IF SCRIPT NOTES WERE BRUTALLY HONEST

Every writer knows the feeling. You pour your heart into a scene. The characters are funny, touching and unforgettable. You finish the script convinced it is the perfect episode. Then the script notes arrive. Usually, they are polite and carefully worded, with lines like, “Could we explore this moment further?” or “Maybe we can try a different approach?” Now imagine, just for a moment, if those notes were completely, brutally honest. Instead of “We have no idea what this scene is about,” you might hear, You got lost in your own imagination. Somewhere between the robot dance battle and the talking teapot, the story took a holiday. When you see, “Does this character really need to be in the story?” it might really mean, They add nothing. They are just standing there, eating biscuits, while everyone else moves the plot forward. A polite “We need more emotion here” could become, You wrote a fight between two best friends and it feels like they are arguing about the weather. Give us tears. Give us heartbreak. Make us feel something. Even, “Can the volcano be less polite?” might translate to, You somehow made a natural disaster sound like it was waiting in a queue. This is an eruption, not afternoon tea.

The truth is, script notes, polite or brutal, are a writer’s secret weapon. They might sting for a moment, but they make the story sharper, funnier and stronger. Notes can spot things you missed, like a joke that does not land, a plot that wanders off  or a character who spends the whole scene doing nothing. They give you fresh eyes when yours are tired from staring at the same page. Good notes do not just point out problems, they inspire solutions. They can push you towards a sharper punchline, a more heartfelt moment or a twist you never saw coming. Even the strangest note can lead to unexpected magic. In the end, they are not about tearing your work apart, they are about helping it shine. So, what is the most brutally honest script note you have ever received  or secretly wanted to give?