THE WRONG WAY TO RESPOND TO BRUTALLY HONEST SCRIPT NOTES
Over the past two weeks, I have been exploring the often painful but necessary world of script notes. First, I wrote If Script Notes Were Brutally Honest, a tongue-in-cheek look at what notes might sound like if readers dropped the sugarcoating. Then came How to Respond to Completely Brutally Honest Script Notes, a practical guide on how to take feedback without losing your sanity or your script. Today, let’s talk about the other side of the coin: The Wrong Way to Respond to Brutally Honest Script Notes.
Sometimes, feedback on your script can feel less like constructive advice and more like someone swung a wrecking ball through your creative heart. While your first impulse may be to react emotionally, certain responses will only make matters worse. One of the most common mistakes is to take every note as a personal insult. When someone says, “This scene is boring,” it is easy to translate that as, “You, as a human being, are boring and unworthy.” This guarantees that you will remain offended for days, accomplish nothing and spiral into dramatic inner monologues instead of rewrites. Another misstep is rewriting everything in blind rage. At 2 a.m., you delete the scene entirely, replace it with something that has no connection to the story and hit send with a bitter note. Your editor will not be impressed. Some writers choose combat instead. They turn the feedback session into Law & Order, objecting to every single point until the conversation becomes more about their legal defense skills than the actual script. Others go for avoidance. They delete the email and pretend the notes never existed. Then, of course, there is revenge. You wait for your chance to review someone else’s work and tear them down with your script notes. It may be satisfying in the moment, but it does absolutely nothing to improve your own story. The truth is, these wrong ways only waste time, energy and reputation. The smarter path is to be objective and search for the real message in the feedback.
Have you ever received brutally honest script notes/feedbacks? How did you handle it? Share your experience in the comments.