Choice of Writing Style
You choose based on a common point of reference:
1. The first, which I call modern spec style, is embodied in the Helgeland screenplay Bloodwork. This style prefers a minimalist approach to sluglines for readability and utilizes a minimum of CAPS for shot suggestion. This style is most commonly recommended to screenwriters writing spec scripts for big-budget hollywood. The ideal maximum page count for this kind of screenplay is 115 pages.
2. The second style, which I call modern shoot-to-direct style, is embodied in the Gilroy/Helgeland screenplay Bourne Supremacy. This style prefers a descriptive sluglines for readability and uses CAPS to call out shots. You can pick any slugline format you want, but I prefer using the academy sample.
3.The third style is Hollywood teleplay format, embodied in television scripts like Desperate Housewives. This style features act breaks for television and uses CAPS to call out shots.
4. Lastly, you may request a script be written in any style we agree on, simply by submitting an existing screenplay/format.
Screenwriting Services
See also: script doctoring services.
My services are aimed at creating for you, a copyrighted-protected screenplay, teleplay or treatment from your story (or existing copyright-protected material) which you can then sell or option to a feature film or television producer. I do not make empty promises about selling 23 words scrawled onto a cocktail napkin to Paramount for a million dollars. Demi Moore is not attached to star in a cocktail napkin, neither mine nor yours. I write treatments in either free-form short-story format or in Syd Field treatment format. I write screenplays in the format described in The Hollywood Standard (IBSN:978-1932907018) or in another format mutually agreed upon before writing begins. If you are intelligent and already a good writer, you can train yourself to write a screenplay for about the same cost as hiring me to write one. This includes, but is not limited to, the cost of workshops, books, errors in judgement and extensive unpaid hours writing unusable dreck.
I don't write screenplays from ideas. I write them from stories. If you have a story, it can be turned into a screenplay. If your story isn't already written down (captured in a copyright-protectable form), you can relay it to me in a series of videotaped interviews which can be sent to the Copyright Office and registered (then you own it). Your story does not have to be particularly long or detailed and you yourself do not have to be a particularly good storyteller.
(Many of the Philip K. Dick works that have been adapted into feature-length movie screenplays are short stories under ten pages in length.)
Video Interview - a videotaped interview aimed at capturing your story in a copyright-protectable form.
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COST:
| $300.00/hour, 6-hour minimum, 12-hour maximum.
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NOTE: studio can accomodate interviewer (off-camera) and two guests (on-camera). Larger studio for groups, at additional expense, available 25 min south of LAX.| TERMS: | Work for Hire (you own it). | |
| FORMAT: | Standard definition NTSC video. | |
| DELIVERY: | 30 days from completion of interview recordings. | |
| DELIVERABLES: | 1) Interviewer, with equipment, includes studio time on location in Hollywood.
2) DVD-R (DVD Player ready) discs of raw story footage, ready for duplication and sending to Library of Congress.
3) Story approval subject to my quality requirements.
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| PAYMENT SCHEDULE: | $1000.00 non-refundable deposit.
66% due one week before first day of principal photography (interview session).
33% due upon delivery of DVD-R discs.
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Story Approval - Unless we have a pre-existing work relationship, or you have hired me to videotape your story, you must have approval for your copyright-protected work before hiring me.
The story approval fee provides compensation for me to read and re-read a novel or go through whatever source material you desire to have adapted for the screen.
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COST:
| $100.00 (flat rate).
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| TERMS: | Either approved or not. | |
| DELIVERY: | 30 days from receipt of source material. Submit: book (mailing address to be provided), short story (PDF), proof of authorship or option agreement. | |
Screenplay Treatment - approximately 8-10 pages (double-spaced) short story aimed at preparing your story for a screenplay. If you plan to start with a video interview, this is the second step in screenplay development.
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COST:
| WGA Minimum plus 10% (non-original story treatment).
NOTE: requires prior story approval before writing can begin.
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| TERMS: | Work for Hire. | |
| DELIVERY: | 1-3 months from contract signing. | |
| DELIVERABLES: | 1) PDF, double-spaced, 8-10 page story treatment in Syd Field or short-story format. | |
| PAYMENT SCHEDULE: | WGA specified.
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Feature Film Screenplay - a 90-115 page screenplay based on writer-approved, existing source material. My writing style is visual and terse with a minimum of exposition (description of character thoughts and non-filmable prose). I can write to a specific film budget target or to other constraints, as long as they are specified before any work begins.
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| COST: | WGA Minimum Rate plus 10% (excluding treatment). | |
| TERMS: | Literary Purchase Agreement, including Screenplay by requirement. | |
| DELIVERY: | First Draft: 9-12 months from date of contract signing. | |
| DELIVERABLES: | 1) Writers Draft in PDF format.
2) Final Draft in PDF format.
3) Legal Chain of Title.
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| PAYMENT SCHEDULE: | WGA specified.
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| Ghostwritten Film Screenplay - a 115-120 page screenplay based on approved, existing source material, written anonymously under non-disclosure agreement. |
| COST: | Triple the WGA Minimum Rate plus 10% (treatment included). | |
| TERMS: | Work for Hire Agreement and NDA (non-disclosure). | |
| DELIVERY: | First Draft: 9-12 months from date of contract signing. | |
| DELIVERABLES: | 1) Writers Draft in PDF format.
2) Final Draft in PDF format.
3) Legal Chain of Title.
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| PAYMENT SCHEDULE: | WGA specified.
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Television Screenplay/Teleplay - a 22 or 44 page teleplay based on writer-approved, existing source material. If the teleplay is for an existing episodic series I need three representative sample scripts (PDF) and a complete set of DVDs at least a month before any writing begins.
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| COST: | WGA Minimum Rate plus 10%. | |
| TERMS: | Literary Purchase Agreement or Work for Hire. | |
| DELIVERY: | First Draft: 2-3 months from date of contract signing. | |
| DELIVERABLES: | 1) Writers Draft in PDF format.
2) Final Draft in PDF format.
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| PAYMENT SCHEDULE: | WGA specified.
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Television Pilot - a 50-60 page television pilot based on writer-approved, existing source material. I can write to specific constraints, such as location availability, as long as they are specified before any work begins.
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| COST: | WGA Minimum Rate plus 10%. | |
| TERMS: | Literary Purchase Agreement, including credit requirements. | |
| DELIVERY: | First Draft: 3-6 months from date of contract signing. | |
| DELIVERABLES: | 1) Writers Draft in PDF format.
2) Final Draft in PDF format.
3) Legal Chain of Title.
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| PAYMENT SCHEDULE: | WGA specified.
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