Getting Past Me by Mindi White
Paperback Release Date: November 15, 2011
Publisher: Limelight
Genre: Entertainment
ISBN: 978-0879103910
Getting Past Me gives writers a detailed inside look at production company readers—what’s going through their minds, what they’re looking for, and why they may have rejected your screenplay. As a production company reader herself, author Mindi White lets writers in on readers’ trade secrets and gives you invaluable information that will ensure your work is reviewed favorably and fairly. This is more than the basics of character development and point of view. It includes plot lines that scream “Amateur,” how to delight the reader, what to think about while writing, to-do lists, and to-don’t lists.
Fast-paced, acerbic, and extremely informative, Getting Past Me makes lessons easy and fun to absorb with insider tips and real-life examples that are consistently illuminating and often surprising.
Getting Past Me by Mindi White is part of Limelight Editions’ new book series Quick Guides which are handy pocket-sized guide books for all career paths in the performing arts. This guide is a quick read (one to two hours of your day) but will change your life if you choose to take advantage of the plethora of information and tips here in your screenwriting ventures. White puts it best in her introduction what this guide is exactly:
This is not, I repeat not, a book on how to write… I’m making sure your story is read more fairly and given the consideration it deserves… I’ll provide you with a way to get to know who we the readers are, what we look for, what irritates us, and what makes us happy.
The chapters, “Things That Should Matter but Don’t” and “Things That Shouldn’t Matter but Do” are chapters that I wanted to have more included, but what is included is vital and not to be under appreciated. The “Signs of an Amateur” and “Crap” chapters I found especially entertaining and helpful. The first seven chapters are light and fun while also giving yu the most straightforward advice you’ve received in awhile. Come chapter eight, the tone transitions for a moment to “Kisses of Death.” It is a shame that such things have to even be mentioned in this chapter (racism, sexism, rape as comic fodder, etc..) but apparently there are enough sick people out there to make this a chapter needed. The “To Do” and “To Don’t” Lists in chapters 13 and 14 are a summarization of what was read in the chapters before that you should xerox and attach to all of your projects to help you analyze your work before sending it off. The final chapters consists of life-saving tips that you’ll want to also xerox and put in the front of your writing notes.
What’s so great about Getting Past Me is that it gets to the point so quickly while also being entertaining and stern. Mindi White hits all of the right notes, answering all of the right questions without beating around the bush or be overly long in explanation in anything. She definitely practices what she preaches. I like it. Getting Past Me by Mindi White is a gem that you must buy and put into the stocking of every aspiring screenwriter that you know.
Mindi White has been a respected story analyst since 1996, reading for top production companies and agencies and for numerous private clients. She has worked as a director of development for independent producers and produced the short film The Priests. She has written two short films and four feature films.
Own Getting Past Me: A Writer’s Guide to Production Company Readers by Mindi White today.