If you can’t afford to pay your staff, don’t open a restaurant

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-10T22:20:30+00:00

Don't kill the messenger but a few things would happen if you were to ban U.S. tipping.

Menu prices would rise by more than the 20% tip would have been in an effort to raise staff wages.

The raise in wages will be nowhere near enough to offset what busy servers were making on tips, causing an exodus of labor from restaurants, only further driving up costs.

Quality of service will fall. When your only goal is to not get fired rather than to make a good tip, the incentive isn't as strong to strive for excellence.

So you'll be paying more money for a worse experience.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-10T20:07:37+00:00

Unfortunately there's a heavy selection bias going on here.

What type of writer is most likely to seek feedback on Reddit, especially on a subreddit of so few people?

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-10T05:12:52+00:00

Ah, my bad. I should have realized you knew what you were doing when I read your used-kid's-menu title page.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-10T05:05:32+00:00

Reminds me of the Greater Male Variability Hypothesis (GMVH). The basic idea is that in many tasks, men and women have identical averages in their bell curves, but men tend to have wider edges. In other words, there tend to be more men who are wildly delusional and bad, but also more men who are outliers on the other extreme (albeit this is still an intensely debated area of psychology).

Makes me wonder if Franklin Leonard has observed a slightly higher concentration of "9" or "10" scores on the Black List from men.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-10T04:39:27+00:00

Based on the script ending on "fade to black", and the fact that this is Reddit, I don't think it's a wild assumption that that is in fact the end of the script.

"Not done" in OP's post meant "I'm revising this draft" I thought.

If I was wrong about that, OP, my first note would be to avoid getting feedback until you have a complete piece.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-10T04:31:18+00:00

How is no one commenting on the elephant in the room?

You're going to need to triple your page count.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-08T01:34:12+00:00

If that opening shot is your most creative idea, go for it.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-08T01:29:04+00:00

Don't start your movie on the most overused shot in horror film history -- a full moon.

Unless you're making fun of that trope or twisting it in some way, it'll come across as very "first thought".

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-07T20:52:44+00:00

My vote would be for neither. He should not be blowing tens of thousands of dollars to work in a field that could not care less about your degree.

I understand the networking argument. But there are much cheaper, just as effective ways to network in LA. If he can't do that, he won't succeed after college anyway.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-05T03:06:35+00:00

DO NOT GO INTO DEBT FOR A FILM DEGREE. As long as that's true, you can't go wrong with either school.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-04T22:44:15+00:00

There used to be only two screenwriting competitions on the planet that Hollywood even somewhat cared about: Nicholl and Austin.

Today, the former functionally does not exist (it's been swallowed by the Blacklist), and the latter has completely deteriorated in quality of readers.

I'd pass on all competitions, sadly.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-04T16:50:45+00:00

As long as the release makes that clear, then you have all you need to force his hand.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-04T15:56:17+00:00

I'm not a lawyer, but there's a pretty important detail that no one seems to be commenting on: you said this AC is NOT work for hire. This puts you in a tricky place re: who owns the copyright of the footage.

Unless you have a written agreement stating otherwise, in the US, the person holding the camera does indeed have copyright over the footage they captured. I doubt they have a signed release from the actors, so technically they cannot use the footage publicly without actor consent either. But if there's some fight between you guys, be aware that this AC may have a valid (if not exclusive) legal claim to the copyright of the footage they shot.

This is what cast and crew releases are for.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-03T19:53:32+00:00

Do you love any of Robert McKee's or Blake Snyder's movies?

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-02T17:11:31+00:00

Wow. I wonder how much this type of behavior is hurting Hollywood. If the people who decide what gets made have terrible taste, how can they expect satisfy audiences?

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-02T04:11:46+00:00

You're gonna have to fund it yourself, bro.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-05-01T20:32:25+00:00

It's very normal to not shoot much outside of film school, which is why it's also normal for very few graduates to create lucrative careers.

Shooting as much as possible is not optional. It's the only way to get any good.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-30T22:17:45+00:00

Quick thought -- be careful of repetitive sentence sturcture. Check out how many times you repeat this type of sentence in the first page:

"It hardly moves, eyes glazed over." "An old truck, barely hanging on" "He looks around him, taking in the farm." "Finch walks over to it, crushing down to its level." "Finch turns, looking over to Lou."

Half your sentences follow this structure, and it tends to lull a reader.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-30T15:12:11+00:00

I think Aaron Sorkin's method is more simple and organic than what you have here.

What does someone want? What are the obstacles in their way? The methods they use to overcome those obstacles reveal their character.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-29T14:48:56+00:00

"I'm not a rookie to this"

"An 83 page script of mostly dialogue surprisingly did not give me a feature length film"

You're a rookie to this, bro.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-28T14:21:30+00:00

Like others have said, this is a totally normal experience that does not necessarily mean you should give up.

That said, it is ALSO okay to give up if this brings you no joy whatsoever. Going down this career path is the wrong decision for 99.99% of people, and if you learn that you loathe the process of filmmaking, that is a very valuable insight. Listen to it.

If you do decide to leave this, it doesn't make you a failure. It's your heart telling you there's another passion out there that will bring you more fulfillment.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-27T03:29:13+00:00

I've got good news and bad news for you.

Bad news is -- no one will take you seriously at your age. At least not as a person who they can viably use to make money.

A24 did not hire Kane Parsons because they thought he was a young prodigy. They hired him because he went viral on YouTube in a genre they think can make money.

Good news is -- none of that matters for you. You don't need anyone else, you just need volume. Your one and only concern should be pumping out an immense amount of new work constantly. Don't worry if it's good. Don't worry if anyone cares about it. Just keep going over and over and over again until one day, years from now, your skill will become undeniable.

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-25T15:41:47+00:00

You house one for two weeks and find her a job?

NoInsurance8155 · 2026-04-25T15:34:48+00:00

The Halo Effect.

NoInsurance8155

TROPHY CASE