posted 10-23-2000 07:41 AM            

I'm with you ... I'm not opposed to extending the deadline 24 hours or perhaps even 48 for those who've already registered but had problems getting it online for one reason or another. And Yes, I KNOW they warned everyone that there would be problems, but I'm still not opposed.

Let's hope they do it.

posted 10-23-2000 09:15 AM            

What they could do is accept only late submissions that were uploaded to the Adobe site before the deadline, or perhaps before the final hour (as they did warn everyone not to wait until the last hour). I'm sure Adobe can track these and let Greenlight know what conversions were received before that time.

posted 10-23-2000 09:50 AM            

But I have to admit CelticJack makes a good point. If Adobe can document who submitted their scripts for conversion BEFORE the deadline then perhaps Greenlight could be lenient with those teams.

I tried to convert my script at about 8:00pm and it told me it would be returned to me in 31 hours... long past the deadline! Luckily my buddy had the real Adobe and converted it for me in about two minutes, otherwise I would've been singing the blues this morning! (And yes, in the interest of full-disclosure, after more "reloading" than I can count, mine did make it in at 11:25 pm!!!).

Just my two cents.

posted 10-23-2000 10:45 AM            

This Adobe problem has been both frustrating and demoralizing. I had no idea it would take so long to convert; and, yes, I am one of the unfortunate that missed the deadline.

posted 10-23-2000 11:40 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by alieberman:
I am wondering if Greenlight is going to come out with any official ruling on this today. If there is any way to track when these scripts were given to the adobe site, they should use those times as the deadline. Most contests that call for submitting written material use the postmark to determine eligibility so any problems with mail taking longer would not exclude anyone. The submissions to the adobe site should be our postmark.

---

I AGREE! BUT THE PROBALEM I HAD WAS THAT ALTHOUGH I HAD THE CONVERTED FILE, I COULD NOT FOR HOURS ON END ENTER THE SITE B/C OF THE HIGH TRAFFIC. SO I WOULD ALSO BEG TO HAVE THAT CONSIDERED. IN FACT I PURCHASED THE ADOBE PROG. , AND HAD THE COMPLETED FILE READY TO GO 3 DAYS IN ADVANCE.---STILL NO LUCK.

posted 10-23-2000 11:41 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by samtel:
I AGREE! BUT THE PROBALEM I HAD WAS THAT ALTHOUGH I HAD THE CONVERTED FILE, I COULD NOT FOR HOURS ON END ENTER THE SITE B/C OF THE HIGH TRAFFIC. SO I WOULD ALSO BEG TO HAVE THAT CONSIDERED. IN FACT I PURCHASED THE ADOBE PROG. , AND HAD THE COMPLETED FILE READY TO GO 3 DAYS IN ADVANCE.---STILL NO LUCK.

---

posted 10-23-2000 12:24 PM            

The Adobe site seemed to have crashed/too full before 7 pm PST...THAT IS 5 HOURS BEFORE THE DEADLINE.

It is reasonable, since this is the inaugural year, to extend the deadline. This is a year to work out the kinks.

Even after speaking with people who HAD submitted, I never knew there was another site invloved (Adobe.)

I started the submission process at 10 am PCT 10-22-00 and spent all day and night trying to upload, but never got through at Adobe.

PLEASE. Extend. The. Deadline.

EVERYONE, please post support notes here!!

We just want a fair chance to submit.

posted 10-23-2000 12:34 PM            

I was so excited, I told everyone about it. I even spent countless hours creating logo prototypes, at least 100, to submit for the logo contest.

So, you can imagine how disappointed I was ALL DAY yesterday when I could not log into the Adobe site to convert/submit my screenplay.

I only can hope that Project Greenlight and its staff will continue having that marvellous attitude, and that its only natural response to the deadline issue will be to extend it.

Thank you.

posted 10-23-2000 12:41 PM            

Like many others have said - This has been widely publicized, even on my local news. If you are a serious writer looking for contests that occur all through the year and did a search in the last six months you would have found that PGL would have shown up in all major search engines. If people were serious about joining a great community like this one they would have been ready on all fronts. Not waiting to the last minute because of this error or that error is just a lack of being able to take responsibility.

posted 10-23-2000 01:39 PM            

Please, PGL. Give us the benefit of the doubt, and let us upload our scripts.

posted 10-23-2000 01:56 PM            

Folks, it is a CONTEST ... there's hopefully going to be another one next year -- as long as the criny whybabies don't spoil it for everyone who acknowledges they should have tried harder, gotten done sooner, or looked for another .pdf conversion option ... in other words, the people who believe in healthy competition, comraderie and sportsmanship. Yes, Mr. Steele and I made it in -- we started yesterday morning, encountered some problems, finished our Personal Review at 10:15 last night. But, I assure you, if we had missed because we came to the contest late, we'd be watching with interest the rest of the contest and working like hell to make a perfect script happen for next year's contest.

ENOUGH already.

Mrs Steele

"The requirement for completing a personal review before midnight last night was included in the OFFICIAL RULES, in pop-up messages on the site, in posts onthis board, and in email sent out to everyone.

We're sorry you weren't able to complete all the steps in time, but we hope you continue to participate as a reviewer, and we welcome you to try again next year

--TS"

quote:

---

Originally posted by alieberman:
I am wondering if Greenlight is going to come out with any official ruling on this today. If there is any way to track when these scripts were given to the adobe site, they should use those times as the deadline. Most contests that call for submitting written material use the postmark to determine eligibility so any problems with mail taking longer would not exclude anyone. The submissions to the adobe site should be our postmark.

---

posted 10-23-2000 01:58 PM            

Then yes on Sunday I did another conversion for a friend and the site was bogged down....but the bog occured on SUNDAY, not three days previous as has been suggested.

And to discount the whole ridiculous idea that the PG site was bogged for three days making it impossible to upload your PDF script, my friend submitted his script last night to the PG site at 11:55 when all the last minute traffic was at its peak and it went through with only a couple delays...if you tried for three days non-stop and couldn't pull it off, I'm the second coming.

posted 10-23-2000 02:10 PM            

You have to let people finish their personal review if they had problems like I did. In the official rules, it says that reviews are due by Nov 12th and the personal review is a review. Also, it says nothing in the rules about getting the personal review in by a certain deadline.

posted 10-23-2000 02:45 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by FinalDraft:
I'm not buying the fact that anybody tried to convert to PDF two days before the competition and couldn't do it. And I for SURE don't buy that somebody had their script ALREADY in PDF THREE days before the deadline and couldn't pull it off. I know this because on Saturday I had a PDF conversion done at the Adobe site and it took all of five minutes.

Then yes on Sunday I did another conversion for a friend and the site was bogged down....but the bog occured on SUNDAY, not three days previous as has been suggested.

And to discount the whole ridiculous idea that the PG site was bogged for three days making it impossible to upload your PDF script, my friend submitted his script last night to the PG site at 11:55 when all the last minute traffic was at its peak and it went through with only a couple delays...if you tried for three days non-stop and couldn't pull it off, I'm the second coming.

I feel for everyone who didn't make the deadline...truly. I know how frustrating that must be....truth be told if not for David at live2web or whatever, my friend wouldn't have gotten in on time either. But let's be realistic about our complaints and not stretch the truth. That will NOT help your cause in the least.

---

YOU HAVE SOME AUDACITY!!!!!
WHO ARE YOU TO DISMISS OTHER PEOPLE'S PAIN AND MISGRIEVENCES.
AND, BY THE WAY, 11:55 PST, IS 2:55 EST. SO ON SAT, SUN, AND EARLY MOND. THIS SITE WAS BOGGED DOWN...SOB

posted 10-23-2000 04:26 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by phoenixmer:
Hi. TECH SUPPORT HELP!!! I uploaded my script just in time but do not see my personal review. What happened? I also saw that my script was confirmed and viewed last night by me, but I cant find it in the search at all! I worked so hard on it! Is there anyway Tech Support can check on this? Im panicking. Seems others are having the same problems too. How does it get resolved?

---

If you just uploaded your script, you will not find it through any search engine. It will not be "search-able" until after the three mandatory reviews have been done on it. Then it will be placed in the search engine.

If you were able to view your script after uploading, you should be okay as far as getting it in on time.

I don't know what to tell you about your Personal Review Form. Have you clicked on "Check Membership Status?" You know, when you first get to the Start Page of Greenlight and you have to type in your user name and password? After you've done that, try looking down a few rows and click on the link for "Membership Status."

Once you get there, it will tell you what you still need to do. Each of those things should be a clickable link...as in Personal Review form. I kind of had the impression, though, that the Personal Review was due also last night along with your PDF file.

Anyway, good luck and I hope everything works out for you.

posted 10-23-2000 06:56 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by PatrickGough44:
I waited until the final day to upload but it took 10 hours to transfer to a pdf. I finally took my disk to kinko's and they took care of it. Having said that my script was uploaded before the deadline but the personal review kept re-setting itself, so now I'm not even sure if I made it in. I sincerely hope that they extend the deadline for those of us who uploaded before the deadline

---

posted 10-23-2000 07:45 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by Anchor Babe:
CelticJack makes a good point. If Adobe can document who submitted their scripts for conversion BEFORE the deadline then perhaps Greenlight could be lenient with those teams.

---

Ladies and gentlemen, even paying corporate customers who have purchased expensive Adobe software and maintenance contracts go through hoops to reach Adobe Tech Support. This is true of virtually all large software houses. The notion that Adobe would use valuable tech resources to run a report on the use of some free software they have lying around on the net--for a screenwriting contest, not a criminal case or a strategic client--is ludicrous.

posted 10-23-2000 07:46 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by johnjr:
I also hit the Adobe site at 9pm sunday, thinking it would only take a a few minutes. It didn't and I couldn't upload my script in time. I don't think that greenlight would be unfair if they did not accepting responsibilites for Adobe's problems. However, I don't think it is something that they anticipated, or warned about, and for that reason I think some lenientcy should be exercised. To those who say a deadline is a deadline, I whole-heartedly agree: If the deadline were a postmark date, the people who had problems with the site would have gotten their scripts postmarked on time. Also something to consider is that the motivation behind this site is not just to award a winner, but also to build a community of filmlovers. At the end of it, it would be nice to know that the winner beat every person who abided by the rules, not just those who played by the rules and played it extra safe. Also, in the long run, it will be better for the greenlight to say that it had the ability to adapt, and encouraged the film community to the best of its ability. Its own success should not be detrimental to its name.

---

VERY WELL SAID!!!

posted 10-23-2000 08:29 PM            

We have known about the deadline... for weeks. You waited until the last minute to get everything in? I'm sorry... that's how life works sometimes.

I for one busted my ass to get it in on the deadline, and I did.

I don't want to sound like a prick, but, I don't think it would be fair to me or anyone else that made the deadline, to extend it.

posted 10-23-2000 10:05 PM            

Using "standard industry format" is one thing, understandable to say the least; however, to require us to use something as super-annoying as adobe -- yes folks, I do not like adobe, I think it's a piece of crap, useless software -- and not use something a lot more COMMMON as say anything posted in .rtf format, which we can all read with any common word processor, is completely ridiculous.

Seriously, Adobe is annoying, I work with a ton of businesses and we trade forms all the time, and like 1% of the business I deal with actually use Adobe. Do you know what we tell them? Put your forms in another format.

As one other poster noted, a lot of us are using Final Draft or some other screenplay word processor. It's much easier to convert that to something more readable (e.g. a .rtf file) that all of us can read, than rely on a shakey website like Adobe.com

For the record, I did use Adobe, at 5:45 p.m. PST, and I did not get my screenplay back until 3 am (PST). They did not even tell me when I would get my screeplay back.

Dalecus

quote:

---

Originally posted by johnjr:
I also hit the Adobe site at 9pm sunday, thinking it would only take a a few minutes. It didn't and I couldn't upload my script in time. I don't think that greenlight would be unfair if they did not accepting responsibilites for Adobe's problems. However, I don't think it is something that they anticipated, or warned about, and for that reason I think some lenientcy should be exercised. To those who say a deadline is a deadline, I whole-heartedly agree: If the deadline were a postmark date, the people who had problems with the site would have gotten their scripts postmarked on time. Also something to consider is that the motivation behind this site is not just to award a winner, but also to build a community of filmlovers. At the end of it, it would be nice to know that the winner beat every person who abided by the rules, not just those who played by the rules and played it extra safe. Also, in the long run, it will be better for the greenlight to say that it had the ability to adapt, and encouraged the film community to the best of its ability. Its own success should not be detrimental to its name.

---

posted 10-23-2000 10:42 PM            

In actuality it will probably require a full reopening for submissions to do people like me justice, and that let's all the halfbaked people who are still working and begging for extra time get away with it.

That's life I suppose.

By the way, the main page is seriously scrambled for me. I disavow having done it, and my Computer Science 101 teacher will vouch that I'm not that smart, but it appears some hacker has taken matters into his own hands.

posted 10-23-2000 10:57 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by FinalDraft:
I'm not buying the fact that anybody tried to convert to PDF two days before the competition and couldn't do it. And I for SURE don't buy that somebody had their script ALREADY in PDF THREE days before the deadline and couldn't pull it off. I know this because on Saturday I had a PDF conversion done at the Adobe site and it took all of five minutes.

Then yes on Sunday I did another conversion for a friend and the site was bogged down....but the bog occured on SUNDAY, not three days previous as has been suggested.

And to discount the whole ridiculous idea that the PG site was bogged for three days making it impossible to upload your PDF script, my friend submitted his script last night to the PG site at 11:55 when all the last minute traffic was at its peak and it went through with only a couple delays...if you tried for three days non-stop and couldn't pull it off, I'm the second coming.

I feel for everyone who didn't make the deadline...truly. I know how frustrating that must be....truth be told if not for David at live2web or whatever, my friend wouldn't have gotten in on time either. But let's be realistic about our complaints and not stretch the truth. That will NOT help your cause in the least.

---

First of all I'm appalled at those who thought this was a skip and hop situation. This program was not user friendly to some of us who were not familiar with converting files and uploading. Yes, it did take days to figure these steps. TS was not your regular help desk support service. It was catch me if you can. Also, any time you have a new computer program it takes time to get the bugs out. I personally do not think Project Greenlight consider that. After all this was a contest for the amateurs. Had I had a mentor who knew what to do, I could feel much better. I didn't and I guess now days the truth is almost obsolete to some people.

Last minute did not have anything to do with this contest for some. Technology is here and it doesn't care about the human feelings.
If this is the future may the powers at be help us all.

Silentwords

posted 10-24-2000 12:34 AM            

I agree with the poster (sorry, forgot who it was) who said that this is a contest for amateurs, not computer techs. We were supposed to write as well as we could and submit it for review -- not write, submit, upload, download, convert, scream, cuss, hope, pray, and promise our firstborn to the conversion Gods at Adobe.com.

I also agree with the writer who said that not everyone knew the deadline would be so imminent. I knew it started September 25th, but who knew it wouldn't even last a month? Where I work, I get over 150 messages a day, most of which I cannot read as I would like. When I found out about the deadline, I had one week. I was sick and gave up. However, last Wednesday I was inspired (someone said I "couldn't do it") and decided to give it a try anyway. I did not sleep for 3 days. Literally losing feeling in my legs and my right hand, I typed, ate, laughed, cried and even slept sitting straight up. I'm certain my story is not much different than many people out there who really tried.

The best part? I found out some important things about myself and I hope ya'll did too (sappy, I know, but I'm a bleeding heart). I now know I can formulate an idea and bring it together in three days. I didn't know that before. And I have something I can submit to other contests. And I got to read some great stuff from all of you and to listen to other people of like obsession. And I realized the colossal importance of investing in a screenwriting program after spending 3 hours simply formatting line-by-line.

Do I think they should give allowance for those who tried to upload to Adobe? Yes, for Adobe can most certainly prove when they received their registrations. If I had been able to upload my script, I'd feel the same. The IRS accepts postmarks as submissions, and a request to Adobe for conversion should be the modern-day equivalent. What's the difference to all contenders? There are like two MILLION talented competitors anyway - it's not like extra time for some would create anymore competition for them.

posted 10-24-2000 07:49 AM            

However, many of us did not already have scripts in place when the contest was announced that matched the requirements, ESPECIALLY with the very low million dollar budget. So Oct 22 became a deadline that I took very seriously, even sending my wife and baby out of town for a week to write full time every day.

I graduated from USC film school, so I know deadlines, and I design web sites for a living, so I know what crunch time can mean to an internet server. However, I join the complaining side on this issue as it took Adobe FOURTEEN hours to return my script.

I submitted it four hours before the deadline, which should have been plenty of time, even with a weak server processing the conversion. My files finally showed up the next morning.

When I realized that I wasn't going to get any help from Adobe (this was about two hours before deadline), I tried placing EVERY SINGLE PAGE of my script into PageMaker to try to export it into a PDF, but error messages sprang up like weeds. Of course, no technical support around at that time on a Sunday.

For all the people saying a deadline is a deadline, listen I MET THE DEADLINE. I could have finished my review in plenty of time, even given the fact that the PGL site was moving slow as a snail.

Yes, a deadline is a deadline, but for such a "hip, hi-tech" and highly publicized contest, you would think they would have set up some MIRROR SITES. Or they could have at least sent out emails and/or pop-up windows that said to start the process much earlier. All they said was "don't wait until the last hour" in order to get all the 'paperwork' done, not for the purposes of LAME SERVERS where free programming resides.

Someone will inevitably write that the contest did say they were not liable for any technical problems that might crop up. This is written into ALL online contest legal babble to protect the people putting it on.

posted 10-24-2000 08:57 AM            

I am one of those unfortunate people who did not get their submission in on time. But I fully acknowlede that it is all my own fault. I actually had to scan my script in to a computer and then fix up any mistakes the scanning process took and when I finally got all that fixed and sent it to adobe I got it back 8 hours too late.

It is easy to blame Adobe. In situations like these it sometimes eases the pain if you have someone or something else to blame. But it's all MY fault! I've asked if the deadline could be extended, but I don't expect it to. I've withdrawn from being a reviewer not out of bitterness, but because staying around here reviewing other screenplays will be too much of a pinful reminder of how I messed up a great opportunity.

posted 10-24-2000 01:09 PM            

This will be my last visit to this site. Hopefully I'll get an e-mail from Greenlight indicating that:

... "we are aware of the effort required to develop an excellent screenplay. Because it appears obvious that you made every effort to enter the contest in a timely manner, please proceed, now, and submit your script to us! Although we warned everyone of potential technical problems, we have decided to take advantage of our option to extend contest submissions for those who were registered and prepared to submit their script before the Sunday at midnite deadline. This decision is based on the overwhelming change in expected file conversion times. This surprise prevented many prepared contestants from contributing to our fun. Enjoy the contest!"

-Thriller.