I know I've said this in numerous threads, but seriously it holds water every time...

No one is forcing anyone to read anything here. If you don't like what's out there, don't waste your time reading. If you like it, read more of it. All of the stuff is clearly labeled with who wrote it and what it's about...I'm not seeing where the real beef is.

Example: I will admit that I really don't bother reading articles about who won the last PC or what type of deck they used. Why? Becuase I know that I play strictly casual, and PC related dander-fluff doesn't interest me. As opposed to wasting my time flaming those that read/write about such musings, I go find an article that interests me. It's not exactly rocket therapy, right? :)

Writers don't need "encouragement." If you're a writer, you write. If you're a painter, you paint; if you're a teacher, you teach; if you're a musician, you make music. If somebody saying "you suck" (and I haven't even done such - I've just pointed out, whoa, hobby writing for free or next to free isn't really "good" writing in any realistic sense, and it isn't) makes you stop writing, you weren't a writer to begin with; you were a dilettante.

Yes, because I totally proposed that. Get a freaking grip.

Even if I were inclined to do so - and I'm not, because last I checked "prove self to people you don't care about" isn't on my to-do list - I couldn't.

Script doctoring isn't something you can put on a resume; it's a dirty little secret of the industry and something everybody does (and something, moreover, everybody does in order to earn their stripes and get gigs they can actually point to). Nobody talks - not on the record, anyway - about William Goldman doctoring Good Will Hunting, least of all Goldman, who will deny it when asked and say repeatedly that Affleck and Damon wrote the script, never mind that he took their script (which branches off at the point where Damon's character sends Affleck's character on that job interview and becomes a really bad spy thriller) and made it into a strong character piece. Nobody talks about the fact that Joss Whedon took Graham Yost's script for Speed, changed the villain, changed the end action sequence entirely, and added about fifty good jokes to it. That's just how the business works. (Nobody also talks about how John Rogers' script for Catwoman was butchered into total crap, but he still had to take the blame for the final mess. It goes both ways.)

And I don't mean to equate myself with Whedon or Goldman, being as I am at the "still earning stripes" stage. I'm just saying.

You are just saying you cannot back up your claims. Got it.

Tell me another story?

Great sentiments, but you skipped one. If you're a hater...

Sure.

Once upon a time, there was a whiny, self-absorbed, self-important "beatnik", who contantly complained about people being judgemental "haters", but amazingly never seemed to figure out that he was more judgemental, more spiteful, quicker to insult and quicker to condemn than just about anybody else in his village.

Then, a wolf ate him, and got gas from all the hypocrisy self-contained in said whiner. But one Alka-Seltzer later, the wolf felt better. So that was all right.

A thread that actually clawed its way out of the depths has been dragged back in. Goodbye, thread. We hardly knew you.

Actually, that was more than alright. You are a good writer.

Did I tell you about the script I doctored for Jessica Alba?

She speaks?

I missed the bit where it was a splendiferous supposition of spectacular screenwriting, and it formed a tiny little miracle-node in your synapses where it will remain forever, a piece of biological history encased in your neurons - to say nothing of the vibrant Miss Alba, a glorious actress, one of the greatest of our time or indeed any time, and a beauty unmatched in history going back as far as Cleopatra. Also, you're totally best friends with Alan Moore and were influential in the creation of Promethea!

So, no.

That part is not true. I partied with him once and we talked about magick. He used the prayer that I wrote for my kids in one of the Promethea books.

We are not best friends.

Prove it.

(Actually, don't, because who cares if you did - but I think my general point on that matter is made.)

What kind of degree does it take to become a script doctor? How do you break into the business? Do you work from home?

Quite a lot of me agrees with most of what chdb has said.

The remaining fragment of me is wondering what he thinks of my articles.

Curse you, psyche! Betraying me again...

It doesn't take a degree. It takes contacts and talent. I had the talent pretty much from the get-go. I got my contacts when I went to film school (after I finished university, which, although fun, was ultimately kind of a waste of time for me). I quickly got a rep for being a good writer among the student body, and started doctoring indie short scripts, and it kind of carried over when my film school friends started working at various production houses in their various skill capacities (cinematographers, ADs, casting assistants, et cetera).

I'm currently working on another feature-length screenplay - I've written four thus far and two of them were even reasonably good. (The other two - charitably, I need to go back and do major rewriting. But every writer has one or two bad screenplays in them, so best to get them out of the way first.) The only way you get good as a writer is by writing every day - I can't stress that enough to anybody considering it as a career, because forcing yourself to sit down and write is WORK.

I want a reasonable body of work (a couple of indie films, maybe a TV gig or two) before I approach an agent - agented writers are the ones who get work, but you need work to get an agent. It's the catch-22 of the industry, especially in Canada. Right now, I'm strictly part-time as a writer.

(The Canadian entertainment industry is - problematic, to say the least. There's a lot of anti-creative flow, which is partially Hollywood is a lot more direct about it, which I like, and arguably I could be further along the path if I'd moved to LA by now, but I really love Canada, and I really hate California.)

And yes, a good chunk of my work is done at home (or at a cafe on my laptop). I have, however, done some on-set gigs, where I was brought in to contribute revisions on-the-spot one or two scenes ahead. (This actually happens a lot on major productions, but frankly, it's a waste of money on indie shorts. But if they want to waste money by giving it to me, more power to them.)

Underneath your clothes, there's an endless story.