Script consultants -- recommendations?

Question

Any recommended script consultants legitimate, worth their fee, credible? I plan on hiring a script/screenplay consultant once I get my first draft written, possibly sooner. I would like to find a consultant that is worth their fee, one that is credible, etc. R

Usenet · Accepted Answer

Yeah. Linda Seger. If you cant afford her, keep our money in your pockets.

Usenet · Answer

"Scott the Reader" who posts at the blog
http://alligatorsinahelicopter.blogspot.com/
offers, when he has time, his $60 script note service.

He writes you coverage as if he were hired to cover the script for a producer or studio (which is his day job.) He charges you what he charges them.
Worth it? That's up to you. But he's honest, and not trying to rip you off. I wouldn't say we're bosom buddies, but we're friends. We've been to each other's houses. He's a nice guy.
-Ron

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[nq:2]Yeah. Linda Seger. If you cant afford her, keep our money in your pockets.[/nq]
[nq:1]I read her book. She would be nice. I will have to check what she charges.[/nq]
Two grand. Never wrote a script.

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[nq:1]Any recommended script consultants legitimate, worth their fee, credible? I plan on hiring a script/screenplay consultant once I get my first draft written, possibly sooner. I would like to find a consultant that is worth their fee, one that is credible, etc. R[/nq]
Me, Robert Flaxman, Pilar Alessandra (probably the best). Go to www.moviebytes.com and look under contests and you'll find James Ossi, who's won about 35 contests (my client), and Anita Skibski who won the American Scriptwriters Association contest last year (my client). I barely do it any more. Also on the east coast there's a guy who was a producer of Sat. Night Live who's very very good, name escapes me now. I cover them all in the Ultimate Writers Guide to Hollywood.

***** all the cheapies, $60, and way too expensive (Richard Walter $5000).

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[nq:2]Me, Robert Flaxman, Pilar Alessandra (probably the best). Go towww.moviebytes.comand ... the cheapies, $60, and way too expensive (Richard Walter $5000).[/nq]
[nq:1]Is the Saturday Night Live guy perhaps Craig Kellem? I've used him. He spent extra time with me on the ... script had nothing big wrong with it, but there was a lot of little stuff...which added up! W : )[/nq]
Yeah, it's Craig and Judy. He puts out a good newsletter, too. Thanks for jogging my memory - http://www.hollywoodscript.com

Here's Flaxman - http://www.deepfeedback.com
And Pilar http://www.onthepage.tv
As for me - find me! Ha.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Yeah, it's Craig and Judy. He puts out a good ... And Pilar http://www.onthepage.tv As for me - find me! Ha.[/nq]
[nq:1]I remember when I had braincells..[/nq]
Yeah, back then you didn't post the same thing twice. ;-)
[nq:1]Melody Jackson is available here: http://www.smartgirlsprod.com/ Tell her I sent you, and you probably won't get anything, however, she might remember that she knows me :)[/nq]
Tell her Batman sent you. And then remind Melody and that time she and Batman did this -

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Yeah, back then you didn't post the same thing twice. ... Melody and that time she and Batman did this -

[nq:1]This would probably be remotely funny, if I hadn't already seen this: http://matchesmalone.wordpress.com/2007/09/25/found-this-video/ Maybe I should retitle this thread, "Shameless Self Promotion." Oh wait. We already have that thread.. :) Mike http://thoughtsotheday.blogspot.com/ http://matchesmalone.wordpress.com/ http://www.poker-riot.com[/nq]
Are you saying that's you in BOTH those videos? LOL

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[nq:2]Two grand. Never wrote a script.[/nq]
[nq:1]I must admit, newbie that I am, it seems odd to me that many of these highly paid "how to ... videos are all about shoot me a vowel, I am clueless why she has those videos on her site. R[/nq]
I've sold feature scripts, never had one made. That's because I don't care. I do magazines, write articles, write books and novels, plays, some TV shows, videos, whatever. Long as I'm paying the bills and my kids are happy, I'm fine. I prefer writing books and novels any day.

But a lot of these consultants are people who are READERS who started out that way and have never written a script. I've reviewed them all in my Hollywood advice books. If someone's never written a script and they're telling me how to write a script, I think it's bogus. I don't care how many goofball wannabes think they're great. I think it's bogus that Richard Walter charges $5000 to read a script yet *** knows the last time he sold one or was paid to write one. He hits up everyone of his students at UCLA for the $5000 though, from the ones who've come to me.
If someone's written and sold stuff, and hopefully is currently involved in getting things to people in Hollywood, I give them a lot more credence. Call me prejudiced.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]But a lot of these consultants are people who are ... I give them a lot more credence. Call me prejudiced.[/nq]
[nq:1]Well that is one reason I am tempted to work with Maggie Prescott http://home.earthlink.net/~maggie22/id4.html because I see she actually writes ... of course), that is all I seek. Then I can take it to the next level with rewrites, etc. R[/nq]
That sounds fine, except you don't need good. You need great. You have to stand out, way out. I sold a script once, low budget, and they told me they read 250 scripts and picked my co-written script. I got a book deal once from someone who placed an ad in the LA Times and received
1250 resumes.

Despite the naysayers here, there are plenty of people who sell their first thing. The way they do that is a great script and usually a little luck. The book I mentioned went to #1 in its category on Amazon. My resume was picked by a psychic named Alan Vaughn who grabbed my resume out of the pile, handed it to his friend and said "Pick this guy, he'll do a good job."
When you have a great script that's really ready, it breeds that kind of luck. So try to do a great script.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]..[/nq]
[nq:2]That sounds fine, except you don't need good. You need great. You have to stand out, way out. ...[/nq]
[nq:1]I agree. But I was talking about a first draft. If my first draft can be good, then rewrites (tweak ... my hope would be for a good first draft, not a great first draft (great first screenplay final draft, yes).[/nq]
Don't send script doctors your first draft. Watch movies script in hand. If you can, read one draft then later drafts of a movie. Check out the Newmarket Press "Shooting Series" books where they explain how the scripts evolved.
Most of the great scripts are NOT made that way by script doctors. All a good script doctor does is see things you might not see due to a personal blind spot. Some times their experience in the business factors in as well.
No script doctor told Shamalayan "hey, what if the doctor's dead?" At least that I know of, and I could find out. He figured that out on the fifth or sixth draft. Like I said, Cast Away took 35 drafts.

Script consultants -- recommendations?

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