Now I'm wondering how long 'til the point of no return. When is it no longer possible, and Hollywood is simply telling you to take a job at the post office.

Which I can't get either :)

Batman, there is the rub. I'm reminded of that quote from writer Dennis Foley: "Hollywood is the only town where you cannot fail. You can only quit trying."

Hey Scott! I've been pondering over one of my scripts regarding this very issue and am very grateful you do reposts on twitter. I was wondering if you'd have any advice for me and other readers like me in this particular situation. You see, I submitted a script on the blacklist site in January and received two really solid 7's. The readers both seemed to gel with my story and had a feel for my vision and stated that with a few tweaks, the script would have a strong standing among the adventure fantasy genre, most likely as an animated feature. I made revisions based off the feedback, hoping for a better score and to enter it into the Disney partnership and received a 5 and a 6. The latter two readers were significantly less enchanted and weren't able to connect with certain characters and parts of the plot. The critiques were sweeping generalizations so I'm finding it really difficult getting into their heads to try and remedy the problems they saw without calling every single thing into question. These recent critiques have really caused me to question whether the work is actually weak structurally or whether the readers didn't prefer the way the story was told. And I'm finding that I just don't know. I've used a wonderful script reader several times to get the story to where it is now and the feedback among my writing peers is pretty strong. So I'm just not sure if everyone is giving me lip service and my screenplay is actually nowhere near being ready, or if I just need to put the work in front of someone who has a taste for the particular story I'm trying to tell. I know it's difficult to give much advice not having any knowledge of the script and based off of what little information I just gave you, but do you have any general advice you could dole out on this one? What's a writer to do from here?

When I wrote the post back in 2010, I wasn't thinking much, if at all, about screenwriting competitions, rather agents, managers, producers, studio execs and the like. There you should operate on the principle that you have one chance to make an impression. That's not always true, but a good rule of thumb in order to hold yourself to the highest standard possible. Not the same with contests. If you don't win or, say the Disney initiative, no one's going to hold that against, your script will be judged among hundreds or even thousands of other submissions. Far different than a potential manager giving your script a weekend read when it may among 4-6 things they read then. There, they WILL be making an assessment of your talent. So if you believe in the script, go ahead and submit it to the Disney program. As far as I can tell, there's no real downside and only a potential upside. Final comment: Every script reader is different. Sometimes disparate critiques derive from one reader not a fan of your genre, while the other is. But even beyond that, a script can generate divided opinion in and of itself. Bottom line: It comes down to your gut. If you truly believe in your story, you owe it to yourself to go for it. If you have doubts, then do your best to resolve the problem areas before you go out with it.