How many things are wrong with this? -- 44. The number of words in the voice mail.

Defy Gravity -- Keep Writing!

127 ... you're giving out your phone number? truly above and beyond the call of (blog) duty.

The key? "I don't really know how it works".

It shows such profound disrespect of the entire writing process -- as if writing something worth reading is so easy anyone can just dash off a script.

But Mike's answer is the winner.

What's wrong with the voicemail from the standpoint of the aspiring screenwriter.

1. He or she, or perhaps for sake of "political correctness", he-she, never gave their name.

2. Needs to clearly state what he/she/he-she is trying to accomplish in contacting Scott.

3. Needs to create an emotional bridge. Why should Scott the great parter with he/she/he-she? What does Scott have to gain.

4. What kind of story is this? Title, genre, logline. Create some sizzle for the stake. And if you're a woman and your hot see if you can get E.C. Henry's phone number while you're at it...

5. Liked the "127 pages" thing. Shows you're in ball park. BUT that could have been tacked on AFTER stating you wrote the script with Final Draft.

6. The trail-off is HUGE mistake. This voice mail SOUNDS like you're not ready to sell. Is the story ready or not. IF not you could alway shoot straight with Scott and just request a read to see if you're stuff is up to standard. Scott Myers is a VERY NICE guy. Chances are just this person showing he/she/he-she has the BALLS to call will go a long way. Okay, if you're a chick you technically don't have balls, but methaphorically you do, play along.

7. Staring out with, "Uh, yes," makes it sound like this person is already engauged in a conversatinon with Scott, and is already in over their head.

All things considered not bad kid-o, you got a reaction out of the big fish. Now you just need to hone you act so you can reel him in with that killer script you've written, right?

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

1) The writer's name
2) Genre
3) Lack of confidence in the own story
4) Under work, not finished
5) Starting message with an "Uh" instead of a "Hello"

And I have almost succeeded to produce the same fatal mistakes when I'm on the voice mail "service". Poor fellow.

lol. You guys are terrible. This just sounds like a beginning screenwriter who doesn't yet understand the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to become a successful screenwriter. We all thought it was easy in the beginning.

Mike, your answer had me rolling.