I agree with most of your post, but it's worth pointing out that a "writer's room" is an American concept. It's not something that is widespread in places like the UK. Many of our shows are written without the writer's room structure so familiar to American television. There has also recently been a greater willingness for some American based productions to move away from that model.
I wouldn't mind betting that other fan scripts have been written without the writer's room set up, and from time to time some of those have been pretty good. So while I agree that Peters does not have the experience or knowledge required, or has the capacity to take criticism on his creative efforts, I'm not sure I agree that you can't have a good product without a writer's room or the hierarchical structure it provides. I think that in this case it simply boils down to Peters being one of those people who is doomed in whatever set up because he doesn't allow himself to be surrounded by critics. He reminds me a bit of how George Lucas was said to be on the Star Wars prequels, namely surrounding himself with yes men. Alas, Peters thinks Prelude is his New Hope.
I'm aware this is an American methodology for writing TV, and part of my reason for citing it is largely my own professional experience working in such writer's offices for the past decade. I fully acknowledge also that features are written under different processes as well. That being said - I agree 100% that it's likewise possible to still produce something good via writing using a different methodology. Too, I'm fairly certain most fan films do not adhere to the writing process I outlined in my previous post.
His Achilles heel however is absolutely that he is utterly incapable of the basic writing 1-2-3 of turning in a draft, letting someone critique it, and editing it accordingly. Another user on this board stirred some feathers a few years ago, insisting that she'd written an episode of
Chico and the Man on spec at age 12, and that it was shot word for word unchanged. This was later refuted by surviving sources close to the show, not that it needed to be. Such a tall tale is ridiculous, let alone impossible given the general collaborative process of writing for television.
The collaborative process only seems to work for Alec when he's in charge, and when people agree with him.
When I was 12, I wrote a short story for fun. It was a nice 20-pages or so, and I was very proud of it. Thought it was something legitimately good. I let my mom read it, and my mom, a skilled writer in he own right, assumed I was asking for feedback (a common reaction, I think). When she gave me back the story a few days later, scribbled all over with notes, a suggestion for a different ending, and a sheet of bullet points for what didn't really work for her, I was at first devastated. My mom hated it, I thought. My first real successful venture into creative writing that I was willing to share with someone, and it was covered with notes in awful, red ink!
What I didn't immediately realize, and what I live and breathe now every time I put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard is that by its very nature this process requires your being able to open yourself up, put your creative self out there, and be ready every single time to be told, "This is garbage. You can do better. Here's some suggestions." Twenty years later, it's still hard sometimes to get those kinds of notes, it's still hard to not personalize it, and it's still hard to hear "this doesn't work for me." But you roll with it, you open yourself to the possibility that it can still be made better, and you remember that even if your passion to write got you typing away, you still want others to be able to enjoy and understand your story as much as possible. My mom didn't hate my story, she actually quite liked it and was just offering the feedback she assumed that 12-year-old me wanted.
There's a book I love called
Art & Fear, and one of its central premises is that in order for your work to be viewed as art, or to potentially be viewed as art, part of the process is obviously learning your craft. Another part is to put your work out there for others to take in, to read, to view, to digest, to interpret, etc and be open to the reaction your art elicits. Is it acclaimed? Do people get it? Does it make sense? Is it enjoyable? Do people hate it? Is it boring?
Alec doesn't get this. He's stuck in that 12-year old mindset. He wants praise. He wants to be rewarded for finishing his first draft. Reading that shitty, shitty first draft that got leaked a few months ago, it's almost a fictionalized account of Peters playing the white knight to save fandom in his own warped mind. It reminds me of my first interactions with him actually, four years ago on this very board when he was desperately trying to unify the fan film groups here on this very BBS, and his vehement and bloodthirsty aggressiveness toward anyone who dared stand in his way. He was going to be the hero of that story,
everyone else be damned!
Sound familiar?
I don't know if its that Alec's pathologically incapable of handling anything less than outright praise for every single thing he does, from writing to dropping a deuce, or if his fragile ego and across the board insecurity has deeper, more psychological roots. But he demonstrates a complete lack of understanding and failure to grasp a key element of the writing process. He's an asshole everywhere else, in all is other communications. There's no denying that. But he's also a hack when it comes to screenwriting.
Finally, because it should never be something we take for granted, a big shout-out to
@jespah for her continued efforts sifting through the court docs so that we plebes will have a chance of better understanding more clearly what's going on, and to
@carlos as well for his continuing, excellent coverage of the latest developments by the fools at Axanar on Axa-monitor. Bless you both.
