I Wish All Of My Negative Reviews Read Like This...

Date: 2/16/2013

This is a review of my latest screenplay, And Then Something Happened, from a reader at Zoetrope.com. At least I think it's a negative review. He says it's not for him, but... You decide.

Hi Matt,

I don't know where this was inspired, but it's a very unique and ambitious screenplay. It reminds me of "Funky Forest" and "Taste of Tea" if you've ever seen those films. It was strange, bizarre, and honestly over my head. I didn't understand the "battle for the present" that you stated in your logline, but I did enjoy very much seeing how you weaved all the chapters together with a continuous feel. The screenplay itself felt very much stream-of-consciousness.

I went into reading your script expecting a Back to the Future style story and kept waiting for the script to jump on a linear path. In the end, I felt a little duped by your logline, and maybe it's just my expectation that I would be reading a screenplay with a conventional story. But you did write your logline in a very straightforward way, so think about changing your logline to reflect the structure of your screenplay so you will attract the right readers to it.

In the end, I thought that there were some interesting ideas and fun moments, but it wasn't cohesive to me as a movie. This is a work of art, an artistic expression, and should you ever get it made I expect it would become a midnight movie with cult status. This is not mainstream, not even in an indie way. This is something so completely off the wall I can't categorize it.

And for that reason, I find it hard to give you feedback. I'm not sure what standard I should be holding it against. It breaks the mold in so many ways, I wouldn't want to point them out.

Instead, I'll open this up to a dialogue. You tell me what you're trying to achieve, or send me a specific question and I can answer it.

Thanks for the opportunity to read your script. It wasn't for me, but I applaud you for making something so differently awesome that I can't help but be in awe of its originality.