I received a less than stellar feedback on a written pitch that I take issue with. This person gave me a low score because of the setting of my story. Most of the story takes place in a surgical aircraft. The reader "found the concept of surgeries taking place on airplanes a little bit too tough to buy". He went on to say that the environment would be difficult to sterilize and there is the issue of turbulence.
Since this is not written under the guise of fantasy, doesn't he think that I researched the topic? China has engineered medical surgical planes. Just because it's not in the United States, doesn't mean it does not exist. What this tells me is that this person, when dealing with a topic unknown to him, can't take a few seconds to Google it before judging.
Another issue I have with this person is his comment about a "sterilize" environment. My first thought was doesn't he realize surgical tents are set up during wartime for seriously injured troops right near battle areas, They don't book a flight on Spirit Airline to fly wounded soldiers to the nearest cleanest hospital. If military medics can sterilize tents on the battle field, I think that doctors can manage sterilizing an area on a aircraft for surgery.
Am I being too judgmental for thinking that this person should do a little research before providing feedback?
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C17s in Australia have a medical fitout including surgery. It is not fantasy, I've seen it for myself.
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I think a medical surgical plane is an incredible, unique location for a story, Vikki Harris! We can't expect people we pitch to to research. Maybe add a quick part in your pitch explaining that medical surgical planes are real and turbulence on them isn't a problem (?).
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Globemaster Med fitout.
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I learned screenwriting by creating no-budget films. A surgical aircraft sounds expensive. So how do you plan to show everything in a realistic way?
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Have you considered turning it into a military surgical aircraft? No, you are not being judgmental, but in pitching you have to take into account that the people who read your stuff have never lived in the real world