We've all been there. You've come up with the killer idea or slaved over draft upon draft of a screenplay and you just can't see why it's not firing on all cylinders.
Or you are one of the lucky ones and love your completed screenplay and just need to get it out there and land yourself an agent or production deal.
If any of the above applies to you I would suggest you have a read of the following. It may not be as exciting as your screenplay but it could prove invaluable.
"Aaarrgh", I hear you cry, "Not another script doctor!"
Well, yes, although I don't call myself one! I am a screenwriter just like the majority of my clients who just happens to run his own script consultancy and has done since 2002 helping aspiring and established writers as well as producers and directors with their projects.
Drawing upon my 7+ years in film production working on such projects as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Sleepy Hollow, Enigma, Band of Brothers and the first two Harry Potter features and my subsequent years as a screenwriter having work read and personally appraised by such names as Chris Columbus, Michael Apted, Heidi Crane and others, I have developed a deep understanding of what makes a story work.
Yes, I have read all the books. Syd Field, Robert McKee, Lew Hunter, Michael Hauge, Linda Seger etc and I recommend that writers read a select few but reading these books won't guarantee you'll write yourself a great script. The majority of my clients to date had read one or more of these authors and still their screenplays were poorly formatted, badly structured and had no real character development to speak of.
It often helps to have someone who not only knows what to look out for and who spends much of his waking life reading screenplays but it also helps to have that objective eye. Often, the writer can be too close to their work and cannot see the wood for the trees.
I have a range of services that I tend to mould around each individual writer as no two are the same. The only fixed-rate service I offer is the AA service. This stands for Annotation & Analysis and, as far as I am aware, is unique. It guarantees against a five and dime treatment of your work (this is where readers take a shortcut and look at only the first five and last ten pages of a screenplay) where a hard copy of the screenplay is annotated by me correcting typos, spelling and grammatical errors and formatting faux-pas.
The second stage is the analysis which is based on Hollywood coverage. (samples on request) This is a feedback report detailing areas of concern. Only constructive comments are made and suggestions as to how to solve a particular problem are offered where applicable.
If you would like to discuss a particular project with me (at no charge) and see if you would benefit from any of my services or indeed would like to know more about me or my consultancy then do not hesitate to email me direct at: philmscripts?hotmail.co.uk
**Christmas Discount now in effect**
For the remainder of 2006, I have reduced my rate by ?25.00 to ?70.00 per feature-length script (60+ pages) Film short scripts (less than 60 pages) can have the AA service for a pound a page. (eg. 25 pages = ?25)?/font=Courier New?
If you would like to take a look at my webspace page, please do. While still a work in progress, I hope to put up some priceless information to help new writers out there.
?url?www.philms.spaces.live.com?/url?
Also, I am on myspace if any one wishes to have a chat or find out more about me.
?url?www.myspace.com/philmscripts?/url?
And last but not least, if anyone wishes to chat via msn then please do add me for a chat. If I can spare you some time I will do.
msn: philmscripts?hotmail.co.uk
