BenPaddon.co.uk

People seem to be naturally aversed to putting themselves out there to take criticism. Wait, let me rephrase that: I seem to be naturally aversed to putting myself out there to take criticism. It’s probably out of fear of someone saying, “It’s crap.” I’m also not fond of people saying to me “Here’s what you’re doing wrong…” because generally people do this in an incredibly negative manner.

Hats off to Michelle, then, for being brutally honest and somehow managing to sound positive while doing it. In an email, no less. Emails almost always come across as negative.

I learnt a fair bit about screenwriting when I took Media Studies in College, and everything else I learnt by just sitting down, reading every script I could get my hands on, and trying my best to absorb . This was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek scriptbooks when i was a little younger, but thanks to the Intertron scripts for other things* have become available to me. Which is great.

Unfortunately I’ve picked up some bad habits over the past two years of writing Jump Leads in a screenplay format. I can be too descriptive at times, a side-effect of trying to ensure that JjAR knows exactly what I’m aiming for with the aesthetic of a scene or how a line of dialogue should be delivered. I didn’t even realise this had crept into my general writing until Michelle pointed it out.

At the recommendation of a few of my Twitter buddies I’ve invested in a couple of screenwriting technique books - “Save The Cat!” and “Making a Good Script Great”. The latter book looks a little suspect to me - I’ve a natural aversion to titles of that formula - but it comes recommended so I am at least willing to give it a chance. Michelle and David are also going to let me borrow a few books, which is exceedingly nice of them. When the world is mine, their deaths will be swift and painless.

Right, now back to the monotony of the Eight-to-Five Grind.

 

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* Aside: The forth Indiana Jones movie was great. “Was” as in “previously” or “used to be”. You should have a digabout for the script for Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods. If that script hadn’t been vetoed by Lucas we could have had a film which may potentially have surpassed Raiders of the Lost Ark as the best film in the series.