My Novel, Peloponesia, is in the LA Review of Books – in manuscript form, covered with dirt. (The photograph is called Dirty Book #1.)  Easy to decipher.  Hard to read the words.  Available on Amazon and at a book store near you later this year.

Tom Benedek
Photographs and Sculptures

Opening Reception at Frank Pictures,
March 26th, 6:30 – 9:30 PM

Preview of Peloponnesia: As Tortured Narrative

Selected Works from 
Shot by the Writer and 
Heated Words

Tom Benedek’s first novel, Peloponnesia, will be published in 2011. Tortured Narrative explores the raw states of a completed text, the manuscript of the novel. The photographs and sculptures in Tortured Narrative use physical drafts of the text in galleys and proofs as representations of states of composition and decomposition –the transition of imagined creation to print and paper and beyond — and as evidence for the mutability of text both literally and figuratively.  The material ferments, dissolves, reconfigures itself in both its organic, tangible form and in the writer’s mind beyond the printed page.

Exhibit on view through April 12, 2011
Frank Pictures
Bergamot Station A-5
2525 Michigan Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90404
TOMBENEDEK.COM
info@tombenedek.com
310.8280211
www.frankpicturesgallery.com

So go ahead and widen the circle. Find a small crew of readers who trust. One size does not fit all. Friends do not always ask friends to read their scripts. One may be great with story or characters and understand how movies and screenplays work. One may be an avid moviegoer and fantastic for gut reactions but not for anything the least bit diagnostic. One may be a wonderful spell- checker. And another may love you very dearly and yet be highly critical so that it almost seems, shockingly, that they are somehow weirdly rooting against you. (Hmm. That would make an interesting sub-plot in a screenplay.) In a workshop or writing class, reader responses are moderated. There are demands on civility. Brutal honesty is permitted but not brutality. So, when you are putting together a circle of readers for your work, be selective. You want honest, constructive reactions. You want a measure of sensitivity to the creative process. If you want undying praise, blind to all faults, give it to someone who will give you that also. But, trust me, your mother(or mother-figure) may surprise you. The loved one may put the harsh critic’s hat on. And the friend you consider your harshest critic in life may turn out to be kind and helpful to your printed words. Interesting things happen when creative work is shared with colleagues, friends, family.

But this is all gold really. If they read it and give you some thorough responses, that is a great gift. Listen carefully. Note down their responses. They may not get things that tiny edits will cure. They may have answers to the story problems that are dead wrong, and that go against the grain of what you really want your film to be. But their ideas about the story, characters and plot will be useful anyway. They may have good advice. And they may have bad advice. You want compassion, empathy, kindness. Sure. We all deserve that all the time. Mainly though, for this read, we want data. We want to know what is working, what is not working. Not necessarily why. You use their responses to figure out what is and isn’t functioning right and why. Gauge the responses. Find the trends. Carefully consider the good ideas. And try to understand what issues the bad ideas are trying to redress. Do thank them for taking the time and effort to read your script thoughtfully. And if they did not read it thoughtfully, dock them from your pool of readers. Or just put a mental asterisk next to them in the My Screenplay Draft Reader Master List because you never know where the next great idea, great insight about your writing may appear.