Now, I’m not one to judge. Who am I kidding? I see or hear someone or something and an opinion shoots through my mind; I make a judgment. For some among us, this trait is called being decisive and knowing what they want. For others, it’s deemed as being judgmental. Tomayto – tomahto. But, having an (informed) opinion is just the skill needed to join the legion of script readers for the Austin Film Festival. What luck! I joined the reading ranks late in the 2023 season when over 11,000 scripts were submitted. It’s a new year with a new festival on the books, so I’m all in from the start for the 2024 reading season.
What does being a script reader entail? Other than reading and evaluating a script for its strengths and weaknesses in a variety of categories such as plot, structure, and character to help reduce the field of contenders? I’m not at liberty to say. I’m also not permitted to read in my category. Damn. And I can’t read the work of friends or acquaintances, so there’s no need to try to woo me with sweet talk and bribes. Double damn!
Who am I to judge? I’m sure we’ve all run across plenty of randos on the street who think we’re all entitled to their opinions. But really, what makes one person’s opinion better than someone else’s? Education, experience, diplomacy, perhaps. And while I have plenty of strong views, when it comes to people’s creative works, I often don’t express them. That would be mean.
Despite being born into the brutal generation that rips everyone to shreds with free abandon, I never responded well to that and I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings; well, most people’s feelings. When it comes to writing or other creative works, I know how much thought, work, and pieces of themselves went into each script. I know that each writer feels that their work is great, the next big hit even. And, I know for some, that many sacrifices have been made to be able to get that story on the page and in front of me or another reader only to be judged and most likely rejected. I know that some writers will be crushed, completely devastated that their work was not chosen to advance. I try to be sensitive to that.
I have to pass on work not yet ready to move forward in the competition, though. But instead of crushing people’s dreams, I hope that my brief feedback helps the writer eventually tell the quality story they imagine, which is also the festival’s goal. Sometimes, though, I read a script where I think that the writer thinks “anyone can write a script” and they waste my time with bad writing, lack of structure and formatting, and frankly, a horrible story concept. Those scripts I want to rip to shreds, really, really badly, but I don’t, I should, but I don’t.
Last season, I was able to read in my own category since I came so late to the program and wasn’t entered. I’m not entered this season either, you know, with all of the reading of other people’s scripts I’m doing. So, why do it at all? With each script read, I learn more about what I don’t like and what doesn’t work in storytelling. I see theories and techniques learned in classes at work, moving a new and intriguing story forward. I read a lot of pieces that need to go back to the drawing board, but also a few that have some great quests, climaxes, and twists to build from. Helping others improve their work in turn helps me. Maybe submitting to a contest, in the end, is a dream catapult, not a crusher.
If you have a story to tell, and think that you can brave the submission process, Austin Film Festival’s early bird deadline for all categories is Mar. 22, 2024, with the regular deadline for the “biggie categories” – screenplays and teleplays on April 19. The cost per submission is $50 - $70. Share your story here: https://austinfilmfestival.com/submit/ !
Almost every festival and contest you can imagine can also be found at www.filmfreeway.com.
And a shout out to my fellow UCLA TFT Professional Program alums from June 2020 – get your scripts in!