I’ve seen a lot of talk recently about paying for notes vs. not paying for notes. Teaching yourself vs. going to school.

Here’s my thoughts:
(a thread in infinite parts)

Yes, you can teach yourself screenwriting. I did. I co-wrote & co-directed an indie feature right out of the gate.

It was total crap.

It will never be on my IMDB.

But I learned a lot. It’s also what made me fall in love with screenwriting.

I got as far as I could in screenwriting on my own, & I knew I needed to get more of an education to go farther. I was living in North Pole, Alaska. There were no local screenwriting groups. Even if there were, I wasn’t leaving the house in the winter.

I paid for the Professional Program in Screenwriting at UCLA online (about $3300 for the year). Not bad for a grad-level class.

One of those screenplays was optioned. Yay! I learned something!

The other screenplay will never see the light of day. It still taught me something.

I’ve paid for $60 notes from a produced studio reader when I need an outside opinion on why a script isn’t working. I don’t mind sixty bucks. That’s like treating my reader to dinner & having him tell me what’s wrong with the script.

What I won’t do is pay someone’s car payment to tell me I’m great (or awful), then have them try to coach me through a rewrite for the price of a mortgage. That’s ludicrous.

Stop.

Stop doing this.

Stop it.

The harsh reality of it is, we don’t all live in LA. We aren’t all surrounded by supportive, in-person writers groups who rip your script apart when it needs it... or lift you up when your script is ready to see the world.

Some of us live in Podunk.

Notes are a necessary evil. You need notes from people in order to figure out how to fix your script. This is where your online community comes in. You can get all kinds of free notes from your peers online.

Learning the give-and-take of free notes is a part of the process. But you need people with perspective. “I liked it” isn’t a helpful note. Make sure you have a few people in the mix who write just a little better than you do.

The problem is, those really awesome friends who write a little better & read for free are inching up that screenwriting ladder slightly ahead of you. They’re taking assignments & building their careers. One day, they’re going to be too busy to read your stuff.

Which, admittedly, is a good problem to have.

But readers can be found anywhere. Do you have a friend with a knack for it? Does your best buddy watch every horror movie imaginable and you’re writing a horror script?

One of our friends *loves* Hallmark movies, and she reads all of our romcom pitches & scripts for free. She can’t always tell if something’s formatted wrong, but she can tell which pitches/scripts work, which don’t, and why.

She’s amazing.

She’s also an accountant.

But I don’t always write romcoms. Sometimes I write horror. Sometimes sci-fi. My accountant friend from high school might not be as helpful there.

Back to free notes.

But you never know when you’re getting back your free notes. It could be today, it could be next week, if ever.

I have a close network of people who give me free notes. I love them, & they’re amazing. They’re also busy.

I often write on deadlines. Nine times out of ten, my $60-note reader can get me notes the same day. His time is money, my time is money.

I don’t use our pro reader all the time. Maybe twice last year?

But, my paid reader gave my an awesome note on a screenplay. My script wasn’t working because of my protagonist’s dramatic need.

That one note made all the difference.

He nailed the problem where my free-note friends could not. And he did it in a matter of hours.

It took three more drafts to get the script where Mark & I wanted it, but it was worth it. That script is now in preproduction with a great director and a brilliant production team.

So yeah, I pay for notes.

Should you go broke pursuing screenwriting, giving all your money to readers and contests?

No.

Should you move to LA & live out of your car to be closer to the scene?

Absolutely not.

But there’s nothing wrong with paying for notes (on the cheap) if it gets you on the right track. You’re educating yourself on how to get better. No education is ever wasted. As long as you take it to heart.

However you get your notes, learn from them. If your reader tells you that you have formatting errors or you’re using passive voice, figure out what that all means and fix it.

It’s the only way you’re going to get better. And you want to get better, right?

Don’t repeat the same mistake in the next drafts. Otherwise, you’re wasting everyone’s time & energy. And if you’re paying for it, you’re wasting your money.

Yes, absolutely get all the free notes you can. But if you find yourself stagnating, if everyone tells you “I liked it” but your script isn’t opening doors, you have a disconnect.

You need that second opinion.

Even if that means paying for it.