One of My Pet Peeves
I don’t know why, but I’d say over 75% of the amateur scripts I read spell iPod in some bizarre way.
Some examples:
- I-Pod
- I Pod
- IPOD
- ipod
- Ipod
- I-pod
I’d be curious to hear from other readers about their experiences. But for me, this mistake pops up with alarming regularity. And whenever I see it, it yanks me out of the script.
My mind starts to wander…
I bet they don’t have an iPod themselves…
What else are they simply winging?
Is this symptomatic of other sloppy errors I’m going to find?
Mind wandering = bad
It’s definitely not the end of the road for a positive review, but it is a bump in the road. The more bumps you have, the less enjoyable the journey.
So please, no more crazy spellings of iPod or iPad!
The one possible exception is inside of dialogue — where you need to spell out odd terms or acronyms to ensure they’re read correctly by those who may not be familiar with the term. Even though I still don’t think it’s necessary, you could make a case for the following use:
MARY
Where’s that rectangular thingy? I need to shove it under this table leg.
JACK
You mean, a newspaper?
MARY
No! It’s small and shiny... well not so shiny any more. I always use it to balance the table. Where did it go?
JACK
Wait, are you talking about my I-Pod?!
Perhaps when the iPod was first introduced, it could have been worth it to clarify the pronunciation by capitalizing the first letter, etc. But these day, I don’t think it’s necessary.
And it’s absolutely not necessary in your action lines. So I’m officially banishing all future iPod misspellings with a Harry Potter spell — Typo-iPodio!
What are some of your pet peeves when reading a script?
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