What a relief

Just had my conference with a student who is hugely talented. He created one of the most compelling, complex characters I've seen in a student script in ages. But then he shot himself in the foot big time in the usual ways. Ends up he's a novelist (I guessed as much). Sometimes, novelists resist screenwriting and want to change its reality. Not this guy. After getting angry at my comments, he reconsidered them and discovered on his own that, yep, I'm right. I think this guy has a bright future in screenwriting, once he gets the parameters down. After all, it IS easier to write a screenplay than a novel. (I was relieved this wasn't a novelist I'd have to spend the term arguing with about Reality 101, as sometimes happens.)