referred to it as "brilliant". So I am fine.  All I need to do is read more scripts, purchase more reviews and accumulate more positive feedback like the last one to negate that slam I took.

I was tempted to ask that first reviewer - Did you get a message from a highly credited Hollywood producer last week asking you who you envision playing your lead character?  I did! And this is the truth!!