From the Other Side of the Desk - A Development Exec Comes Clean

When No Means No
by Frederick Levy

You get the call. You re very excited. A few days later, the release form arrives in the mail and although you don’t understand most of the legal mumbo jumbo, you hastily sign it and send it back with a copy of your screenplay. Weeks go by and you finally decide to brave it and pick up the phone to follow up. Your call probably is not taken but in the off chance you happen to call when the assistant is at lunch, and the executive happens to pick up the phone because he’s afraid he might miss someone really important, you may finally get some real feedback on your script.

"It’s a pass," he says as your hopes and dreams crumble before you like static interference eating up a call that s transmitted via cell phone.

"Can you tell me why?" you ask.

A long pause followed by some scrambling and shuffling papers on the desk. Finally, he says, "It was very predictable. I didn’t really get to know the characters well enough. I didn’t buy the relationship. And it just needed that extra twist at the end to really push it home."

You scribble furiously, not wanting to miss one note. After all, you think, if you can just follow these instructions down to the "T", you’ll be able to send it back in and sell your movie.

WRONG.

Executives have a hard time saying NO. As such, their passing techniques can sometimes be more detrimental than helpful.

Let s face it, the executive on the other line probably didn’t even read your script. His evaluation is being derived strictly from what he can gleam from the coverage report in his hands as he struggles for reasons to pass. Even if he did read the script, he may not want to give you the brutal, but honest feedback you rightfully deserve. After all, it’s much easier to feign helpful and kind, than be negatively truthful.

What does this mean for you, the writer, whose thirst for feedback from a Hollywood exec is an essential part of your advancement in the craft?

Take these notes with a grain of salt.

Until you have a genuine relationship with a development exec whom you learn to trust, and whose taste you admire, don’t reconstruct your screenplay from every whim you hear. Contemplate these ideas. Sometimes there will be something that’s valid. Discuss them with others you do trust and get their feedback on what was said.

The unfortunate reality is that even if you do integrate the exec’s ideas into your screenplay, he’s not going to give it a second look. And unless you honestly feel these ideas improve your story, no one else is going to think the rewrite is any better than the first.

Let them pass, if they will. If they offer feedback without urging, take notes. But if you press them, the feedback you get, may not be the most helpful solution to your screenwriting woes.

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