First Spec Script Deja Vu
So a friend of mine asked me to read someone's animated spec script. The script wasn't bad. I sent it back with some thoughts and some suggestions to improve it, but it wasn't a bad outing and definitely shows signs of some good writing chops.
Which reminded me of years ago and the animated spec script that I wrote to get my foot in the door. I wrote a Jackie Chan Adventures spec, entitled "Phone Tag". In it, Jackie and family discover a cursed statue - but before an evil billionaire computer tycoon can get his hands on it and its power, the curse is accidentally spread to Tohru. Sounds good, huh? This was the script that was my main sample script and it got me my first two writing gigs.
After reading this other spec script, I was curious to see how my Jackie Chan script stood up over the years. After all, it was the script that helped launch my writing career. So I dug out my old script to read what I'd written and bask in the nostalgia of my great writing in its earliest stages. In its raw form. In all its glory.
Kill me.
It was awful. No one likes to think of themselves as ever having been a total incompetent NOOB at anything - but the indisputable proof was staring me in the face. I'm not exaggerating - this script was really terrible. A really weak B story, WAY too much talky dialogue, mediocre action set pieces, structural decisions that looked like they were made completely at random with no rhyme or reason. Deranged madmen after a 24 hour Cocoa Puffs-bender would make more sense than my script did. And there were jokes that I must've thought were HILARIOUS at one point - but they were just sad and pathetic now. I cried "oh no" with every turn of the page.
I suppose the best way to look at this script would be to smile, remark on how far I've come, and let my old script be a reminder never to be too judgmental and never to buy into my own hype. The worst way to look at it is to let this old script eat away at my confidence until I'm curled up in the fetal position under my desk sucking my thumb and wondering when the smart people will realize I'm untalented. Seeing as I don't know when was the last time I cleaned under my desk (or my thumb, for that matter), I think I'll just laugh at my old script and know that I've got better scripts ahead of me.
Oh man, I hope I've got better scripts ahead of me. On an unrelated note, I've got a roaring fire in the fireplace right now. Sure it's 99 degrees outside, but I have some, um, things that need burning. BURN SCRIPTS, BURN!
Which reminded me of years ago and the animated spec script that I wrote to get my foot in the door. I wrote a Jackie Chan Adventures spec, entitled "Phone Tag". In it, Jackie and family discover a cursed statue - but before an evil billionaire computer tycoon can get his hands on it and its power, the curse is accidentally spread to Tohru. Sounds good, huh? This was the script that was my main sample script and it got me my first two writing gigs.
After reading this other spec script, I was curious to see how my Jackie Chan script stood up over the years. After all, it was the script that helped launch my writing career. So I dug out my old script to read what I'd written and bask in the nostalgia of my great writing in its earliest stages. In its raw form. In all its glory.
Kill me.
It was awful. No one likes to think of themselves as ever having been a total incompetent NOOB at anything - but the indisputable proof was staring me in the face. I'm not exaggerating - this script was really terrible. A really weak B story, WAY too much talky dialogue, mediocre action set pieces, structural decisions that looked like they were made completely at random with no rhyme or reason. Deranged madmen after a 24 hour Cocoa Puffs-bender would make more sense than my script did. And there were jokes that I must've thought were HILARIOUS at one point - but they were just sad and pathetic now. I cried "oh no" with every turn of the page.
I suppose the best way to look at this script would be to smile, remark on how far I've come, and let my old script be a reminder never to be too judgmental and never to buy into my own hype. The worst way to look at it is to let this old script eat away at my confidence until I'm curled up in the fetal position under my desk sucking my thumb and wondering when the smart people will realize I'm untalented. Seeing as I don't know when was the last time I cleaned under my desk (or my thumb, for that matter), I think I'll just laugh at my old script and know that I've got better scripts ahead of me.
Oh man, I hope I've got better scripts ahead of me. On an unrelated note, I've got a roaring fire in the fireplace right now. Sure it's 99 degrees outside, but I have some, um, things that need burning. BURN SCRIPTS, BURN!
posted by Eugene at 8:10 PM
3 Comments:
Ha! I have heard every single writer I know express that same sentiment (yours truly oh-so-very included!). Maybe we should have an Enron party. I'll bring the shredder. :)
I feel that way about all your scripts if that makes you feel better.
I just tried to play single player civ. Man, it's too boring.
At least now when you read your old first spec script, you realize and are able to point out its problems. I would only worry about your future as a writer if you had read your old first spec script now and thought it was perfect. That's growth, baybee! :D
Post a Comment
<< Home