After a hiatus, I received my first studio notes two days ago. Here I am, thinking that with an independent production there will be no studio notes, as there is no studio. Silly, silly me. The director has a friend who is a development executive and passed the script along for a read.

Considering how damn difficult it can be to get things read in this down, this event, in my opinion, is A Good Thing.
So, I get an e-mail from the director. It needs to be more "passionate."

Hmm. Passionate. Ok. What's that mean? More sex? More emotion? More fruit jokes?

The answer, of course, is none of the above. Later that day I spoke with the director. Here's where it pays to have good listening skills and my former life as a research assistant didn't hurt at all. Rather than hear the words, I needed to read behind the words to the intent. What came out of our conversation wasn't "passion" it was "multi-dimensional." They wanted to see more depth to the characters. Now THAT I can work with.

I have no problem with that feedback. In fact, I'm happy with it. First, I had created the characters (in a fit of artistic playing) to reflect one particular stage in the grieving process. That tends to make characters less multi-faceted. Let's toss that idea out the window and work with the strengths of what actually came out on the page, not necessarily the intent (which was secondary to the main storyline anyway).

Second, this feedback is the absolute BEST kind of feedback I could get from a studio. Its only intent is to enhance the material. It will make the final product better, and will not undercut the director's vision. It says that what's there is good, but now make it better.

I like that someone's pushing me to give more. To grow, and learn and challenge myself.

Now, back to the keyboard!