Candid Coverage - Honesty Panels

January 29, 2010, Sherwood Oaks College held its second “Honesty Panel” of the day by Sony Studios, providing unprecedented candid feedback on loglines to the screenwriters in attendance. Panelists included, in photo below left to right, Bob Kosberg (not shown), producer Suzanne Lyons, development exec Edward C. Wang, producer Susan Johnston, and moderator James Jordan.

Another "Honesty Panel" blasts writers with the truth

July 17, 2010, James Jordan appeared as a guest speaker on another “Honesty Panel” at CBS Studio Center to give honest blunt feedback on writers’ loglines in a unique seminar. Other panelists included (in photo below left to right) Mark Travis, Suzanne Lyons, Mark Kratter, Daniel Manus, and Moderator Gary Shusett.

During this “Honesty Panel,” writer-producer Mark Kratter discussed the low box office from “fetish” movies such as one about a healthy guy who amputates himself. Jordan commented “It didn’t have legs!” which brought the house down.

From beginning to end, the extremely knowledgeable panel shared valuable information with the appreciative audience of aspiring writers.

“Pitching to the Very Honest Feedback Panel”
On April 16, 2011, a large group of Scriptwriters Network members bravely pitched loglines to James Jordan, Gary Shusett, and Neo Edmund. This was Neo's first appearance on an "Honesty Panel," but like the others, he pulled no punches in the feedback given to writers.

Neo Edmund is a screenwriter and producer, repped by Ava Jamshidi at ICM. Neo, the current VP of Development for Branded Films, has worked as a Development Executive for Platinum Studios, a Story Consultant for New Regency Films, and a Creative Exec for Morgan Freeman's, Revelations Entertainment.

Neo, James and Gary set the bar very high during this productive session in which writers received feedback WHY their pitches were not working. In the end, only one or two pitches seemed ready to be heard by Hollywood. But dozens of aspiring writers learned specific valuable information they could take back home as they continued the rewriting process.