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Screenwriters’ hang-ups about being given notes on a draft script can shred their confidence and stifle creativity. But notes are a filmmaking fact of life – even for Oscar-winning writers with decades of experience and scores of films behind them. Rather than live in dread worrying about the feedback, or have a major falling out with the producers, take comfort and prepare yourself for what’s coming. This article shows you steps you can take now to minimise the negatives and accentuate the positives. And it’s not just about being thick skinned...
First of all, there are some things you just need to accept. It’s human nature not to like criticism. And unless every note is just an endorsement of what you have written (which must mean you are entirely in tune with the producer, director and market research) then there will be things that need changing. With that is an implied criticism.
Only you can choose how to react, but by being aware that this is going to be the case you can moderate your reaction. Go ahead and let yourself feel some disappointment when you get that first feedback on a script. It’s fine to feel bad for a day or two, but don’t let it linger or turn into self-pity.
First Things First
You should do what you can to try and minimise those niggly comments by letting the producer or director see the best possible version of the script.
Have you been truly self-critical and rewritten the screenplay where necessary, and then looked at it again? And rewritten it again? And again?
Are you happy that the story works, that the salient plot points are there, that there are no loose ends, or non-sequiturs?
Does the dialogue work? Have you read every line out loud without gasping for breath or tripping over the words, or wincing?
Have you proof read it, checked it for errors – from spellings to names to directions?
Even with all that, you’re going to get notes. What else can you do to prepare?
Firstly, most importantly, accept that screenwriting is part of a business. Producers and directors are not going to be critical just for the sake of it. They’re investing time and, more importantly for the producer, money. Everyone involved will want to make sure that when filming starts, the best possible sets of circumstances have come together to maximise the chances of success.
Your screenplay is a vital part - but so are the actors, the technicians, the people behind the scenes, and the rest of the conflated industry. The whims of the audience’s likes and dislikes will also play a part. So be prepared for some suggested changes which could come out of left field, and accept that the comments are based on the producers’ experience, and yes, quite often commercial pressures. (“Hmm, that scene where you have the honeymooners strolling along the beach in Hawaii. Can’t you just write ‘her mom gets a postcard with pineapples on it’?”)
One strategy you can try is to tell the person who will be giving you your notes that you would prefer to have the notes sent to you in writing before any meeting. While it’s always nice to have a trip to Hollywood or the BBC at the production company’s expense, having notes given to you face to face in a meeting without any preparation time has a lot of disadvantages, particularly for you.
If you go in cold, you’re laying yourself open to being ambushed. You can be put on the back foot from the first words of criticism, as this is the first time you will have something to react to. That sense of disappointment will kick in and you may get flustered trying to justify something which in the grand scheme of things is relatively minor, but which can then overshadow the rest of the meeting.
As you argue on this point, and become more and more defensive and possibly angry or angrier, when it comes to a hugely important plot point they want to change and you know must stay, you will have lost all bargaining tools. The production team will see you as being completely unreasonable, as someone they can’t work with and will not be prepared to accommodate your views elsewhere. That’s bad for this project, and it’s bad for future projects.
You may also be outnumbered. You can get people in the meeting who haven’t talked to each other, and have just come in with their own sheaf of notes. Basic etiquette usually means that most people are allowed to voice at least some of those notes, so you can find yourself listening to four different versions of where your script should be heading.
If you’ve had the notes in writing in advance, you’ve therefore got several advantages.
Advantages
First of all, that initial disappointment (remember, you know it is going to happen) can, if necessary, be allowed time to rage up into anger and then dissipate again. This means that when you do meet face to face, you can be cool, calm and eminently reasonable.
Well at least outwardly.
You should read the notes as soon as you are sent them, and then let those controlled negative emotions work their course.
Return to the notes after a couple of days and instead of seeing just one long list of perceived faults, you may actually find that a large part are supportive, and that many are changes that you don’t have a problem with. There will be still a few that rankle or are completely outrageous from your perspective, but now your energies can be focused on these points when you meet the producer, in what will be a much more constructive negotiation.
Another advantage for you to have written notes means that the people giving the notes will have had to consider what they really think and what they mean before putting their comments down on paper. It helps them filter out their more loosely associated ideas, and focus on what matters.
Another aspect is to ask for the written notes to be channelled through one person. It would be great if the producer can do this, but certainly the closer to the producer the better. If there are going to be a number of executives all giving their feedback, have one person collate and edit the notes. This is much better than you receiving a pile of repetitive or vastly disparate comments in various formats, and not necessarily at the same time, which you then have to wade through line by line.
Having one person go through the notes will let the sensible/reasoned comments get through and the off-the-wall comments that lack a consensus will be weeded out. If it is the producer who sends over the collated notes, then that will one a fair summation of the cross section of views, with the producer’s seal of approval. At least on what they are thinking at this stage.
You may think, though, that the weight behind these notes will mean anything negative will hurt even more. Well it could, if you let it, but it will also mean that they could have a point. If a dozen executives all say the same thing needs changing, it probably does. That doesn’t mean that the execs will always have the solution, but it does flag up a weakness, which you will want to sort out. And by having the notes in advance, you will have time to think of that solution, and even write it before the meeting.
Should there be a consensus that something needs removing, but you have clear reasons why it shouldn’t, then get your evidence ready to support your counterargument.
More than one writer will tell you that they have experienced a line or a scene being cut with the excuse that the same information has appeared somewhere else in the screenplay. But as you know, the concentration of the viewing public is not what it was.
People go to the toilet, or go out to make a cup of tea, they have to answer the phone or have this desire to SMS all their friends to tell them what they are watching. It’s called community. Or they may be having problems understanding the mumbling Brando wannabe on the screen.
Whatever the manners of the audience, it’s quite normal for people to need the same information more than once before they understand and remember it. If you are given one bit of compelling information, you will need a bit of time to get your head round it before being hit with another new piece of intrigue.
This has implications for how you pace the screenplay. It also means that what to you, the director and the producer is apparent because a character clearly states something once, and you have read the script so know this fact, the same fact will not necessarily have registered with the audience.
So hold out for your screenplay to include as much information as the audience will need, and not the producer. You will have made sure any essential parts of the story are relayed to the audience more than once for a reason. It is not a case of laying it on thick with a trowel, but is a case of having clarity and of taking the audience with you.
Unfortunately, your producers may see that reinforcing scene as just duplication of what went on before, so they may want to cut it out.
If you can argue that the line or the scene is necessary, because it not only reinforces a point but also develops the plot or the characters then you stand more chance of the line or scene staying in. And having the notes sent in advance means you can prepare your response and argue the case at the meeting calmly and rationally. This is so much better than having to bluster your way through after being put on the spot.
That said, you do not have licence to go off in a reverie if it is not justified. It may be fine in a novel, where a few pages here or there makes little difference to the profitability of a $15 book. But on screen, an extra minute here, an extra minute there starts to put pressure on the budget. If you don’t make the cuts at this drafting stage, there is a chance the whole project could stall. And after so long in the writing, that’s the last thing you want.
There is also the problem of familiarity. While the screenplay is fairly young in its production lifecycle, the people working on it will still find the humour funny and the sad scenes moving. But as the development process wears on, and the producers become more and more familiar with the script after more rewrites and more notes sessions, the humour may wane and the tragedy seem just plain dull. (“Is it me or does Ophelia’s death just drag a little? Do we really need Queen Gertrude droning on?”)
As a writer, your task will be to remind the producers that rather than cut the line or scene, they should remember how they first reacted to it. And that is how the audience are likely to respond because they will have no prior knowledge. Not so for the producer who after all the rewrites may be excused for the script seeming a little over-familiar. Ultimately, you are writing for the public, not the production team.
Another common problem is that the executives will think there are rules. There are no rules in screenplays, other than there should be a beginning, a middle, and an end.
So while the filmmaking courses and manuals will give plenty of advice and tips on how successful movies and TV drama have been made, that is only best practice rather than rules that strictly must be followed. Should a note say that you can’t have a voice over, or you can’t start with a flashback, be prepared to argue why this divergence away from the established path of filmmaking just might be better than the tried and tested.
So ask for written, collated notes a few days in advance of the meeting. That still doesn’t rule out the need for you to speak to the production company but it allows time for preparation for a proper discussion.
There is one problem, though, that of getting there.
Notes By Phone
If you are based in London or Australia and the production company is in LA or Mumbai, a face-to-face meeting is going to be difficult to arrange. Instead, you will have to talk over the phone. And that can present its own problems which you can anticipate
Again, try and be in the best possible mental position for this, by asking for the call when you are most alert. Rather than have to get up at three in the morning so you can talk to the Coast before the studio leaves for the day, see if you can work it at a time mutually convenient for you both.
Check on the internet (eg http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/) for their time zone, and don’t forget daylight saving or Summer Time if they are in the other hemisphere.
Once the time for the phone call is agreed, check how many people will be on the line. Conference calls are great in theory, but the more people that come on the line, the more difficult it may be to hear what is being said, or work out by whom. If several people are phoning into the conference call, they may also be coming and going, as they leave to take another call.
There may also be an awkward time delay, especially if you are on the other side of the world. Don’t be put off, but try and make your notes as the conversation goes on.
One final thing. Always, always, ask that someone in the room types up a summary of what was discussed and what was agreed, so that you can clarify in your own mind what your next tasks will be.
So there you are. A brief guide to how to avoid the mental anguish associated with the notes process, without having to metamorphose into a thick-skinned rhinoceros. Notes are just part of the process. If you can work with the producer and director in a constructive way, then you will all benefit – and the viewing audience will rate your work so much more highly.
You’ll even relish the call from the production company which begins: “Great screenplay. We love it. We can go straight into production. BUT ... there’s just a couple of little things that need changing …”
If you have any tips you want to share on dealing with the notes process, send them in to
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with a subject of 'The Notes Monster'.
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