Dispatch from The Quest: Brandon Cohen
Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the fourth week of Prep. Today’s dispatch: Brandon picks up on yesterday’s Dispatch about script notes:
I was inspired by Scott Reynolds’ script journal this week regarding notes. Inspired is a nice way of saying I’m stealing his topic. Consider this the sequel that nobody asked for, the Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights of script journals if you will. I’ve had a lot of problems with receiving notes. It’s not that I can’t take people’s notes, it’s that I feel like I have a lot of trouble receiving meaningful ones. There’s a tightrope you have to walk when asking for or giving notes, and it can be an uncomfortable situation for both parties.
The biggest problem seems to be, if you’re giving notes, a lot of times the people who asked for them don’t actually want them. They’re expecting you to write back “please let me send this to all of my contacts and if I do, will you promise me, promise me, you won’t forget about me when this becomes the highest grossing film of all time!” They’re not looking for notes, they’re looking for validation that it’s the masterpiece that they think it is. I suspect there is a large group of writers who’ve screwed up getting notes for the rest of us. In the short time that I lived in LA, I got the impression that there’s a severe lack of self-awareness that permeates the city, and that lack of self-awareness, combined with their parents coddling them their entire life, has resulted in a lot of people who can’t take criticism.
Once you’ve sent a couple people honest and constructive notes, and been met with nothing but resistance and bitterness, you start to throw your hands up in the air (and not in a partyish Flo Rida type of way), and ask yourself “what do I have to gain out of this arrangement?” What’s the incentive for the note-giver to be honest when it’s just going to breed contempt and awkwardness? It’s a bummer because for the people who genuinely want real notes, they’re left scratching their heads when they receive critiques that seem to have been written while standing on an entire carton worth of eggshells.
The problem, at least in my experience, is that the majority of people I get notes from are friends, or friends of friends. When you have a relationship with someone, it’s difficult to be honest with them. When we know how hard someone has worked on something, we’ve been hardwired to be polite and supportive, and it’s against our nature to frankly explain why the thing they’ve poured their heart and soul into simply doesn’t work. I understand why it’s uncomfortable for friends to give honest notes because I’ve been on the other side of it and have had a lot of trouble. It seems the best notes I’ve received are from people that I don’t have much (or any) of a relationship with. When the pretext of civility and flattery are removed from the equation, you’re left with objective and more meaningful feedback.
This is why I think there’s so much value in landing a manager. Yes, it’s cool to say you have a manager as it’s some validation of your hard work, but to me it would mean so much more than that. Having someone there to be able to bluntly tell you when something sucks is a huge asset. I’ve hung up with someone after being on the phone with them for an hour discussing a project I sent them, and then when I look back at the notes I’ve taken during the call, I’m not even sure if they liked it or not. I’ve gone to great lengths when I send people stuff to request that they be as honest as possible, and of course they all say they will be, but it’s much easier said than done. A manager or agent doesn’t really care about being nice because it’s not their job to be nice, it’s their job to try and make you money — when you make money, so do they. When someone stands to benefit financially from your work, they’ll definitely be way more upfront about how to make it better. Managers, at least the good ones, should be able to be that objective sounding board we all wish we had. Someday…(wistful stare out the window).
This quote from Scott’s script journal really hit home for me -
If someone asks you to read a script, find out what kind of notes they want before giving them. Sometimes people just want you to say what you like. Sometimes they just want you to tell them about their typos.
This is another problem I’ve struggled with. You have to be straight with the people you’re sending it to. If you legitimately want notes then say that, but if you’ve rewritten the thing ten times and think it’s exactly where it needs to be, and you actually want to see if the person would be willing to send it to their contacts, then you need to be straightforward about that. If you send it to ten different people asking for notes, you’re going to get ten different sets of notes, and if you try and rewrite your project every time you get a new note, it will never be “ready.” It’s a bit uncomfortable to say that you don’t want their opinion, you just want their assistance, but I think to make it in this business you have learn to sometimes have no shame and be willing to swallow your pride and ask people for help.
I wish I could conclude this with a suggestion about how you could make sure you’re receiving as honest feedback as possible, but I’m still figuring that out myself. I’d say, definitely be frank about what you’re looking for, and if you actually want meaningful notes, stress that you don’t want them to pull any punches in their criticism. Also, as I’ve suggested in prior script journals, for those of us still in the pre-manager stage in our career, forming a group with fellow writers to give feedback to one another as we are doing with the Quest can be a lifesaver. It seems that while agents and development people can identify when something doesn’t work, when it comes to giving specific advice about how to improve it, there’s nobody quite like fellow writers.
Yet another reason to embrace workshops. You not only get the benefit of other writers’ input, you also learn how to take notes. That takes practice. Better learn how to take notes now rather than when you’re in a Hollywood producer’s office for the first time!
Tomorrow: Another dispatch from The Quest.
About Brandon: NYC native, fan of all things comedy. I cry every time I watch Big Fish, Forrest Gump and Marley & Me. Don’t judge me. Twitter: @brandandco.