Memes 'n' Biz

Scott the Reader put up an interesting meme, which is to post the first ten verbs in a script. Putatively, it's to see if the script is "too passive," although I'd be wary of tarring an entire script with a brush made from bristles entirely culled from the first half a page. That's how long it takes WAR, INCORPORATED to use up ten verbs:

1. howl
2. strech
3. hover
4. loom
5. roar
6. are
7. approach
8. adorn
9. pledge
10. stand

Those are the base forms, not the actual usages ("howl" is actually "Wind howls..." in the script). It would be more interesting to analyze all the verbs in a script, statistically, and see with what frequency you use passive or active verbs.

On the other hand, is such analysis useful in any more than an academic sense? Using active verbs instead of passive verbs is one of the easy parts of writing. It's a specific, distinct, noncomplicated task you can do in a single revision pass. It can go into the toolbox, I suppose, but it's strictly a polish-level tool. One of the last things you should be doing, after you're certain your story and characters are solidly built.

I'm definitely submitting WAR, INCORPORATED to the Nicholls this year; and per the FAQ, which says to feel free to shop your script around while it's in consideration at the Nicholls, I'm on that as well. My tentative plan is to get the Hollywood Agents and Managers Directory, put together an appropriate list of targets, make a metric shit-ton of phone calls, and then spray WI everywhere until someone buys it, agrees to represent me, or a slavering mob of producers shows up at my door with torches and pitchforks.

Any particular advice? Anyone got a producer or agent friend who they'd like to slip the script to? Anyone want to read a copy? It's all spit 'n' polished in nice PDF format; just send me an email.