British Comedy Guide

Critique as s&m Page 2

Well bugger me I had always misread it as croquet. Which is why I always took a mallet to any scripts posted.

Quote: James Williams @ February 5, 2008, 9:34 PM

I'm not being censorious but your endorsement of poor critique is absurd.

If you want proper crit pay for a qualified script reader. This is a free website and so services like the crit forum should be treated as such.

I'm beginning to get all Jerfstalgic.

Quote: Gavin @ February 5, 2008, 9:44 PM

If you want proper crit pay for a qualified script reader. This is a free website and so services like the crit forum should be treated as such.

I'm not being censorious.
People are of course free to post what they like and everyone else should be grateful for it.

But endorsement of poor critique is absurd.
To say writers don't have a right to ask for actual critique in a critique forum is absurd. If people are capable and have the time it's nice for them to make actual critique and shouldn't be offended if they are asked to expand. In fact it's a compliment. And I don't think lazy crit should be seen as "what one should always post in the best of all possible worlds".

James I dont understand what you are getting at?

Quote: James Williams @ February 5, 2008, 9:48 PM

I'm not being censorious.
People are of course free to post what they like and everyone else should be grateful for it.

But endorsement of poor critique is absurd.
To say writers don't have a right to ask for actual critique in a critique forum is absurd. If people are capable and have the time it's nice for them to make actual critique and shouldn't be offended if they are asked to expand. In fact it's a compliment. And I don't think lazy crit should be seen as "what one should always post in the best of all possible worlds".

ARGH!! Aaron, Aaron, Aaron! (and possibly Mark) Why when you were making this forum did you not consider all this!? you silly twats! We should change Critique to: "Various Opinions and err Random Views Forum".

Don't worry James I'm on it!

Quote: James Williams @ February 5, 2008, 9:48 PM

I'm not being censorious.
People are of course free to post what they like and everyone else should be grateful for it.

But endorsement of poor critique is absurd.
To say writers don't have a right to ask for actual critique in a critique forum is absurd. If people are capable and have the time it's nice for them to make actual critique and shouldn't be offended if they are asked to expand. In fact it's a compliment. And I don't think lazy crit should be seen as "what one should always post in the best of all possible worlds".

If people want to enter into deep discussion about a piece, then they will. But if they just want to say "Urgh, that's shite", then that's equally acceptable and they're equally able to. It might not be quite as helpful to the writer in the same way, but it doesn't devalue the opinion of a scene just because it's to the point and not utilising extraneous verbiage.

James, all i can say is that if you're after certain things then you should state that as you are posting your work. Maybe something along the lines of 'Could any posters please expalian the reasoning for their opinion so as to help me understand/make changes to the piece.' It may help users decide if they want to take the time to critique your work.

Thats a good idea AJP, that way everyone knows what to expect.

As I said, it does not devalue the opinion but it does devalue the opinion's use to the writer. Writers need to know in what way something is wrong in order to fix it.

As I say, I'd generally expect a little backing-up by posters. Of course, as I say again, noone is obliged to. It would be nice though. And I see no harm in asking for critique on the critique area!! I'm puzzled by how wound up people are getting over this.

But to say that an unbacked-up opinion has the same value to the writer as a critique citing just one small 5-seconds-to-type example as an illustration (for instance) is plain wrong.

I assume, of course, that the critique section is there primarily for the benefit of the writer.

Quote: ajp29 @ February 5, 2008, 10:01 PM

James, all i can say is that if you're after certain things then you should state that as you are posting your work. Maybe something along the lines of 'Could any posters please expalian the reasoning for their opinion so as to help me understand/make changes to the piece.' It may help users decide if they want to take the time to critique your work.

Fair enough.

I guess people have different ideas what is expected.

As I said, forgive me. I'm not trying to be "funny"
('You never are', I hear everyone say!)

You never ar... oh wait.

, Marc Blake is only £75.
[/quote]

And for £85 he'll read your script as well, arf ! arf !

Incidentally I think £75 is a f**kload of money to spend. How much does that work out to per hour? Can't take more than 2 hours to read through and crit a script. Nice little sideline for someone with apparently no screen credentials. I have enough friends whose opinion I respect and who I trust enough to give honest feedback without wishing, at this juncture, to fork out nearly £100!

I will do it for a fiver. I am eating wall & sofa here!

Actually, I may have been a bit snappy about Mr Blake. For all I know he could be a comedy genius. I seem to recall that he said he'd "sold" a few scripts and everyone seems happy with the service.

I suppose noone's forcing anyone to use the service either.

£75 just seems a lot of money to me right now. *Sobs into moth-eaten eiderdown*

Share this page