Why I *can't* read your script

[cleolinda]

Okay, since I think I was waxing a bit verbose about this on a site meant for 140-character messages:

What happened was, A History of Violence screenwriter Josh Olson informed the internets that He Will Not Read Your Fucking Script.

Cole Abaius thought this made him a bit of an asshole, although more for the tone than the sentiment.

John Scalzi

Comments

[nicolars]

My mind boggles over the person who wrote X-Men in 15 minutes and then sent it to you. What were they thinking? I can't imagine why a. someone would give away their work like that and b. would think that another writer would want to put their name on something that wasn't theirs.

[bizarreoptimism]

I don't get B., but I can sure as heck get what they were thinking with A. -- the best shortcut in the world. It comes down to that girl deciding that not getting personal credit for her write-up was a worthy trade for taking advantage of the work and _time_ that Cleolinda has put into building up a fanbase. If Cleo had posted it, the girl wouldn't have gotten credit for her work, but she WOULD have gotten the satisfaction of seeing Cleo's entire audience read and respond to what she's written. I, personally, don't see that as a worthy trade at _all_ -- but it doesn't shock me that there's some people who would. Some people will do almost ANYTHING to reap benefits without putting in any time, effort, or hard work. (I know this because I have the laziness to be one of them -- it's just that my ego outweighs my laziness and so I won't actually try to get away with anything like that. I want the credited glory too much, y'see. XD)

[nicolars]

I don't know, I guess I'm just not understanding how someone could get any satisfaction from getting a big reader response when those readers believe another writer has written it. It just seems so hollow.

[cleolinda]

See, I just don't get that at all. More than that, I don't understand why she would think I would WANT responses for something I didn't write. But then I find a lot of people "offer" me things without stopping to logic out why in the world I would actually want them. It's about them wanting to give me something that benefits them, not me.

[cleolinda]

Well, and I suspect there was a large amount of hope to the effect of, "But when she DOES read it, she'll love it so much that she'll post it WITH my name on it! Maybe she'll even ask me to co-write!"

I hate to break it to people, but I'm proud of the work I've put into this stuff. You could be the best writer in the world, far better than me, and I would not let you "co-write" or post under my series title because this is MINE. If I decided to never write another 15M again, I would STILL not pick a "successor," because I am selfish and it is MINE. GET YOUR OWN. If you're that good, you shouldn't have a problem coming up with your own thing, now, should you?