I’ve used three readers in the past for two of my previous scripts and I feel like their feedback was a mixed bag… on the one hand, you want a reader to be very critical of your work and point out ways to improve it while on the other hand you need encouragement that what you’ve written wasn’t a waste of time and that the overall story entertained them. In terms of the second hand, getting the encouragement to re-write, I’d say one out of the three of my previous readers accomplished that. The other two offered no encouragement at all and seemed to relish telling me that I was a hack with a long way to go.

As I waited for my scheduled time to call Jamie and take my medicine regarding “Produced By Jimmy Wade”, I was a nervous wreck. Based on this up-coming phone call, I could be in for a six month page one re-write or, less likely, he could have loved it and just a polish was in order. Luckily, Jamie’s criticism was somewhere in between but leaned more towards the polish than the page one re-write… phew.

Now, where does that leave me? There were a couple of things Jamie said that stuck out. First, once I informed him that I was conscientious about wanting to keep the rating of the film “PG-13”, Jamie said that he felt that I was holding back and that this story is for adults or teenagers entering adulthood so I shouldn’t hold back and make it an “R” rating… pull back later if I need to. This is the right way to go, it just took someone saying that for me to realize.

Secondly, Jamie wanted me to infuse many more specifics in the story. His point was that the audience relates to stories through the specifics… infuse the script with more of “me” in it, the specifics, and they’ll be along for the ride.

Thirdly, Jamie felt that more of the theme, the thin line between passion and addiction, could be added throughout the entire piece to give it more cohesion from start to finish. I knew this was my theme from the beginning but Jamie showed me spots in the story where I could add more of it.

Lastly, Jamie was very encouraging about the story and my writing ability… double phew. He also felt that my knowledge about the music recording industry and singing in general held the story together while keeping it interesting for someone not familiar with that world… Note to self, don’t lose that in the re-write.

Giving me this encouragement last, after spending over two hours on the phone, is the tact that readers, directors and producers need to have when dealing with “sensitive artists”, always begin and end criticism with “the good”… thanks Jamie.

So far, the work is going well. A lot of new ideas have been born and I’m excited to see where the next draft ends up… hopefully in a couple weeks. I’ll report back and let you know how it’s going but in the mean time, you can click here and here for more on the art of re-writing. EB