Hiring a “script doctor”
I just got to LA a few months ago. I have written a few screenplays, well received from a manager, producer and teachers at my college. But have not landed an agent or manager, yet. I am writing a new script, it’s a hard write but very rewarding. It not only has commercial appeal but I think it is my step in the right direction.
A fellow writer suggested this script doctor to me, just to help me after I got through the “grunt” of my script and really help me polish it. I have tried workshops and things like that with my other scripts, but I do not find them very effective. I figure I would rather take the money and give it to a pro, get a one on one meeting with them and get good notes, of course do the re-writes myself, but getting someone else to look at it and help. My friend the writer tells me he would not send anything out before it goes through her. He swears by her. I think I might try it. Any advice about going to a script doctor?
–Silla Desade
Los Angeles
“Script doctor” generally means something different in the industry, so I want to draw a distinction between the kind of script doctor you’re talking about and the kind of script doctor Variety would talk about.
In the industry, a script doctor is an established screenwriter with a bunch of credits who comes in on a project shortly before production and does a rewrite to fix some specific, nagging problems. (Or, depending on your perspective, destroys the things that made the project unique.) Steve Zaillian is a highly-regarded script doctor. Arguably, I could be considered a script doctor, because I’ve done a fair number of these 23rd-hour emergency jobs. But no one’s business card reads “script doctor.” It’s a specific task within screenwriting, but not really a profession in-and-of itself.
A lot of times, the work you do on these projects is described as “surgical,” which fits well with the script doctor moniker. Generally, you’re not rewriting the whole script. You’re fixing a few key sections that aren’t working.
The person your friend is recommending to you may or may not be a screenwriter. In some cases, it could be someone analogous to a literary editor, who goes through a text and helps “clean it up” before publication. If so, great. Good writers are not always good proofreaders, and it’s important to have sharp eyes looking over your work.
If this person is truly going to rewrite your script, however, I have to question the legitimacy of your career aspirations. Screenwriting isn’t about banging out a first draft and letting someone else make it shine. If you really have limitations in a given area — dialogue, plotting, whatever — you need a writing partner, not a self-styled guru.
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August 14th, 2004 at 3:52 pm
I guess I might draw a distinction between a script doctor — someone who would rewrite your script for pay — and a screenwriting consultant — someone who is experienced in writing and analysis, and gives you the benefit of their opinions and insight for a fee.
I’ve worked with a few consultants, but two in particular (actually three, but two of them are partners) have been very good to work with: Sheila Gallien, who worked at CAA and later with Bill Broyles for a number of years, through some of his very BIG projects; and Kathy McCullough and Joanne Lamars (aka, the ScriptNannies). I met Sheila through the Austin Film Festival, for which she is a consultant; and the ScriptNannies, because a producer I was working with gave me one of Kathy’s scripts to read, and I just accidentally stumbled across her partnership with Joanne. All of these women are writers as well as analysts, they’re reasonable in their rates, unstinting in their efforts, and could be helpful to beginning, intermediate and even some advanced screenwriters.
I’ve also worked with a couple of nightmares in the consultant biz, but I won’t post anything here: it could have been a bad pairing, or they could be the psychotic, paranoiac intellectual fenceposts they turned out to be, in my humble opinion.
My two cents…
October 3rd, 2004 at 9:51 am
Here in the UK we calla script consultant a ’script editor’.
Often a producer will hire you a script editor for a few days or more and they will try to help you hone your ideas, structure etc. This will usually happen before your first draft – when at beat sheet or treatment stage.
They won’t really polish your screenplay for you… Best thing is to find a group of other writers who’re at the same stage of their careers as you and agree that you’ll give theirs a once over if they do it for you.
Good luck!
September 26th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
So you’re saying a script “editor” does not rewrite the script? This person has a meticulous eye in terms of punctuation, spelling, formating, gramitical errors and such. But a script doctor is brought in to completely rewrite the sript? I am asking becuase I have just completed a script, and I was recently signed to a small agency. I have had several people read it including screenwriting professors and have gotten good reviews. But before I send it to my agent I need to have an editor look at it. That’s what I’m having trouble with. My weakness is spelling and grammer. I feel like I can’t catch the mistakes I have made. And the people I have given it to are not professional editors. Is there anyone you could recomend at a reasonable rate? And do you recomend having it edited before copyrighting or after? Thanks for your time. A response would really help me out.
Micah Cox finaldraft25@yahoo.com
May 21st, 2007 at 10:25 am
Although I am not an established name in the industry, or have a script produced for that matter, I have done the work of a script doctor in numerous occasions, on scripts written by beginning writers as well as on scripts that were the basis for movies that were on the verge of being released… there are times when two or three lines may destroy the whole unity of a film, or a scene may be misplaced, well, there are tones of reasons why someone with a good sense of drama, story, character building, etc is brought in to fix a script that is close to being ready, but not quite… Most writers fall into a very common hole, and although they start writing the script with enthusiasm and in most cases with a very good idea/premise, they end up with a better than mediocre script – that’s why we have almost 50,000 scripts registered every year with WGA and only about a dozen get produced… if you want to know more, let me know…
September 3rd, 2007 at 4:24 am
I have a completed screenplay an agent is interested in. 118 pages. Said I needed a script doctor. Tell me more. How much you charge? Turnaround time, etc.
December 8th, 2007 at 3:31 am
My script, which is based on a true Italian story, will be going into production in Italy this spring. As we are aiming initially for the US market, the film will be in English with a British, US and Italian cast. The script is in English and got thumbs up from a number of Italian directors and actors. Any suggestions on a script doctor who could help touch up the script to make sure it will be appealing to a North American audience without losing the Italian core of the story?
January 27th, 2008 at 12:54 am
I am just finishing a script with a co-writer. It is adapted from a novel I wrote. Neither of us are WGA members. (1) trying to figure out an approximation of how much to pay my co-writer; (2) how much to pay a “pro” for a polish (I’ve heard everything from a few thousand to $100k); (3)the difference between hiring a WGA writer (after the strike) and a non-WGA writer for the polish. Any advice is appreciated.
February 3rd, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Doug: My two cents is that you should “pay” your co-writer half ownership of the script. After all, you co-wrote it together. I also think writers should polish their own scripts — as John said, that’s what writers do. Sure, you can get a good reader to give you some notes if you need a fresh set of eyes to give you perspective on a draft (the best cost-benefit result so far for me has been from Scott at alligatorsinahelicopter.blogspot.com), but paying a “pro” to polish a spec script seems like a bad idea to me. As far as I’m concerned, the only people who should be calling a “pro” for a polish is a producer who feels that the original writer(s) have gotten stuck (or simply won’t agree to the producer’s changes). I wouldn’t want that to happen to me (well, except that it would mean I’d sold a script, so in a sense I would), so I’m not about to go pay someone my own money to do it.
I also wanted to comment generally on John’s observation here: “If you really have limitations in a given area — dialogue, plotting, whatever — you need a writing partner, not a self-styled guru.”
One can have a writing partner for many reasons, not just to rectify a perceived deficiency in craft or technique. Team comedy writing can often allow for better riffing, for example, and can be beneficial even when both writers are strong in all writing areas. A partner also can bring domain expertise (say, if you’re writing a Cop drama and hook up with a writer who is an ex-Cop), or help expedite the writing process, and so on. I’d say that bringing on a partner to fix a deficiency should be a last resort — first you should try to fix the problem within yourself by studying scripts and films that do well what you think you lack, and if needed, by talking with other writers or editors about your struggles. I highly recommend always getting multiple viewpoints on any area of craft, though, because what works for someone else (even someone smart and successful like John) may not necessarily work for you. Different writers have different styles and techniques that are personal and individualized. I think John’s observation about self-styled gurus really stems from dealing with the kind of people (and they are legion) who attempt to mold scripts (and writers) into some particular theory of writing technique that may not be applicable to you (or, for that matter, to anyone). Those kinds of people should be avoided at all costs. Furthermore, I feel you should generally trust the most cynical of your instincts regarding both personality match and fair pricing for any reader, editor, consultant, self-styled pro, guru, word ninja, script doctor, nurse or dentist, personal savior, or anything else regarding craft or career development.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:31 am
Glad to see this string. Thanks to all who have taken the time and trouble to advise strangers for free.
I have published a lot of books with major NY publishers (mostly how-to but including legit national bestsellers; one unpublished novel praised by candid friends and some literary agents who nevertheless didn’t want to represent it; one reader for a big agent said he couldn’t put it down; one agent (who has represented me on other projects) implied she would take it if I made certain changes; one big agent like the writing enough that he wanted to see any other novels I had written).
I have written one screenplay. Years ago a friend at one of the most major three LA agencies liked it but felt it would be best served by a smaller, hungrier agency. I sent it to like five, but none wanted it and maybe only one even read it. I had access to some famous directors and producers who didn’t make an offer (though one wanted to hang onto it), and they were generally favorable. Candid laypeople love it and think it would have a huge emotional appeal to middle-aged men; it would also have some attraction for college-age men and women.
A friend who knows screenwriting (judged a big screenwriting contest, worked for a famous exec at a major studio, where he read millions of script) gave me pages of notes and thinks the script has a lot of promise but that big parts should be restructured. I think the first half or three-quarters of my script is very strong, and all of it is grammatically and punctuationally letter-perfect (though this late-night comment may not be).
I need somebody to do restructing here and there, maybe flesh out one or more characters some, maybe write a less conventional ending. Maybe revise one-quarter of the work I have already put in and polished. I would like somebody to work on spec, for a percentage of any proceeds. A script doctor apparently would come in and fix a purchased script just before production; I’m nowhere that far into the process. From the comments in the string, it looks like I need a writing partner.
I don’t want to pay somebody up-front. The person (e.g. a consultant) might be incompetent, and theft of story ideas sounds like not paranoia but a reality in Hollywood.
How do I find a writing partner who has written part or all of a script that has been represented by a respected agency and has been produced by a real studio or independent producer with the primary writer making low or higher six figures, with the script actually being produced? Again, the writing partner would have to work on spec for a fair percentage. Does my quest sound like somebody stoned on dope (but I’m not a user), or is there a way to do this, either a way that has a good chance of working or a way that would work only with extreme persistence or unbelievable luck or very strong industry connections?
If there is any credibility here, where would I find a partner and how much of proceeds would he or she get? (1/4 for heavily rewriting 1/4?)
I am hoping a major entertainment lawyer I know could prevail upon agents he knows to prevail upon credited writers he or she reprents and get such a person to spend an hour skimming my script to decide if he or she wanted to be my writing partner. Is this scenario credible? Have you heard of something like this being done? Would I have to have a contact who got an agency friend to help? Would I have a chance in hell if I went an agency by himself, described my serious non-fiction book successes, and asked an agent to ask one of his or her screenwriters to skim the script and consider becoming my writing partner? If I tried this, would it make any sense to approach CAA, WMA, ICM? Or to try only smaller, but credible agencies?
I live in Northern California. And handicap here?
Are the stats really as bad as 12 of 50,000 WGA scripts per year being produced? I would think 12 scripts a month or even a week are produced at some level, from major feature films with bankable actors to small but decent films that go straight to cable.
How important is WGA registration? (I thought a common-law copyright protected any written work until it’s published. But maybe WGA protects ideas, which can’t be copyrighted.)
Sorry for the length and detail, but I bet a lot of your readers would benefit from the questions and the answers.
And where else can I get answers to the same questions, maybe answers that would supplement whatever advice and war stories I might get at this site?
Thanks to John August and the participants for doing a real public service. John: what is your training; what are your credits?
Thanks again. I will watch for your responses.