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02/07/2007: After All, What's Better For Friendship Than a Pop Quiz?


When you've finished a draft of your spec script, you give it to friends to read, right? And then you wait for their reaction, as if you're being tested. Well, you are, kind of. But here's something interesting -- you're also testing your friends.

You're going to need input over your spec-writing career and beyond. Writers often -- almost always -- have friends read drafts before they submit them, even once they've got well-established careers. And they know *which* friends to hand them to because they've paid attention to which ones read carefully, which ones give constructive advice, which ones share their sensibility...

So start paying attention now. If one of your readers likes everything you do, well, that's perfect if what you most need is an ego-boost (which is possible), but it's not great if you really need advice. If another one has confident and specific recommendations but can't answer simple questions about the plot, then maybe they didn't read as carefully as they think they did. Someone else might be good at detecting problems, but might also leave you so demoralized that you lose confidence in your ability to fix them!

If you test your readers a little bit and keep track of them, you not only figure out whose notes work for you, you might even end up with a sort of tool kit of readers: someone who can help you sharpen your jokes, someone else who senses structural problems, and someone else to fluff the ego (it really is important).

Lunch: soup and the "thai crunch salad" from CPK