My Script Services
I deliver honest, cohesive and actionable development assistance aimed at maximising a story’s ability to compete in its target market. Since 2009, I’ve been assessing and guiding projects of all genres, formats, and budgets for writers, producers, and funding bodies. My expertise spans the gamut of film and television development, from concept to production financing.
I apply strong story analysis with a view to strengthening a narrative’s ability to grab, sustain and reward the attention of readers and viewers. My guiding value is a story’s ability to give us an emotional or intellectual experience, and I help writers to enhance that quality.
Request any Report or Service and I will contact you. Payment is through PayPal’s secure website or by bank transfer via invoice. Turnaround for reports is usually within 4-6 weeks. Treatments, scripts, and production funding packages can be received in Final Draft, Word, RTF, or PDF.
For enquiries about my rewrite services on treatments, scripts, or funding proposals, please contact me below.
Feedback Report
More detailed than industry-standard coverage, this report speaks to your script’s key strengths and weaknesses, providing productive feedback with the aim of increasing your story’s ability to compete for its target audience.
Primary narrative elements are given in-depth analysis with solid recommendations, especially useful if writers are having difficulty isolating or resolving interrelating narrative problems.
This report has a minimum length of 6-pages and is priced at €400.
It comprises the following:
1) PREMISE – This section frames the entire analysis with a comprehensive examination of what the story is about dramatically, thematically and what kind of experience it’s offering its target audience.
2) CHARACTER – An appraisal of your protagonist’s nature and journey. This examines their primary conflicts, their relatability, motivation, flaws, depth, believability, wants and needs. Supporting characters and relationships are also considered.
3) STRUCTURE – Detailed comments on the effectiveness of your story’s arrangement (beginning, middle and ending) and whether it is supporting or detracting from the script’s main dramatic and thematic tensions.
4) DIALOGUE – This section primarily addresses the dialogue’s ability to reveal character and aid dramatic tension. Quality of subtext, exposition, credibility and tone in the characters’ conversations and language are also considered.
5) PACING – An evaluation of how effective and consistent the story is at maintaining audience engagement. This looks at the story’s rhythm and forward momentum, escalation in the main story tension, areas of suspense and reader-repelling lag.
6) WORLD OF THE STORY – Thorough analysis of the design and effectiveness of the story world. This takes in the script’s visual language, the story’s setting and time period together with character vocations, cultures and credibility.
7) CONCLUSION – A summary of the commercial and artistic merits of the script’s Premise, how the story is likely to fare and where attention should be placed going forward. This can also contain comments on format and writing style.
Advanced Development Report
This service applies scientific scrutiny to macro and micro story elements in a comprehensive assessment of the project. The report presents recommendations in support of a plan to strengthen the project’s distinctive sell. The service is particularly useful if you are preparing a strong rewrite or funding-ready draft.
The Advanced Development Report has a minimum length of 16-pages and is priced at €800.
This report can include the following sections:
1) PREMISE – An overview of how effectively the combination of all narrative elements is delivering an emotionally impactful experience that is greater than the sum of its parts. Areas of emphasis include concept execution and story cohesion.
2) DRAMATIC CONFLICT – This section looks at aspects of the script’s main dramatic conflict (protagonist’s story problem, goal, motivation/stakes and source of antagonism) and how well they are combining to drive the narrative and produce story-long dramatic tension.
3) THEMATIC CONFLICT – An assessment of the story’s main theme and how efficiently it is being explored by way of the characters’ journeys and by the story as a whole. Priority is given to the story’s meaning and the clarity of its expression, often through the script’s resolution.
4) MARKET – Whether aimed at a broad or niche market, the script’s ability to meet its target audience’s expectations in a way that is both familiar and original is addressed here. How the story measures up against its most applicable competition also features.
5) CHARACTER – A careful examination of principal and supporting characters and how their struggles are facilitating the script’s dramatic and thematic strengths, with constructive suggestions. Primary aspects considered include the protagonist’s journey (internal and external conflict and transformation, or near-transformation) and their nature (flaws, motivations, depth, believability and relatability).
6) STRUCTURE – This section evaluates how efficiently the story’s beginning, middle and ending are handling the main conflict’s set-up, confrontation and resolution. The guiding focus here is on whether the arrangement of character journeys, subplots and main tensions is supporting the story’s dramatic and thematic climaxes.
7) DIALOGUE – A comprehensive assessment of the dialogue’s ability to reveal character, create tension and imply theme. This section also considers how the script’s dialogue supports character credibility, reinforces the story world, sustains tone, conveys subtext and disguises exposition.
8) PACING – An assessment of how well the story is maintaining audience engagement throughout the telling. While this section focuses on the main dramatic tension, it also considers secondary dramatic questions, moments of suspense and how to address notable lag.
9) WORLD OF THE STORY – Detailed comments on the authenticity of the story world. This examination considers the script’s visual language, the presence or absence of good research, the story’s setting, time period, character vocations and cultures.
10) WRITING THE PAGE – An evaluation of the overall quality of the writing. Emphasis is given to areas of the script that are markedly vivid or muddled, while also highlighting errors such as: format, grammar, punctuation and passive verbs.
11) CONCLUSION – A summation of the project’s current strengths, weakness and its calculable potential. This section summarises the aspects of the story that are most in need of development, the narrative issues most in need of resolving and the route forward best able to meet these objectives in preparation for a redraft.
Script Editing
For projects at any stage of development, this service provides collaborative written and in-person support in the design and achievement of a robust rewrite.
Depending on the project’s needs, the process generally involves an agreed number of creative meetings, feedback reports, and preparatory documents (I am a strong believer in the 10-page treatment) over a fixed period.
An initial read fee (€200) and an outline of the creative team’s development goals is required ahead of a preliminary meeting. Please contact me below for rates.
A sample process is as follows:
A DEVELOPMENT PLAN – Designing an effective development plan is foundational to good script editing. Working out the terms of a rewrite strategy often entails:
- Identifying and discussing the project’s current strengths and weaknesses.
- Defining the changes that will bring enhancement and are achievable in the timeframe.
Deciding the number of stages, preparatory documents (e.g. research, sequence tensions, beat sheets, outlines, and treatments), feedback reports, and deadlines.
In my experience, effective and efficient script editing collaborations rely on:
- A clear understanding of the agreed goals and priorities.
- The uses of suitable preparatory documents for narrative troubleshooting ahead of going to script.
- Adherence to the strategy, vision, and deadlines, with clear communication and monitoring of progress.
- Flexibility to adapt the plan if the process yields unforeseen opportunities that can more effectively meet development goals. On this point, any big new ideas or course corrections generally cannot be pursued without extending the plan (necessitating a new timeline and terms).
Assessment and development of a project features reports with sections such as:
1) PREMISE – Examination of the project’s strengths, weaknesses and its ability to prevail in its target market. This section provides an overview of the script’s commercial and artistic merits with an emphasis on how its narrative quality and its distinctive sell can be enhanced. This often underscores key dramatic and thematic issues for troubleshooting.
2) GENRE and MARKET – An evaluation of the particular experience which the script is offering its target audience. This looks at the project’s international reach, the familiar and original aspects of the narrative and story pattern. Tone, mix of genres and budget also feature.
3) DRAMATIC CONFLICT – This section comprehensively breaks down key elements of the story’s primary dramatic conflict (e.g. goal, stakes, source of antagonism, motivation, obstacles). The aim is to improve the tension being generated by the script’s unique combination of these components. Secondary sources of drama are also assessed.
4) THEMATIC CONFLICT – A detailed examination of the story’s main themes, its unspoken debates and what the resolution expresses thematically. The abstract ideas or moral issues implied by the characters’ journeys and the narrative as a whole are considered in determining the script’s meaning or point (e.g. is too timid, preachy or ambiguous?). This section also concentrates on the story’s emotional content – how it is trying to move its audience.
5) STRUCTURE – A comprehensive assessment of the story’s arrangement and its effectiveness in grabbing, sustaining and rewarding the attention of readers and viewers. This can involve: 1) the shape of the protagonist’s inner journey; 2) the escalation in stakes and character motivations; 3) the interconnecting of relationships and subplots; 4) the arcs of secondary characters; and 5) dramatic tensions on the levels of the act, sequence and scene.
6) CHARACTER – A detailed analysis of principal and supporting characters, with an emphasis on character nature and journey. Main characters’ wants, needs, flaws, relatability, motivations, depth and believability are assessed with regard to how well they are facilitating the story’s dramatic and thematic strengths. This also extends to one-string characters.
7) CHARACTER DYNAMICS – This section evaluates the major relationships and how efficiently they are: 1) facilitating dramatic conflict, e.g. increasing pressure on characters and supporting the story’s forward momentum; 2) supporting theme, e.g. revealing character nature and challenging their philosophy; and 3) aiding the story’s unpredictability by leading to surprise outcome or an unexpected emotional payoff. This section often includes a look at the overall cast design.
8) DIALOGUE – Assesses the dialogue’s proficiency in revealing character, creating tension, revealing theme, supporting authenticity, reinforcing the story world and sustaining tone. The structure and pace of key exchanges, the characters’ choices of language, levels of subtext and exposition throughout are also evaluated in this section.
9) PACING – A detailed consideration of the narrative’s ability deepen audience involvement throughout the telling. The designs of the story’s primary and secondary dramatic questions are examined with regard to escalation, suspense and areas of lag. Pacing also pinpoints areas of clarity and confusion in the plot and character behaviour.
10) SUBPLOTS – The script’s B and C stories are assessed in isolation and also in relevance to the A-story (e.g. are they interesting in their own right while also adding appropriate depth and complexity to the story?). Emphasis is placed on dramatic conflict within each subplot and on their overall ability to deepen the script’s thematic exploration.
11) STORY WORLD – Comprehensive observations on how reliably the world of the story is being conveyed. This examination involves careful considerations of: the script’s visual language and descriptions; the significance of the story’s setting and time period; the credibility or lack thereof in how character vocations and cultures are depicted; and the absence or presence of good research.
12) CONTRIVANCES – Suspension of disbelief is fragile and demands careful maintenance. General believability issues and their causes, such as plot or character machinations which appear unjustified (e.g. character decisions, actions, behaviours, dialogue), are defined and recommendations given.
13) WRITING ON THE PAGE – This section appraises the quality of the writing, with an emphasis on parts of the script where the storytelling is particularly vivid and/or vague. Oversights in format, grammar and punctuation are also highlighted here.
14) CONCLUSION – This section summarises the main recommendations for development pertaining to the script’s macro and micro elements. Consistent with the agreed upon development goals and timeframe some of these recommendations may be prioritised above others.
15) PAGE NOTES – Also possible in this process, page notes provide a list of specific thoughts, impressions, reactions and suggestions that arise during each read. These are noted as they occur. This section can provide the writer with a sense of when and how readers might be held in suspense, puzzled, amused, intrigued, drawn in and drawn out of the story.
For Script Editing rates or queries, please contact me.
Funding Proposal Assessment
This service offers tailored solutions and support for individuals and companies that are preparing Irish and/or UK production funding applications.
Informed by industry standards and commissioning priorities, my Funding Proposal Assessment service delivers a realistic and constructive review of your proposal. This report highlights the project’s strong points and addresses shortcomings to better position your application and reinforce its viability.
This service requires an initial read fee for feature projects (€200) and can be 8-20 pages in length subject to your needs, the project’s budget, and its page count.
Analysis is focused on improving the quality of the application package and involves comprehensive evaluations of all relevant elements, including but not limited to:
1) PRESENTATION – a review of the proposal document’s cohesiveness, clarity, effectiveness, and level of detail in how it is conveying all aspects of production.
2) QUALITY OF CONTENT – an appraisal of the artistic, commercial, cultural, and/or educational merits of the proposed material (fictional, factual, entertainment, TV or film) and its overall capacity to compete successfully for its target audience.
3) AUDIO-VISUAL APPROACH – practical and aesthetic considerations of the intended photographic style, and of the proposed methods, techniques, and production processes involved in achieving it.
4) BUDGET – an evaluation of the production budget’s adequacy, practicality, and completeness.
5) PRODUCTION SCHEDULE – appraisal of the schedule’s realism, i.e. how suitable the timeframe is to the proposed application of resources, and to the quality of content across all stages of production.
6) CONTRIBUTOR AGREEMENTS – an inspection of contracts with regard to reliability and feasibility concerning key production personnel, cast, talent, logistical and executive personnel, and broadcaster support.
7) EVIDENCE OF PARTNERSHIPS and RESOURCES – examination of the agreements pertaining to essential financial, logistical, informational, and/or creative support from relevant communities, organisations, companies, individuals, broadcasters, and funders.
This service delivers recommended adjustments, solutions, and amendments necessary to meet industry standards and commissioning priorities. Also provided is a calculation of the project’s value for money with regard to the sum being sought based on costs, preparedness, and the material’s capacity to fare successfully against its nearest competition.
Your production package can be accepted by email in Word, RTF, or PDF.
For enquiries and quotations, please contact me.