"I attached my treatment along with my script. The script is very long and complex and I don't want you to misunderstand anything, so I thought I would tell you the stuff that people most commonly miss."
Alright, honestly, if you got an email and a script attached with that previous line as the header what would you think? Would you even bother reading the script? Would any one of you see a movie where the director had to come out from behind a curtain and explain to you what you just saw? What if he had to do it before you watched the film?
Your writing must stand on its own. It must communicate clearly. It must at all times know what the audience understands and manipulate their experience as a result. Mystery films are all about controlling the information that is fed to the audience, but any film- regardless of genre- needs to be aware of what it is saying.
Many young writers, myself included, have had the experience of giving someone material and then looking over their shoulders as they read it. We tap our fingers and cross our arms when they speak. We tell them that they didn't get it and argue with their interpretation of the material. The bottom line is: if the reader didn't get it, then the writer didn't do their job.
Whether it be a reader in a dim office, a producer with too many meetings, an actor that only reads their lines, a cynical contest judge, a director with other projects, or an audience member that just paid $14 to get in; you will have no contact with any of these people save for the words on the page.
If we don't "get it" then neither did you.
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