Anonymous at 2009-09-11 00:05:43:

With respect to Jason Scoggins, his list of qualities script should have seems hopelessly generic and tautological.

"Compelling, artful, fresh, etc..."

Those words, while accurate, don't seem to be peeling layers of the onion or giving an insider's perspective. He might as well have said a good script is "good."

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I find other blogs to be very focused on the minutia of screenwriting. Matriarchal Script Paradigm, a site I found on Script Shadow, now advertises she will do coverage. She is 21 years old.

This is a friggin' cottage industry and it has NOTHING to do with writing.

I just finished the book, "Your Screenplay Sucks." It was an interesting read and I was intrigued to go to the author's website to read his material.

After all, this man was SO cynical about the qualities one must have to "beat the reader." Surely his work was a testament to incredible craft.

His work is not available on his site. Nor does Robert Mckee seem to advertise his work.

Strangely enough, the so-called working writers -- say the folks to write Dexter or Mad Men-- have an aversion to the Script Nazi philosophy. I don't find William Goldman to be particularly interested in the amount of space one has between FADE IN and the first slug.

I mention this only to the casual reader who is hunting for interesting information and may be put off by information that is either generic or inappropriate.

If you want really interesting information, it will be on Johnaugust.com., Wordplayer.com, or complicationsensue.blogspot.com. All people who will have their work online to back up their MENTOR status.

As a best friend used to always say to me, "Check the source" before you take the advice.