Adam Smith is currently an actor in LA, who's also a fine writer in his own right. I've asked him to read for a role in "Ciao" awhile back. I also wanted his feedback, which he kindly offered:

It's refreshing to see an episode of people's lives as they occur rather than as Hollywood would have us believe they occur. In my opinion, the only drawback to the script is that the stakes aren't very high. The characters are believable, you have a knack for writing dialogue the way that people actually speak, and all of the storytelling elements are there: humor, tragedy, anticipation, etc. Maybe the stakes don't need to be high. They aren't always in real life. I guess I just noticed that your style (as in "Happy Birthday," and from what I recall of your part of the script in "Deadroom") tends to find the tension in the quiet moments. To be more specific, imagine you're in a room full of friends. Just a regular day, doing regular stuff. One of the friends always carries a concealed gun. He never shows it, never talks about it. Everyone knows he has it, nobody knows why, nobody asks. There is nothing inherently strange or dangerous about the guy other than the fact that he carries a concealed gun around. That, to me, is what your filmmaking style is like. I didn't feel that element in "Ciao." I hope that makes sense, and I don't want to offend you. I'm just being honest because I respect and admire your ability.

I'm not sure if that's an accurate analogy of my filmmaking style, but it sure as heck sounds neat.

~

Speaking of higher stakes, check out David's interview with the filmmaker who always raises them.