Screenwriting : Preparing for a script consult by Joohee Muromcew

Be calm and relax. You know your story, your vision and communicate it entertainingly. Just be yourself; it is ernough. Good luck!

Good luck with it Joohee, just believe in yourself!

That's great, Joohee Muromcew! I did a 30 minute script consult on here. It really helped me make my script better. The exec will read your script and prepare their feedback before the call, so basically just make sure you know your script well in case the exec asks questions about things in it. And I didn't do this when I had the script consult, but you could ask the exec where you should pitch your script and any marketing questions you might have.

Joohee Muromcew Best of luck! Looking forward to the post following that meet.

Listen to his suggestions, nod politely and agree to anything. If you feel you can from your instincts, let your last question be, "Give me a percentage of chance that if I make all of these changes that my script will be greenlit?" (You can word it anyway you want.) If his answer is above 70%, make a copy, the changes but keep your original safe. Some of guys just want to see how easy it is to work with you. I am very difficult to work with. If some exec says something stupid, I tell him. It has not gotten me very far.

Fingers crossed Joohee Muromcew You got this!!

Joohee Muromcew -when you’re meeting with an executive the purpose of your call is to develop your script to the point where it’s attractive for a producer or a buyer to want to take it on and to develop it. That means an executive will be looking at your script for 2 things - 1 the story itself 2) the business potential of your script. to prepare for your call, first, I would take the time working with the executive on your story - drill into what can make your characters better, what can make your plot points better, what can make your voice stand out etc. He or she reads dozens of scripts a week and so you will want to learn from their notes what will make your story stand out amongst the dozens of professional scripts that are floating around town right now. You want to figure out how you can get a competitive edge there. Second, I would take time to learn what you can do to help make your script more attractive to a producer that can get you towards a green light. An executive will be able to provide you feedback and what could make it easier for someone to say yes to picking it up. This could mean combining scenes, reducing characters or figuring out ways to keep the budget down. There’s a variety of different things that you’ll have to keep an open mind to when you have the call. The number one thing to keep in mind is that executives are in your corner. They absolutely love storytelling and they love working with writers. Their purpose is to help the stories become the best they could be in order to get them made. This business is very difficult. It’s very hard to get anything made. Executive’s jobs are to do everything possible to try and get a script to where it needs to be in order to get it made. So know that the person on the other end of the call is completely in your corner and no matter what you want to get out of the call he or she is there to help you get exactly that. Don’t be nervous. Don’t be scared. Be confident in what you’ve written and be open minded. This is the collaborative part of the process where it starts to get fun.

Some great advice here already, Joohee Muromcew. I'll just add to remember that the exec is a human being with goals (and job responsibilities) just like you. They want to help and, of course, they want to find great material - it makes their job easier. As Matthew Parvin said, just be yourself and enjoy the time.

Just remember that it is someone experiencing your work for the very first time, like anyone else reviewing your work going forward. Consider the notes they're giving to you from their perspective. If there is a note you don't unnderstand, feel free to get them to clarify for you, it may help to give you insight into the reviewer's process and what they're looking for.

Keep us updated on how it goes! Now we’re all invested :)

Thank you all for the words of encouragement and advice! The script consult was great - truly useful feedback on mechanics/formatting as well as meaningful discussion around character and story arc. So much to think about.

You're welcome, Joohee Muromcew. Glad to hear the script consult was great! I plan on doing another one soon.