I’ve been editing scripts lately, and I have to admit, it is a ton of fun. I really, really enjoy reading and responding to them. I’ve never really worked with scripts before (these are for TV, not film, though the skills/knowledge translate easily), and I’m really happy my prof is “making” me do this for an independent study credit.

I’m going to try to convince him to have me edit another dozen of these suckers in place of writing a script myself. It might sound like a cop-out to my writer friends, and even to my editor friends, but honestly, I think I could do a lot more good editing than I will writing a crappy script, just to get the credit. It would never see the light of day beyond my prof’s desk, and is it really worth it? I’m not so sure.

Perhaps that’s why I like editing these so much–the author gets immediate and definite feedback, and though they have every right to dismiss any of my comments like any of my other clients, they can visualize the changes in their head because a script is meant to be seen, not read. And that is very cool.

Absolutely the best (I’ve found so far…) pens for editing (if you edit in pen).

I’ve yet to find an acceptable colored pencil.

Plus, there’s something powerful about editing in pen. Something definite. Something more.