comment #1

gansibele says ...

What a dick.

I've lost count of the amount of times people have asked me for a logo or a poster or what have you. I do it gladly because I like what I do and because I like to help people who are trying to get something going, just like many established and respected people in my profession looked at my portfolio and offered their advice. It's just being a decent human being, which Mr. Olson has obviously forgotten via an Oscar nomination, a "Best Direct to Video" win -that one made me laugh- and a couple of adaptations.

comment #2

Jack South P.I. says ...

Olson and Wells must love Malcolm Gladwell's BLINK which talks at length about how long you need to look at something to verify your initial, instantaneous reaction.

I'll let Olson off the hook here. It takes a long time to read a script and there are way too many untalented romantics out there who don't respect the craft of screenwriting enough and think anyone whose ever seen a movie can write one. This is the key difference, gansibele. I doubt people are marching up to you, showing your their amateur-hour graphic design work, acting like they are just as talented as you are, and then asking you to pass it on to their boss so they can get a job and become famous.

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

if Olson isn't a producer or teaching screenwriting, he's got a right to complain when people keep wanting him to spend three hours reading his script. his gig is to write and make money. in this business, your career can go hot and cold quick. maybe these people can send their scripts to Joe Esterhaus since he's not doing that much with his career

comment #4

actionman says ...

i'd love to know how Olson got his big break

f'ing tool

comment #5

dinther says ...

Olson seems to have lost all perspective. Anyone fortunate enough to make an actual living in the film industry - or doing anything that he or she likes for a living, for that matter - should wake up every morning and thank God that the curtain hasn't been lifted and that his or her talent hasn't been exposed as the product sheer whim and serendipity.

There are plenty of talented writers and artists who never got the lucky break Olson did. I'm sure he wakes up every morning and smiles into the mirror in self-satisfaction that his lot in life is deserved, that someone picked up his script because he has TALENT. But, in fact, his first gateway script could have easily been tossed aside due to multiple factors - being off topic, the script reader having a bad day, or - as in this case - the script reader being a self-important asshole.

But no, he wants you to feel sorry for him that his imagined genius is tolled every day: Oh the burden, the self-sacrifice, of having to sit on his fat ass and read a script.

What's worse is, even if he is that self-aggrandizing and ignorant, this twat doesn't have have the self-restraint to keep it to himself.

comment #6

great scott says ...

"dick, f'ing tool, twat, asshole"

How's purging the snark and the namecalling from the comments section going, Jeff?

comment #7

ZayTonday says ...

I don't even read scripts of my famous screenwriter acquaintances that actually do great work. Friends send me scripts all the time and I NEVER read them, but then again, reading them isn't my job... I don't even work in a position where I can curry favor for any screenwriters or anything and people give me scripts. I can only IMAGINE what it's like for someone that actually has that kind of power.

comment #8

George Prager says ...

A logo or a poster is a no-brainer. Reading a script is a brainer. Brainers are much hard and much more soul-destroying than no-brainers. Reminds me of the situation at my college radio station. It usually took about 10 seconds for you to know whether a new group was good or not.

comment #9

loyal says ...

Josh started as a PA. I'm sure someone took the time to read his first script, which got him to where he is today.

comment #10

corey3rd says ...

there's also another problem in reading other people's scripts - LAWSUITS. Let's say Olson gets given a script by aspiring writing. The script stinks and he gives up reading after 10 pages. Well a few years later Olson writes a script that has an element that was part of the other 95 unread pages - well you know aspiring screenwriter is going to sue for stealing his script and denying him his Hollywood fame.

Remember that nearly every movie produced today has at least two lawsuits over the script. Think of that woman who claims Matrix and Terminator was stolen from her incomplete treatment.

comment #11

pm123 says ...

The problem is that when most people ask you to read their script, they don't really want aesthetic advice, they want business advice. They don't really care what you think about their story, or how they can improve it. They simply want you to "get it to someone" so that it can be made into a studio movie. Writers should care about writing, not producing. If you care more about getting your script made than you do about writing it, you're not a writer. When people ask if it's frustrating to have such a small percentage of projects I work on ever reach the screen, I say "not at all". I got paid to write each one. I'm a writer, not a producer. What happens to a script once it's finished is not of much interest to me, especially since it's usually a disaster, given Hollywood's standard operating procedures.

comment #12

George Prager says ...

LexG thought up the WHERE THE BOYS AREN'T franchise when he was 12.

comment #13

Aris P says ...

Maybe he should look at his ow filmography, if you can even call it that. What a pretentious, self-important dimwit. Histpry of Violence? Yeah, Viggo's and Cronenberg make that film -- it's based on a GRAPHIC NOVEL, get over it.

This rehearsed, "leaked" rant is just the kind of PR his stagnant career needed.

Get over yourself.

comment #14

vansmith says ...

this was a great rant, the world is full of mediocraty, but he also said if you are a real writer what someone says about your work wont discourage you from writing. so keep banging away on the keys, no one loses in this town, some people just quit...

comment #15

JD says ...

I've programmed films for two prominent festivals and, while I always give films a fair chance, I found you could quite often dismiss a film within seconds, based solely on the credits. This sounds ridiculous if your only frame of reference is professional films that have made it to theatres and/or DVD, but the truly rank amateurs can't hide their lack of talent for a second. I can't tell you how many inept comedies I've seen with Comic Sans MS credits whizzing at that viewer using primitive, sub-iMovie transitional effects. No competent filmmaker would make that choice unless it's intended as parody of said incompetence, but you can usually tell right away that it's not.

comment #16

Myles says ...

Josh Olson's ego is hilariously out of control. He spends most of his time doing creative screenwriting podcasts -- five for one movie! -- and constantly reminding people of how much money he makes and that he was nominated for an Oscar.

comment #17

buster keaton says ...

Not only is he a dick, but practically every screenplay he wrote was adapted from someone else's work. Hardly an original genius.

Methinks this dick complaineth too much. A polite "no" would be quite sufficient if he prefers to stay away from other people's writing.

comment #18

Jason says ...

There's a furor about this? It's an entertaining read because it's well written, but is anybody surprised? Everybody knows knows that foisting your screenplay on established talent is a huge social blunder.

As an IT worker, I have a somewhat similar problem. I'll get a call at work from somebody with a problem. I go to their workstation and fix it, and they're all, "Wow, that was fast! Can I bring in my home computer so you can take a look at it? It's so slow, I can't even use it, the pop-up ads never stop."

They think it's so easy, but for us to just "look at your computer" requires real effort, make no mistake, because home computers are usually tar pits of ineradicable infection.

When they hear the diagnosis, they ask "Can you fix it?" This is a dishonest question because they always omit a key phrase at the end: "for free"

Mostly it's the salespeople, which is surprising because they're supposed to have the best people skills. I've always wanted to ask them "Could you sell my car for me? It runs well but I can't find a buyer. It's right out in the parking lot. Here, let's go look at it now!"

comment #19

JD says ...

He's not a dick at all. He's totally right. It's challenging enough for any person to maintain their own personal and professional lives, let alone act as some kind of unofficial manager to every vague acquaintance in their life. He acknowledges that he helps his friends, he just says he's reluctant to help friends' friends. Fair enough. Just because he's successful, doesn't mean he should submit to an endless cycle of futile creative philanthropy.

comment #20

Phatang! says ...

The response to this is pretty fascinating. I'll admit that in the first few paragraphs I was in the "what a dick" camp. But then (perhaps countering part of Olson's own thesis) I came around to thinking it is funny and really well written. It's around the point when he gets to the "three pages of notes on the first page" part, when you realize he's kind of yelling at himself. Telling himself to stop fucking agreeing to read these things, because he takes it TOO seriously, and that it doesn't make him a dick to say no.

Obviously everyone needs a break, needs an in, but it's not Olson's (or any writer's) job to be that person for someone they barely know (we all have big enough networks of friends and family to keep us reading). I've been in this same situation, read horrendous scripts and labored to communicate the issues to "writers" who don't want to hear it and just move right on to the next writer they know (then forward me the "positive feedback" they've received!).

comment #21

QualityGibberish says ...

He IS right, indeed. Anyone who disagrees is simply not a writer and/or not serious about the craft. At a professional level, it's not something you can do for free, like tossing off a logo. Besides, evaluating a graphic design is a great deal easier than trying to explaining how to write to someone who can't. The proof that Olson is a writer is right there in how well his rant is put together. Besides, it's not as if he reads no one; it's part of his job and it was probably part of someone else's job when he got his break. And if what's on screen is any indication, A History of Violence has one of the best screen plays ever, imo.

I also agree with JD that you usually don't need even ten minutes to tell whether a film is good or not. The credits will do. I'll admit I'm a sucker for the giant cliche of helicopter shots over the location in question while the credits roll, if they're done well. But best is when the essential plot unfolds while the credits are interspersed between scenes. That takes skill.

comment #22

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

"But best is when the essential plot unfolds while the credits are interspersed between scenes. That takes skill."

I always liked the decision to go without fucking credits at the top of a film. Show me what you got, and if I like it, maybe (just MAYBE!) I'll stick around and try to catch some of the name of the people involved.

But don't make me sit through a bunch of names I don't know (do I care who did the costumes before I've even heard the first line of dialogue??) before I'm even invested in the thing. It may be tradition, but it's also (IMHO) a passive-aggressive symptom of Hollywood narcissism.

comment #23

Myles says ...

Olson is also known to defend and praise himself under numerous pseudonyms.

comment #24

ElstonGunnAICN says ...

Olson is in the Harlan Ellison doc Dreams With Sharp Teeth effusively praising Ellison, listening to his stories and directing him in a TV project. Maybe the protesting-too-much is simply imitation.

comment #25

MovieBob says ...

Prager-
"A logo or a poster is a no-brainer."

SOMEBODY doesn't know a lot of graphic-designers...

comment #26

QualityGibberish says ...

Good point, Citizen. I forgot that option. I always get a kick out of how they did credits before the old movies started, a huge deal with an overture and all that crap, with credits down to the sandwich bar, as if anybody cared. But at that time, maybe they did.

comment #27

George Prager says ...

"SOMEBODY doesn't know a lot of graphic-designers..."

I THANK GOD for that...

comment #28

Yuval says ...

There must be a lot of frustrated writers here. Olson should read and advise any screenwriter that happens to meet him. The next step after universal health care is universal script doctoring.

gansibele, why don't you leave me your email so I can come to you whenever a design request comes my way? (free of charge, of course, the dickless route).

comment #29

DeeZee says ...

Met the guy @ the New Bev "Boy + His Dog" screening with Harlan Ellison. Seems like a decent chap who cares about the craft, even though his take on AHOV rubbed me the wrong way. If he doesn't get similarly political on the Naoki Urasawa anime/manga movie adaptation, I can see some potential down the road.

comment #30

gansibele says ...

Nobody is saying is his job or he is obligated or even that he has to do script doctoring. It's just freakin' human decency and remembering where one started once at the top and being humble and appreciative that you got yourself to a position where people ask you for help. So one bad writer dismissed his advice, so what? It affected him that badly that he had to go on a insecure rant?

Prager: sorry, I'm not into flame wars. Go use your big brain writing a script.

Yuval: absolutely. It's veaqueteden@porculo.com. Anytime, my friend.

comment #31

lawnorder says ...

I assure you the only "heat" on Olsen is that people are reading this article and commenting on it. He is known to be a ego-maniacal blowhard, whose big credit, the Oscar nominated "A History of Violence" was significantly rewritten by Cronenberg and greatly benefited from that talented director's sure hand. I remember reading Olsen's draft before Cronenberg was attached, and it was so pedestrian at every level I could barely get through it. Not to mention that the original story was adapted from an already fleshed out graphic novel. I met him at a party one time and found him to be aloof and self involved - maybe he's just insecure and projects those qualities. But my impression is here is a guy who can't believe he made it into the club and still wakes up every morning wondering if it's true. The longer it takes between produced credits (and trying to get his directing gig off the ground), he's starting to sweat it - and is looking to get his name back in the "flavor of the month" circles. This is not the way to do it. You let your craft speak for itself. Now, the first thing that proceeds this guy into the room everytime is his reputation for having written this snarky article. Hollywood loves to kick an asshole on the way down, and I'm pretty sure their will be a lot of shoe polish accompanying Josh on his accelerated descent.

comment #32

DeeZee says ...

lawn: Giving credit to Cronenberg for that piece of shit second half to AHOV only makes Olson look good, especially considering how awful and adaptation Naked Lunch was, too.

comment #33

lawnorder says ...

I loved AHOV - It's not perfect, but I was hooked for the duration. If the WGA arbitration process was worth a shit, Cronenberg would have been credited on that script as well. It's time the WGA came up with an additional writing credit, since so many directors have been fucked over by the process. They expect a director who does rewrite work on a script (of which they are not the original author) to change more than 75 percent to even get a shared credit. The WGA is the most pitiful of all the guilds - and it shames me to be a member, but it's the only game in town.

comment #34

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