I’m so over Zoetrope already.  I think it could be a useful tool except that 90% of the people there are either completely touchy or arrogant assholes. Or both. That other 10% is non-vocal and/or driven away by the other assholes. So far, it’s not worth sifting through the shit to get to the good bits.

On the plus side, there was the guy who responded to my really long and not necessarily positive review with this comment: Ashley – your review/remarks warrant a “10” (out of 5) – the most thorough critique – without prejudice – I’ve received on Zoe since 2005. I was surprised because the other responses to thorough critiques, or even any criticism at all has been a defensive reflex. I get that, and I’m the same, but what you feel and what you actually write to another person shouldn’t always be the same thing.

The reviews I’ve gotten so far are, with the exception of the one this guy returned, barely longer than the shortest they can be, 200 words. To give you an idea, mine have been 900-2000 (lots of quoting, to be fair) with thoughts on construction, plotting, and character arcs. The ones I’ve gotten have mostly been notes on grammar or formatting. Not that those are bad notes, but there’s not direction, suggestions, or deep thoughts involved. One of the “reviews” basically was a guy complaining that it wasn’t his idea because he’d do it better.  Well that’s great, but how would you do it better?

And that’s not even talking about the assholes on the discussion board who routinely post things like: I’ve just looked at the scripts available on the Read pages and there wasn’t one Logline that made me want to read a script. It’s a site for up-and-comers, if you want to read professional scripts, you can find ones that got made into movies. You want too act big and mighty, why are you still hanging around a site for amateurs?

At first I found it all offensive and annoying, but now I’m just bored of it. My guess is if you know any writer in real life you’ll get better more thoughtful notes without anyone saying that they are better than you. Writing isn’t a dick measuring contest. If you can’t even be collaborative enough to offer thoughtful notes, write novels. Filmmaking involves other people.