Script Consultancy

Full screenplay consultancy service

• Limited number of places per month.
• All levels, beginner to professional.

You have two options: an analysis of the first ten pages of any script, or notes on your entire screenplay.

All levels are fine, from beginner to experienced professional.

Do You Really Need Help?

Let’s cut to the chase. Will paying for my advice help you make your script better? Can writing actually be taught?

I absolutely understand why you might be concerned. But this is just one of these ‘no worries’ situations. The feedback I give you will definitely help you move your script closer to a reading like the output of a professional writer.

Yes there are no guarantees.

Yes, selling a script is a complete lottery, and even the most established writers in television and the movies get their work knocked back on occasion.

HOWEVER, by getting me to help you, you are buying the – usually utterly unavailable – time of a very, very experienced writer and editor, with extensive experience of sitting on both sides of the process.

I’ve been an editor, looking for writers for my show, and guiding writers from initial treatment right through to production draft, and I’ve been a writer, battling the system from the other side to get my own vision to screen in the best possible way.

New Scripts Can Cut Through The System

When I was a script reader I worked for the BBC in White City in London. I spent six months reading unsolicited scripts, writing readers’ reports, and recommending pass or fail for each.

At the time it felt like a crazy place to put someone with no experience of the industry. There were just a few of us acting as gatekeepers to the hundreds of scripts that came into the BBC every week from hopeful writers.

But let me tell you something. In that six months I DID spot a script that I thought had considerable potential. It was a great bit of work by a writer I didn’t know called Richard Hawkins. I passed it on up the line, and people agreed. One after another people nodded their heads, and said, surprised, ‘yes, this is a good bit of work’. They brought the writer in for a conversation, and an experienced script editor and producer began to work with him – and to cut a long story short, they eventually turned that script into a movie called The Theory of Flight. It ended up being directed by Paul Greengrass, and starring Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter.

A slush pile script actually going into production? Not bad!

And not bad for teaching me to trust my own judgement.

But Most Scripts From New Writers Need Work

You see, this was back in 1995, and no-one in the BBC Drama Department could remember an unsolicited script being lifted out of the slush pile and put into production like that. As far as people could remember, this had just never happened before. The story became a little legend in its own right for quite a number of years after.

You know why? Let me be blunt. We script readers were really nothing more than a political gesture. We poor, hopeful, innocents were put in a holding pen, a kind of Darwinian editor stew, and those of us who managed to finagle a renewal of our contract after the initial six months was over were deemed to have enough of the right stuff to be taken seriously as trainee editors.

The reason this could happen is that the vast bulk of scripts that came through the door were – let me blunt – really, really hopelessly bad. There was such a gap between the professional scripts that were actually being taken seriously, and the scripts that the ordinary hopeful sitting at home would put together, that the high ups in the BBC could happily put us down there and know that the chances of them missing out on something good were minimal.

Since that day I’ve had 16 years experience editing, developing, writing, re-writing, for many, many different producers, on both some of the most cerebral, obscure never-to-see-the-light-of-day projects, and some of the most mass market shows in the UK.

When you hire me to look at your script, you get that experience, in whatever form suits you.

So how can I help you?

You have two choices:

• The First Ten Pages Report
• The Full Draft Consultancy

Option 1: The First Ten Pages Report

When I started out, the idea of junking a script without reading all of it would have seemed ludicrous – and almost immoral. I’ve known professional writers take 20 pages to get off the ground in a first draft. But times have changed. Many, many of the studios and the agents in the USA currently, and openly, operate a system whereby the first 10 pages have to impress, or the script gets rejected. The BBC Writers Room, one of the only ways into the BBC these days, does the same thing.

I don’t agree with it in principle, but, you know, the BBC alone deals with over 10,000 scripts a year. They HAVE to employ some crude tools to bring that pile down to a manageable level.

This means you could have the best script in the world, but if your first ten pages don’t convince, then people will simply never know about it.

I’m offering you that initial feedback.

The deal is simple. You send in the first ten pages of your screenplay. Plus your outline for the rest of the script.

I read the first ten pages, and then I decide whether you’ve managed to hook me – or whether if I were sitting there with a growing pile of unsolicited scripts I’d be itching to drop it and move on to the next hopeful.

Then, and only then, I’ll read your story outline. If I see you have made obvious mistakes, or, by a simple rearrangement of what you’ve got I can make massive improvements to your opening, then I’ll suggest what I see.

I’ll write you a couple of pages of notes giving you my reasons. It’s impossible to be specific about what will be in these notes, as every situation will be different, but be assured, I’ll be thorough.

YOU NEED TO SEND ME:

• The first 10 pages of your script.
• A summary of the rest of your story. (Absolutely no more than six pages.) It’s important that you include some idea of how the story ends, and what happens to your lead characters throughout.

YOU GET BACK:

• Two or three pages of notes detailing why your opening works or doesn’t, plus suggestions on how you could improve it to make it more exciting, appealing, or just generally go with more of a bang.

All for just £49. Use this button to make your payment:

The next option is:

Option 2: The Full Single Draft Consultancy

You send me your script. I read it. I think about it. I read it again. I break the story down into its beats. I write those up, I divide them into plots, and sub plots, and see how they all play out.

I think about it some more, work out where it’s going well, where it’s not happening, where it works on its own terms, where it could do with cutting, or nudging sideways, or more story developing, or clichés removing.

I write up a mass of notes. Pages of the things, moving from general assessment of all aspects of the writing and the story, down to more detailed notes about where the story races along, where it flags, where it sparkles, where it’s as dull as river water and crucially, suggestions for you to think about to fix all this.

I write a (minimum five pages) report on it which includes the following elements:

Logline. This is a one or two sentence attempt to summarise what I have read in a way that will do the essence of the story justice. It’s the script in an absolute nutshell. It’s not a marketing aid, it’s not (usually) the sharpest high concept sentence, but it should boil down all those 100 pages into what actually happens.

Summary. Two or three paragraphs to summarise the story at the heart of the script. The lead characters, all the major events, obvious act breaks, and so on. This apparently pointless process (you wrote the thing, you know what the story is, right? Well, actually possibly not.) is actually a truly revealing process if you do it right. It uncovers just how strong the thread of story at the heart of the script (the ‘spine’) actually. (Trust me, scripts without a spine generally don’t get made.)

If something in the script isn’t part of this spine, then it tends to get left out of this summary.

This stage can be quite shocking, as you can find pages and pages of beautifully written dialogue melting away as clearly having no place in your story.

General Comments. This is the main section of the report, and contains my entirely take on the quality of the script, the quality of the writing, themes, tone, pace, generally how well it’s working in its own terms.

Recommendation. The verdict. Would  I advise the studio to reject this outright, or would I advise them to give the script further consideration?

YOU NEED TO SEND ME

• A full screenplay. Upwards of 60 pages, less than 130 pages, in standard screenplay format. Don’t send me a short story, or your novel or autobiography you are wondering whether to dramatise, or half a screenplay, or parts of a screenplay. I can’t judge your scriptwriting on any of those things.

YOU GET BACK

• A (minimum) five page report that goes into depth on the good and the bad of your screenplay.

What Does It All Cost?

Finally, the bottom line.

• First Ten Pages Report £49 (Use the button above to pay in advance.)
• Full Draft Consultancy £150 (Paid in advance.)

We All Need a Road To Damascus Moment

Back in the mid 1980’s I sold the first short story I ever completed. It was runner up in a big national competition.

Bang. Just like that. I thought I’d got it made.

Over the next ten years I spent all my spare time writing novels, short stories, the very occasional poem, an even more occasional film script.

What happened? Fame? Fortune? Yeah, right. I sold just a handful of short stories.

No more than four.

In ten years!!

So something was going wrong. I had talent (well, I thought I did) but I clearly didn’t know how the heck to apply it. I even started wondering whether that short story had been a fluke – a real life version of enough monkeys hitting enough typewriters.

I read all the books I could find, I went on several dubious courses locally, I joined local writers groups, I made all my friends read my writing till they started changing pubs to avoid me.

I still didn’t sell any more.

Mid nineties I was about to give up on the ambition of writing for a living when I lucked into a free seat on the Robert McKee story course.

For three whole days I sat there scribbling notes while light after light came on in my head.

A Genuine Turning Point

It was my Road to Damascus, whatever you’d like to call it. Having his expert analysis and deeply experienced understanding of what was really going on under the skin of a screenplay started me thinking. If you ever get the chance you should definitely go and hear him talk.

But you probably can’t get to see Robert McKee that easily – most likely you’d have to travel thousands of miles, and he doesn’t lecture terribly frequently. And even then you wouldn’t be getting the one-on-one attention you’d be getting from me.

You see, even after seeing him talk, having it all made clear, it still took me years to put the pieces together enough on my own to make my first script sale. Losing my bad habits and gaining good ones without anyone I trusted to bounce off felt like trying to make an ocean going oil tanker do a 90 degree turn.

I did it in the end. And look, if you keep trying, you too can do it on your own. A lot of people do.

But just how long have you got?

Are you prepared to risk months, or YEARS of your life on a trial and error process with no real map or compass through all the wrong turnings?

Or do you want to cut through the nonsense and get a professional opinion and guidance on your writing?

Email me to get things going. 

Important – If You’re Still Undecided

If you’re serious about wanting to know how to write better screenplays, but have still not ordered, you could well be hesitating for one of the following reasons.

Reason #1: Price, Price, Price.

It’s just worryingly expensive. And you can get similar sounding things round the corner for just a few dollars.

Now, is the service expensive, or is it reassuringly expensive?

If you find someone working for a few dollars an hour, well, what could that say about the level of experience they will be bringing to bear on your script?

Look, if you don’t have this kind of money to spend, I can absolutely respect that.

For many people writing is a pleasurable hobby, and they are not that serious in the long run.

But if you do have have the serious intent, and you do have the money, and you’re hesitating because you don’t know if it’s worth it, all I can say is that learning from an expert can take years off your learning curve.
What’s that worth to you?

Reason #2: You somehow just don’t believe you can make it as a screenwriter. That’s for the other guys.

Every screenwriter I’ve ever met has been different. Different social background, different age, some have no education, others have loads.

Some have a solid instinct for story, and the right ideas flock to their fingertips – and some (like me) struggled for years to put the pieces together before it all fell into place.

The point is you too can feel that moment when the light goes on – and it could be nearer than you think.

Reason #3: You don’t believe there can possibly be a magic wand that can simply improve your writing.

There are definitely some people who should NOT hire me to consult on your script. No offense, but if any of these describe you, well… you probably shouldn’t be on this web page.

• Please don’t hire me if you’re looking for the Holy Grail of screenwriting. There IS no button you can press that will turn your script into the hottest thing in Hollywood. Anyone who promises that is not to be trusted.
• Please don’t hire me if you’re looking for absolute rules that you will be able to follow forever and ever and which will magically mean everything you ever write from now on will make you millions.
• Please don’t hire me if you think I will be doing the writing for you. The focus will be on YOU and YOUR writing. Though I will be advising you to the very best of my ability, it will remain your voice coming through into your story, and that’s exactly how it should be.
• And, finally if you think making it as a screenwriter is completely out of your reach, is only for a mysterious elite, the pre-destined few, then you should just click away from this page right now.

16 years experience editing, developing, writing, re-writing, for many, many different producers, on both some of the most cerebral, obscure never-to-see-the-light-of-day projects, and some of the most mass market shows in the UK.

When you hire me to look at your script, you get that experience, in whatever form suits you.

Basically, if I can’t help you improve your work, and lead you towards a more marketable product, then I don’t know who can.

That might sound swollen headed. I guess I certainly am sure of what I can do. But that can only be good news for you.

I’m going to help you:

Email me to get things going.

To your writing success!