It seems to me that’s your first and most pressing question.

The answer is remarkably clear: Because your writing process will be more fluid, more enjoyable, more productive, more focused, and more emotional; and because your script will be considerably better — more artistic, more creative, more professional, even more commercial — than it will be if you write it alone, in a vacuum, without an experienced, inspirational coach excited to serve as your guide, mentor, muse, and sounding board.

From high-level professionals to weekend hobbyists, coaching works this way in many of life’s endeavors — sports, arts, education and business, for instance, all feature prominent coaches. From fly-fishing to public speaking to calculus to golf to business management to ballet, coaching is rightly considered part and parcel of a successful process, of a productive experience, of a triumphant outcome.

I’m glad you asked.

As your screenwriting coach, I will create a writing environment built on encouragement, commitment, strategy, and inspiration. I will infuse the process with a synergistic atmosphere of comfort and confidence unattainable in a solo situation. I will care as much about your script as you will. I will make it my business to thoroughly understand your story and characters at least as well as you do. We will live your script together.

I will help you define and stick to a writing schedule, not like a drill sergeant, but like a trusted colleague who happens to be a professional screenwriter and screenwriting teacher. I will be available when you’re tired or lazy or blocked or unfocused, especially when you’re unfocused. Helping you hold your focus from Fade In to Fade Out will be a high priority for me. We won’t ever lose our focus, of that I’m certain.

I will suggest screenwriting strategies that have been successful for me and for many of my writers. My approach will not be theoretical in nature. It will not be philosophical. It will be hands-on and practical. You will use it every day. We will use it together. I will help you dig deeper into your story and characters. I will listen carefully to your dialogue and guide you to a cleaner, crisper, more authentic sound. I will make you aware of the internal rhythms in your script and suggest adjustments as necessary. I will be there when you need me. And I will be there when you don’t.

I will make it my job to make the professional completion of your screenplay your job. I will inspire you when you need inspiration. I will guide you when you need direction. I will hear you when you’re lost in the second half of the second act and shine a light where you need it. I will teach you to be a craftsman and encourage you to be an artist. I will, with passion and conviction, make sure your screenplay is as well constructed and as powerful as it can be.

I will not be your mother, your boyfriend, or your best friend. They can feel free to say you own the moon. I cannot. I will never tell you anything but the truth. If something you’ve written doesn’t work, I will tell you so, but kindly, and usually with humor. If something you’ve written does work, I will tell you that, too, because you’ll be working your tail off and will need and deserve a pat on the back from time to time, or all the time.

I will call you back every time you reach out to me because I want to, because it’s fun for me to talk story with you, because it’s a blast to be involved in the writing of your movie, because I love what I do.

I will never confuse the fact that you are the writer and I am the coach, and that what we are working on is your script, your story, and your characters.

Depending upon the rest of your life, writing the first draft of your script will take between 12 and 16 weeks, sometimes more, rarely less. I know this because I’ve done it myself 38 times and I have a strategy that works well in that timeframe, a system that will very quickly inject a shot of comfort and confidence into your writing, a process with which I’ve helped more than 100 screenwriters refine their personal styles so that they wrote more easily, more productively, with heightened creative flow, with a more defined sense of purpose.

Consultants want you after you’ve written your script. They want to make notes in your margins and tell you what you did wrong. For them, your screenplay will simply appear out of thin air. They will charge you less, and give you less. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But it’s not what I want. It’s not what I will do. As your coach, I will be there while you’re writing it. You will send me pages once a week. We will discuss them on a pre-scheduled phone call for two hours, also once a week. There will be additional, frequent phone calls, shorter in duration, whenever you feel the need to contact me, to ask a question, share a thought, play “what if,” or get pumped up. Or I’ll call you first to find out where you are and how you’re feeling about your movie. I don’t want to be in the margins; I want to be with you in the words.

There are few places lonelier than your desk. I don’t want you to feel alone.

Why should
I hire a private, professional,
one-on-one screenwriting
coach?

Coaching

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