Open Forum Friday: Are Script Review Sites Good or Bad?
Well it’s been an interesting week for screenwriting news. The 2009 Black List was just unveiled today, which is the list of top unproduced screenplays currently floating around Hollywood. This “underground” compilation of rankings was started by Universal exec Franklin Leonard a few years ago in order to draw attention to some of the great scripts that deserve a chance at getting made into movies. (Strangely, some of the top picks this year are already currently in production, so I’m not sure how they can still be considered “unproduced”.)
This comes hot on the heels of a recent blog post from screenwriter John August (Charlie’s Angels, Big Fish, The Nines) in which he criticizes script review websites such as ScriptShadow, who post opinions on leaked screenplays before the movies are ever produced. August believes that these sites hurt screenwriters more than they help, because they spoil plot elements, pass judgment on projects that are still in their infancy, and also cause studios to place restrictions on who screenwriters are allowed to share their scripts with. To play devil’s advocate though, don’t a lot of writers also benefit from positive buzz on these sites?
Justin Marks became a hot commodity last year thanks to many of his unproduced scripts such as Voltron, He-Man and Super Max. However, if he were to be judged solely on his scripts that have made it to the screen, well you’d just be looking at Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Glowing reviews for Aaron Sorkin’s script for the Facebook movie The Social Network also changed a lot of people’s opinions on an upcoming project that initially sounded pretty lame. So what do you think? Do you enjoy reading script reviews for movies that are currently in development? Should this kind of information be available to the general public, or should it only happen behind closed doors? Are script review sites good or bad for the movie industry in general? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.
Comments (13)
Hey, if people want to read the movie instead of watching it, then fine by me. I’ll just stick to watching it though, thank you.
Posted by Kasper on December 11th, 2009I guess there are spoilers that come out as a result of leaked scripts, but it seems that the only time it has a real effect is if the script is bad in some way. So if bad scripts don’t get made, I can’t see the harm.
Posted by Brendan on December 11th, 2009And about scripts that are supposedly being harshly judged that are still “in their infancy,” doesn’t that happen anyway? If the scriptwriters are that concerned about who sees their early script, they do have some control over that. So why shouldn’t a studio place restrictions on who the screenwriter can show the script to? Isn’t that part of the price of getting a script made?
i guess the problem that I have with it is the “Leaked scripts” aspect. The writer simply has no control over which script, or in what state of development it might have been in when it goes out there. If they want to critique scripts of films that have been produced then ok fair game. You put it out there and put your name on it. but a leaked script is like sneaking into an artists studio and reviewing unfinished paintings.
Posted by xego on December 11th, 2009hmmmm … I guess the moviemaking process is becoming very “transparent” these days. I guess in all things if it’s what the writer wants then that’s cool. In the end will it come down to a choose your own adventure piece meal movie watching experience as Michael Bay streams Transformers VI: The Search for Gobots into your net terminal and you can decide what color the robits should be and if Shia should bang the blonde or the brunette?
Posted by Ian on December 12th, 2009I’ve got no problem with them, I just don’t read ‘em.
One of my roommates in college used to read the scripts for every movie he was looking forward to before they came out. Why someone would want to do that is beyond me. I have enough trouble deciding whether to read a book before I see the film adapted from it.
Posted by Rian on December 12th, 2009I actually didn’t know about script review sites up until now, lol.
My answer: Who cares!? If many people argue and get angry at unagreed reviews at the movie itself, because of the diversity, it certainly must be bigger with script reviews. If people like them, they can read them. If not, then they can just ignore it.
Posted by aspioaokassodsøkasdkøl on December 12th, 2009It says that i can leave an answer blank if i havn’t seen any of the movies in the question, but when i answer it says that i can’t answer because i have left one or more blank. What do i do?
Posted by aspioaokassodsøkasdkøl on December 12th, 2009yeah i don’t read them, i guess if people do, then keep them going
Posted by mitch on December 12th, 2009The question isn’t so much whether or not the average person wants script review sites to stick around, because yeah, if they want to spoil a movie for themselves that’s kind of their own problem.
But if you read John August’s article, he goes into detail about how these sites hurt screenwriters. I guess there’s also the intellectual property issue as well.
Posted by Sean on December 12th, 2009Never really been that interested in script reviews due to the fact that in the readers/reviewers vision of the script will not be the filmmakers. I don’t read them as i don’t like spoilers plus what I think of the script could differ vastly from the people actually making the film.
Posted by Byron on December 13th, 2009I like to read scripts, only after seeing the movie. I like sites like SimplyScripts for older scripts. It’s cool to see the stuff that was changed. I recommend taking a peek at the original Breakfast Club script.
Posted by Jersey Json on December 13th, 2009Bad
Posted by doug nagy on December 13th, 2009I think if people want to read leaked scripts and spoil the movie for themselves that’s there choice. I’ve never read a leaked script (partially because i’m lazy and illiterate) but I used to trade a lot of scripts with users on Imdb, it was kinda fun.
But yeah, I guess if this is hurting screenwriters that is something to think about, i’m sort of an aspiring screenwriter/filmmaker myself so I wouldn’t want to think that i’m hurting something I love.
Posted by Drew on December 14th, 2009Leave a Reply