[…] We did 30 Days of Screenplays in 2013 and you can access each of those posts and discussions …read more […]

"The [ISS fire] scene just felt like an extra obstacle that really didn’t need to happen (as I’m sure no one would question the difficulty of traveling to Earth from outer space being in the position she was in)." Interesting observation. It didn't bother me during the movie (probably because the pace is so brisk throughout) or reading the script, but since you pointed it out, it does feel like a "producer" obstacle - the more the better in their opinion. I've never heard anyone say "the main character should be able to achieve their goals more easily," but personally I think the obstacle approach lends to more formulaic and less interesting movies. I really enjoyed Gravity in theaters, but I was frustrated reading the script because it breaks a lot of conventional rules. If you were to remove the title page and pass it to readers for coverage, none of them would advise making the movie based on script alone. Just for fun I dropped the script into a readability tester, which measures the complexity of the sentences and the vocabulary used, and although it's not a fair test, the script scored between a 5th and 6th grade writing level.