A hilariously frank article by A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson. I can respect that.
I will not read your fucking script.
That's simple enough, isn't it? "I will not read your fucking
script." What's not clear about that? There's nothing personal about
it, nothing loaded, nothing complicated. I simply have no interest in
reading your fucking screenplay. None whatsoever.
If that seems unfair, I'll make you a deal. In return for you not
asking me to read your fucking script, I will not ask you to wash my
fucking car, or take my fucking picture, or represent me in fucking
court, or take out my fucking gall bladder, or whatever the fuck it is
that you do for a living.
You're
a lovely person. Whatever time we've spent together has, I'm sure, been
pleasurable for both of us. I quite enjoyed that conversation we once
had about structure and theme, and why Sergio Leone is the greatest
director who ever lived. Yes, we bonded, and yes, I wish you luck in
all your endeavors, and it would thrill me no end to hear that you had
sold your screenplay, and that it had been made into the best movie
since Godfather Part II.
But I will not read your fucking script.
At this point, you should walk away, firm in your conviction that
I'm a dick. But if you're interested in growing as a human being and
recognizing that it is, in fact, you who is the dick in this situation,
please read on.
Yes. That's right. I called you a dick. Because you created this
situation. You put me in this spot where my only option is to acquiesce
to your demands or be the bad guy. That, my friend, is the very
definition of a dick move.
Full piece at the Village Voice.