WHAT I DO

When it comes to evaluating screenplays, my philosophy is simple: The greatness of a movie is judged by the emotional impact it has on its audience. A great movie is produced from a great script. Therefore, a great script is judged by the emotional impact it has on its READER, whether it’s an agent, producer, director, or actor. My focus is to analyze and present the available dramatic techniques that cause the essential storytelling emotions, such as anticipation, tension, empathy, curiosity, interest, and surprise.

When you read a screenplay, you can have one of two reactions. The positive one is thinking, “What will happen next?” ideally after every page, losing yourself in the story, forgetting you’re even reading a script, identifying with the characters because they’re real and unique, feeling the emotions we all want to feel when we go to the movies: curiosity, anticipation, surprise, fear, empathy, desire, love, laughter, sadness, etc. In short, you’re entertained by the experience of reading the script.

The opposite, negative reaction to reading a script, and by far the most common one (I’m not exaggerating when I say 99 out of a 100 scripts), you’re squirming in your seat, reading about clichéd characters, spouting on-the-nose, expository dialogue you couldn’t care less about. You’re thinking “So what?” at every plot point, and “this is boring; please give me something good.” It’s just bad writing that doesn’t affect you in any way, except boredom, frustration, and anger at having wasted two hours of your life.

My job is to make sure the reader of your script FEELS your scenes, and ultimately experiences the positive reaction detailed above. I examine every inch of your material, scene-by-scene, line-by-line, highlighting strengths and weakness, flagging the mediocre elements, and suggesting solutions for more energy and freshness that will help you deliver page after page of riveting action and dialogue for the ultimate emotional response.