NOTES ON NOTES

One of the toughest things about writing for a living is receiving script or story notes. Ask any writer. 

I delivered a draft of something yesterday, and received an email back assuring me that the producer would turn the notes around quickly. I felt a familiar sinking feeling in the darkest crannies of my gut. I was planning to take today off - I'm at least a week away from notes on my OTHER project right now, so I'd hoped to be able to relax a bit. That's gone out of the window. I find it impossible, knowing that the notes could arrive at any moment.

I've been writing scripts since the late-90s, and while I've built up a relatively thick skin, and don't tend to take notes personally, I still dread them. My natural inclination, the way I tend to write - or want to write - is to figure it out as I go. However, the way it works when you write for a living is you have to adapt to the way your producer - or whoever is giving you notes - works. And that, I think, is what I dread. 

I know I'm impatient. I always want to get on and get to the draft, start writing dialogue and action. However, nailing the story in great detail first tends to be the way that the majority of producers, that I've encountered, work. I think it reassures them, whereas I feel I need only a rough sketch of the plot before I get on and go to script. I tend to trust my experience more than they do. Getting notes feels, for me, like getting a test back after your teacher has marked it, except that your results are going to be - at least to a degree - subjective.

So, I tend to dread notes - the impending arrival of notes - on a story outline particularly, because it feels like I'm treading water. I find I get far less anxious about notes on a script than I do on a story, because by that point I feel like we're moving forwards. 

A caveat to this is that I've also gotten lost in a script when I've gone into it without a detailed road map beforehand. That's rare, however, but it has happened to me a couple of times - and I've ended up rewriting the script almost from scratch. Sometimes when that happens, and I get a lot of notes, I lose confidence in the story - in extreme cases, in my own ability to write.

And at the same time... notes are useful. I can get too close to something, can't see the bigger picture, and sometimes it helps to have a guiding hand to lead the way. Rarely, at least, have I had a script that hasn't been improved by notes. 

There are exceptions; I choose my battles carefully, but I've sometimes dug my heels in. Other times I've disagreed with notes and just gone ahead and implemented them regardless, usually when I don't care enough about a project. Either way, I always accept them with good grace, and act like I'm pleased to get them. That's political though.

What I really can't handle is when I work with somebody who wants to give notes over the phone or in person. I work better from written notes, to have them in front of me. I feel they're less open to interpretation that way, and aren't just a jumble in my head. It's something I have to try and make clear.

Similarly un-useful are notes that are written more like an essay; I just need the bullet-points, not a splurge of text. Trust me to then extrapolate from the headline thoughts. 

The other big anxiety with notes, as I've implied above, is that they can arrive at any time. I'll get a call, or they'll pop up in my inbox, and then I know that whatever I was doing beforehand, or the free time I had - that feeling of satisfaction at having delivered a draft of something - could be curtailed suddenly, and I'll switch back into work mode whether I like it or not.

Every writer writes differently. Every writer approaches writing differently, and has a unique response to notes. But I've yet to encounter a writer who enjoys getting them.

Paul