it looks like they unbroke -L for 'screen' tool, such that it no longer requires a log file parameter (which had broken just everything). and now the log file parm is still available, but you jam it together with the -L flag.
app_name="$1"; shift
echo "$(date_stringer ' '): starting $screen_name now..."
#hmmm: version check for if we're using old screen? this -L change was a mistake though for the screen project owners on ubuntu.
-local boguslog=/tmp/screen_junk.log
- screen -L $boguslog -S "$screen_name" -d -m nice -n $NICENESS_LEVEL mono "$app_name"
+#local boguslog=$HOME/screen_junk_$(date_stringer).log
+#maybe they unbroke it in 17.10?
+ screen -L$boguslog -S "$screen_name" -d -m nice -n $NICENESS_LEVEL mono "$app_name"
echo "$(date_stringer ' '): $screen_name started."
# only sleep if we are not at the last process that gets started.