This is a transcript of SYS 514 – Writing For Al Pacino and Mickey Rourke With Mick Davis .
Welcome to Episode 514 of the Selling Your Screenplay Podcast. I’m Ashley Scott Meyers, screenwriter and blogger with www.sellingyourscreenplay.com. Today I’m interviewing writer-director Mick Davis who just did a feature thriller with Emile Hirsch called Walden. We talked through this project as well as how he got his start in the business. He originally broke in to the business as a screenwriter and eventually started to write and direct. So, we talked through that how he got some of his first writing credits, and then ultimately how he was able to transition that writing career into a writing and directing career. So, stay tuned for that interview.
If you find this episode valuable, please help me out by giving me a review in iTunes or leaving a comment on YouTube or retweeting the podcast on Twitter or liking or sharing it on Facebook. These social media shares really do help spread word about the podcast, so they’re very much appreciated. Any websites or links that I mentioned in the podcast can be found on my blog in the show notes. I also publish a transcript with every episode in case you’d rather read the show or look at something later on. You can find all the podcast show notes at www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/podcast. And then just look for episode 514. If you want my free guide, How to Sell a Screenplay in Five Weeks, you can pick that up by going to www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/guide. It’s completely free, you just put in your email address, and I’ll send you a new lesson once per week for five weeks, along with a bunch of bonus lessons, I teach the whole process of how to sell your screenplay in that guide. I’ll teach you how to write a professional logline and query letter, and how to find agents, managers and producers who are looking for material really is everything you need to know to sell your screenplay, just go to www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/guide.
Quick few words about what I’ve been working on. So, I haven’t done an update on sort of my what I’ve been working on lately. A lot of it’s just been sort of plugging away. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of time to do the rewrite on the rom-com, I’m trying to get off the ground, I’ve been talking about that for a while definitely been having some issues there the big issue, or the big thing I’ve been working on lately, and it’s really not film related, although in some ways I guess it does relate to selling your screenplay, it is just figuring out credit card processing for one of my online services. Again, eventually I’ll get this all set up for selling your screenplay as well. But that’s just been a big issue. I’m just dealing with some, as I say credit card processing issues. And I’ve got a big server upgrade to take care of. And that’s you know, does involve Selling Your Screenplay, the server that that the site is on and all the services run off of this same server. It’s just gotten out of date, the operating system is old, and it’s no longer supported. They’re no longer upgrading and patching and that sort of stuff. So, at some point, you do have to just move your sites over to a new server. And I’m at that point, it’s you know, it could be an easy project that only takes me a week or two. And it could be something that I get bogged down for a month or two. So, I’m just battling some of this sort of normal type life stuff that kind of gets in the way of our creative work. That’s the fight that I’ve been having lately. But anyway, slowly, but surely, I am trying to get some of that stuff off my plate so I can get back to the writing and the filmmaking. I’ve also been trying to work on the festival for next year, I’m having some issues securing a good theater at a reasonable price. So that’s been a little bit of a pain for me. We had a great venue this past year, dine in cinemas, out in Glendale, and I’m still hoping to return there next year, but they just didn’t want a lot more money for the same space. So, I’m just not sure if the film festival can support that currently. But hopefully it can hopefully I can work that out and get moving on that. But that’s definitely been taken a little bit of my time as well. Anyways, those are some of the things I have been working on. Now. Let’s get into the main segment. Today, I’m interviewing writer director, Mick Davis. Here is the interview.
Ashley
Welcome, Mick to the Selling Your Screenplay Podcast. I really appreciate you coming on the show with me today.
Mick Davis
Yes, thanks for having me.
Ashley
So, to start out, maybe you can tell us a little bit about your background. Where do you grow up? And how did you get interested in the entertainment business?
Mick Davis
Well, I grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, and ever since I was a kid did like have the kid there was always either movies or books, whatever. And I loved the idea of storytelling and used to watch all the old classics, the James Cagney’s the Humphrey Bogart, it’s all that kind of stuff. And then eventually it was watching The Godfather that inspired me to want to get into this business. And I was in professional soccer and I left that and I decided to come out here for six months and coach Raj Stewart’s soccer team, who he will have to be a fan of the team I was with back in Scotland, and he invited me he said – If you ever want to come out and you know try your hand in the movie business and coach my team while you’re here. So, I did an anecdote, a script called Paganini, about the violinists from the 18th century, which got me an agent at CAA. And then it was read by Mickey Rourke’s manager, who introduced me to Mickey and I spent the next 10 years of my career working with Mickey writing and basically learning the craft because I never went to film school. And then after that, it progressed, I became more of like an actor’s writer. And I started working with people like Pacino and Brosnan and stuff like that. And then I wrote a script that there was a bidding war for it. And then I said, well, I will sell it if I can direct it, which was called the Match. And then began my directing career. And, and I’ve been quite lucky in the sense that I’ve never really been a word too long. So, that’s always a good thing.
Ashley
Yeah, yeah. So, maybe you can give us some comparisons? How does the sports world differ? And how is it the same as the entertainment world?
Mick Davis
Well, the thing that similar between, like for me and professional soccer, versus a set, say with, you know, 25 actors, or whatever it is, you’re dealing with personalities and soccer, I had 22 players, I had to coach and 22 different personalities. So, you have to be all things to all men. And so that kind of trained me for the day, I got on a set. And I had to deal with a bunch of actors. And so, I was more or less prepared for that, because I knew how to sort of negotiate various personalities and how to get the best out of them. So that was a similarity there. And then, of course, the end game is, you know, like in soccer, you want to win the game. And in movies, you want to make a decent movie that hopefully people will like. So, you know, you’re looking for a win when it comes to that. But that’s the similarity right there when it comes to sport and film.
Ashley
So, just to give us some details, you mentioned that you were working specifically with some actors as a writer. So, what are those jobs that you look like? It’s like an actor like Al Pacino, he gets to know you. And he trusts that you sort of have his voice. So, then he brings you on to do a rewrite on a script that he’s attached to, or are you writing more spec scripts out of the gate for a guy like Al Pacino, but just maybe you can talk about that? How does that actually work?
Mick Davis
Well, it was back in the 90s. And what happened was, I was in Pairs. And I was writing the sequel to nine and a half weeks, which I had gotten the job to do through Micky. And while I was there, the casting director who is kind of legendary, her name is Bonnie Timmerman. She’s cast everything you can imagine. Our first gig was Amadeus. And she’s done everything for De Niro, and Brock came, and she was in the same hotel and we got talking, she asked to read something, she read Paganini. She asked me what I wanted to do. I said, I want to I want to make a movie about the Panther Modigliani. And she said, oh, you know, Al Pacino has been trying to do that for years, I should let our know about this. So, she told Al who is good friends with her. And I’d have to written a spec script on Modigliani. And he read the script. And he loved it. And he asked to meet me. So, when I got back to LA, he was screening documentary of as called Looking for Richard, at CAA. And then we went for dinner after and we got talking, and he’d been offered the movie Surviving Picasso. But he said, I’ve always wanted to play model Yanni, and I said; Well, surviving Picasso is a different kind of story. And, you know, my story deals with the, you know, the energy in the vitality of a great painter, like Modigliani. And at that point, he decided to pass on Picasso, which Anthony Hopkins ended up playing. And then for the next two, three years, we developed Modigliani, along with the play Dennis McIntyre play, which was bought for … by Fox. And we tried to combine my script with that play. And it wasn’t so easy. We got to a place we were reasonably happy, but it was taking too long to get the movie made. And I personally felt that my original spec script was the kind of energy and vitality I wanted my lead character to have. So, at that point, I went his way and I went my way. And I got a call from Andy Garcia, who said, I heard that the script is now available. I’d love to meet you. We met and right away I said, yes, you can play the role and eventually we made the movie.
Ashley
Gotcha. Yeah, that’s a great story. Now, you mentioned this spec script. Got into a bidding More. And so then at that point, you said, well, I’ll sell it. But I want to be attached as a director. Had you directed a few things up to that point. And just maybe you can give us some sort of tips on that. Obviously, you’re in a in a position of power that there’s a bidding war. So, you have some leverage, I get a lot of, you know, first time writers that want to do this, and I’m always very skeptical to recommend I mean, if nobody really wants your script, they’re not really going to tower, they marginally want your script are not going to necessarily bring you on as a director. But maybe you can talk about leading up to that point. Had you directed some stuff, and how did you know you had this leverage, and you had the power to insert yourself and really stand firm as ‘Yes, I want to direct it.’?
Mick Davis
Right. Well, I think what happened was I had, I had first of all by that point, I had six years under my belt working with Mickey Rourke and being on all the sets, including the nine and a half weeks to set that I’d written. So, I had a good handle on, you know, what the law was like, and how to deal with actors. And then what happened was, I had written this script called The Match. And my agent responded to it and said, you know, this is a great script. And I think we could sell this script. And I said to him – Look, it’s no time for me to step up. I want to direct, I believe I can do it. And so, I’m prepared to lose the sale of the script, if no one will take me on as the director. And so, he took the script out there with me attached as the director and they happily enough, we ended up with a bidding war with a couple of studios wanting at PS Brosnan, his company wanted that. And then the late Steve Golan, who was a great producer, who discovered David Fincher, who had a company called Propaganda. He read the script and asked to meet me and he said, ‘I love the script so much, I’m willing to take the risk because I do that. That’s what I do with young directors, people who wanted to direct.’ And I said, ‘Well, all I ever directed was a couple of commercials in Europe, and so that’s all I’ve done. I’ve never gone beyond 30 or 45 seconds, but I know my script and I know how to deal with actors.’ And so, he gave me the chance and we had a lot of fun doing that. And so, I gave him the script. And to sweeten the pot, he gave me a blind script deal because he really wanted the script. And then so on off a couple of days later, I was in England casting it and before long I had Pierce Brosnan, Tom Sizemore, Sir Ian Holm, Richard Grant, I had a phenomenal cast. We had a blast, and that’s how it came about.
Ashley
Perfect. Yeah. Another great story. So, let’s dig into your latest film Walden starring Emile Hirsch, which you wrote and directed. Maybe to start out you can give us a quick pitch or logline, what is this new film all about?
Mick Davis
Well, Walden Dean is a courtroom stenographer who lives in a small town in the deep south in Georgia. And he is very much a part of the background he has no real presence to anyone other than good morning or good evening. And he goes about his life with no expectation until he finds out that there’s something wrong with them medically. And at that point, he has seen so much pain in the courtroom, and so many bad guys get away with terrible crimes, that he decides that if I’m going out, I’m going to take out a few of the people who have caused so much pain to innocence. And he says about doing that, but ironically enough at the same time, the one thing he’s never looked for in his life comes right there onto his lap, which is a love story. So, he has choice is – do I pursue my revenge on my vigilantism, or do I stop right now and pursue this love story? And he makes his choice and he follows it through. I don’t want to give too much. But that’s what happened.
Ashley
Yeah, yeah. So where did this idea come from? What was sort of the genesis of this story?
Mick Davis
The Johnny Depp trial, I watched the Johnny and Amber Heard and while everyone was focused on the two of them, I was watching the stenographer sitting there and I started wondering to myself, what is that lady do when she gets home? And does she take care of her husband that she feed the kids? Does she take a dog for a walk? Does she throw on a costume and jump from a tall building to save people in an alleyway from being beaten up? And then the first thing that popped in my head is what if a stenographer had a secret life. And that secret life was taking care of business and helping people and then while the word just the name Walden, came into my head and that was it.
Ashley
Okay, so when you have an idea like this, maybe you can just run it through your process. So, you have an agent, I assume now, do you have a manager? Do you have some other writers, producer friends, when you have an idea like this? Do you pitch them that idea? Do you develop it into a one page and then get some feedback? Or do you just go write the full script and then get feedback? How does something like this sort of move along?
Mick Davis
Well, what happened with this one, which was really nice is that the producers on it had actually come to me and said, we want to make a movie with you, is that anything you’d like to do? And then a zoom call. I said, I’d like to do a movie about a court stenographer. And they kind of looked at me strangely as though, what does that go? And then when I describe what he does, then they let up and said, Okay, so let’s go to script, I’m terrible at treatments and synopsis and one pages, I can’t write them, I’m hopeless at it. So, I just went straight to script and I wrote a draft in two weeks, which was the template for what we did in the movie. And that’s how I worked on now. I mean, in other cases, I’ll write spec. If I have an idea. I don’t sit around waiting for somebody to give me a check. I write it because I believe a writer should be writing. And I have a discipline where I write every day, for three, four hours, and even go back into old scripts and revamp them and give them some fresh breath. But ultimately, with Walden, I was very lucky that I had producers who wanted to make a movie with me, and they responded to my idea.
Ashley
Gotcha. So, let’s talk about your writing process a little bit. You said you write every day for three, four hours? Where do you typically write? Do you have a home office? Do you go out to Starbucks, you need that ambient noise? And when do you typically write? Are you a morning person, a night person, just what is your writing schedule look like?
Mick Davis
Usually, I get up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, and sit down and open up the computer and look at maybe three or four pieces that I’ve been looking and then see which one grabs me the most. And then I’ll go into it. And what I generally do is, as I say, I never do treatments, I go straight to script, because I just want to get into it, you know, for good or for bad. It’s just the way I am the way I work. A lot of people like to put cards up on the wall and fill the wall with cards and scenes and bring all that down and put it together. I don’t have the patience for that. And so, I just sit down and I go page one and I just keep going and I let the script take me in the direction it wants to take me especially the character because I’m usually driven by the character, my very much a character writer. And the plot itself is usually evolving as the character goes forward. So that’s my process after three, four hours of writing, I think to myself; Okay, I want to stop while I’m still fresh. And then I’ll get back to whatever it is tomorrow.
Ashley
Now, you mentioned, you wrote a draft this first draft in about two weeks, is that those days do they go past this three or four hours or a you know, basically 12 days, at three or four hours, you can produce a full script?
Mick Davis
I will usually in that situation, because I knew we were going to be shooting in a couple of months. And it was a case of sitting down. I happened to be in London at the time. And I was working on another script that I had a job for. But then I worked on Walden at the same time. And I was probably doing a good eight hours a day on Walden because I got so excited with the script and the character and where he was going, that just couldn’t stop. So, you know, I felt I had to admit to keep going each day for sometimes eight, sometimes six. But ultimately until I got through the draft, which probably took just under two weeks. And then that draft went to the producers, they responded positively, they had a couple of notes, we changed them. And ultimately, we never went to many colors. I think we went to pink when we were shooting and that was about it because the rest of the tweaking on the script was done on the floor with the actors.
Ashley
I’m curious, and I’m just here, I’m going to throw this statement out. And I wonder if you can you can comment on it. What I find from doing a lot of these podcasts is the folks who do a lot of outlining and index cards before they write the script, they tend to have a much harder time doing rewrites, they don’t like to do as many rewrites, they like to plan ahead, and then they do less reading. Whereas the writers that spend less time in the front end, they end up spending a lot more time on the back end doing rewrites. Would you say that’s fair for yourself? Is that sort of accurate for yourself? You do a lot more rewriting of the scripts than then maybe another writer who does a lot more preparation with outlining?
Mick Davis
I think you’re right there, Ashley. I think that’s how it goes for me. I get a draft though, because ultimately, I remember talking to David Goyer about this. And David said to me, as he said, I have got a draft though I’ve got to spew out and then I can go into it and rewrite it and rewrite it. Because ultimately writing is rewriting for me anyway, the process of doing index cards and treatments and everything else. It’s kind of like rehearsing with actors before you shoot the movie, I don’t rehearse, I like to keep it fresh. That’s just my way. And the same with scripts, I like to get the draft though. And then I want to see the response to the draft. And if I’m lucky to have actors attached, bring their ideas to it. And if it’s cast properly, they bring good ideas. And we make it better because ultimately, the script is just the blueprint for what you’re about to do, because you have to bring it to life. And the joy of fixing things on the floor is, I am the writer. So, I know the script. So, when an actor says to me what if we tried this, I already know the effect of what that idea is down the line in the script. And if it’s going to be good for the script, or bad for the story. And for work, then I use it, because I’m very open to actors collaborate. And I love that, that’s the process that I enjoyed the most.
Ashley
So, on Walden, it sounds like you kind of had this project basically set up as you were writing it, so there wasn’t a lot of back and forth. But on a script where you’ve just written more of a spec. What does that development process look like for you? Do you have writer friends, producer, friends, actor friends, it sounds like you send it out. Maybe you can talk about that as sort of a typical development process for one of these scripts that you write on spec?
Mick Davis
Well, usually what happens is because I mean, throughout the years, and I’ve been in the game for over 30 years, so I’ve written a couple of 100 scripts, not all of them are good. But they’re all basically an exercise because that’s what writing is for me. But when I’m writing a spec script, I usually sit down and write it and I don’t show pages to anyone until I finish a draft, then I’ll go back into the draft and tweak it, rewrite it, fix it, you know, move stuff around. And now I’m and I’m reasonably happy with the draft, it will go to my manager, and he’s the first eyes. And then he’ll come back and say to me, you know, I like how this works, but I think if you did this with this, and you get that nice, objective perception, and then it’s somebody who cares, because ultimately, they want to sell your work because they want to make money too. So they have the best intentions for themselves and for you. And then I will take the ideas on board, that if I think they won’t, then I will use them, if I don’t think they’re what my gut will say no, no, no, I’m going to stay with it as is. A good example of that is a script I just finished spec that I want to do soon is called the Pipe. Because it is based on the Pied Piper of Hamlin. The old fairy tale. And it’s a modern version. And, and I had been wanting to make this or write this script for probably since I was a kid. So, I already knew the entire story in my head. And when I put it down, there was very little rewriting to be done. And I gave it to my manager and he read it and they said, how many drafts of this did you do? I said, one. And he says, well, you don’t need to do any anything else on this thing until we get it to go make the movie. So, it’s just because it had been fermenting and say to me, you know, the best analogy I can draw there is I’m a big classical music fan. If you look at Beethoven’s work, there’s tea stains and coffee stains and scribbles and changes and all kinds of stuff. But it’s Beethoven. And if you look at Mozart’s work, that isn’t a single change, and over 600 works in ever made one change because it was all in his head. And then he put it down on the page. So, if I’m lucky, I get to put it down on the page. And it works and sometimes it’s coffee stains on my scripts, you know?
Ashley
Yeah, yeah. So how do you approach screenplay structure? There’s the Blake Snyder, Syd field, you know, very template driven, there’s the ACT breaks, the midpoints, the inciting incidents, how do you approach that sort of stuff?
Mick Davis
It’s funny, because when I started writing script, I never had any help. I never went to film school. I would have liked to have gone to film school, but I just didn’t have the door to do it. And I didn’t know how the process works. So, I just it was just, you know, went forward. And it was just by default, I would end up producing something that someone wanted to read. So I eventually it was after the fact I’d written a bunch of scripts and some of them had gotten made. And then I read save the cat. The understructure of saved the cat and I thought that’s pretty cool. So, I sat down with the next thing I wrote, which was a big sort of 10 plate kind of movie. And they and they used that structure and worked for me to great effect. But then when I went back to writing something more personal, it didn’t really work for me. So, I think it depends on the genre or whatever it is. But it with me, it’s always the character, you know, I know what the end game is, I know what I want at the end, how do I get there? Sometimes I’ve worked backwards from the end, to find where my character should be. And then sometimes I will say to myself, Okay, and the faster it should be this midpoint should be this, end of seconds should be this. And then the rule, of course, though, should end with this. And when I have these, even just a line for each of that, then it’s a case of just building the story from that point on, it’s always foundation and then bricks.
Ashley
Gotcha. So how about genre requirements? Now, as you were pitching this on a Zoom meeting, I assume there might have been some criteria going into that meeting, like, well, we want a thriller, as opposed to a period drama. What was sort of the thought process with this idea? And just and did you have to fit it into sort of a specific genre, you know, bucket to market it? And just maybe you can talk about that a little bit how that played into it?
Mick Davis
Well, the producers wanted a movie that they could sell and make money on show, they could go make another movie after. But having said that, they also had known me for years, and they know the way I bought and the light the way I worked, so that was comfortable. And then it was a case of let’s do a thriller. Let’s do a thriller. And I said, okay…for who ends up becoming a vigilante. Of course, at that point, it’s a pitch. And they have to trust the pitch, until they see the pitch. So ultimately, I knew going into the script that I was writing a thriller. And I must always address that and make sure that that’s the direction I’m headed. And so ultimately, you know, by the time I got to the end of the script, and I’d read through, I thought to myself, okay, this is a very dark thriller. I hope they like it. And they read and they loved it. And they said, Alright, let’s Greenlight this, and they will give you some notes. And that’s kind of how it worked. You know?
Ashley
Yeah, yeah. So just in general, what advice do you have to young writers coming into the business? What do you tell someone if they show up and say, I want to be a screenwriter? What should I be doing? What is your advice to those folks?
Mick Davis
Well, the first thing is to write and you’ve got to write, you’ve got to sit down and write, you can’t, people come to me all the time. And they’ll say, I’ve got a great idea for a movie. And then they’ll give you know, the matchbook, take on it. And it’s two sentences. And then you say, Okay, where’s the rest? And then they’ll look at you and say, Well, isn’t that your job? So, I say to young writers, you got to sit down and write there’s, you can’t avoid it. It’s a horrible, lonely life to be a writer. But when you lose yourself in your world, and Charles Dickens is the best example of that, you know that the amount of characters that he created, and it was a solitary guy sitting at a desk every day with a quill pen, writing for 500 page books. And they’ve lasted for 150 years so far. So, if you genuinely want to be a writer, write from what you know, and not what you think an audience will want. Because audiences are changing every day, tastes are changing every day, we have so much material kicking around now that I think the best thing that anyone can do is to write what they know. And that in itself should help them feel more attached to the material that they’re doing, as opposed to trying to sort of write the next Marvel movie and hope that you’re ahead of the game. It never works late. It just never works. And then when you get despondent, put it down, leave it alone. And then when you leave it alone, if it starts talking to you, and asks you to come back and keep working on it. Great. And if it doesn’t, then you ever have to move on to something else. Another idea or give up. But, you know, there is no secret formula. You just have to write.
Ashley
Yeah, for sure. That’s sound advice. So how can people see Walden what is the release schedule going to be like?
Mick Davis
Well, with a limited release in theaters on November 10th, across the country, fingers crossed. You know, at this point in time, people seem to be responding positively, which is great. And then it goes to VOD, December 12th and digital and whatever else and then it will be out there for everyone to see. So yes, so we’re very excited about Walden right now.
Ashley
Yeah, perfect. Perfect. And what have you seen recently that you could recommend to our mostly screenwriting audience? Anything on HBO, Netflix, Hulu, anything you’re watching that you just think is good.
Mick Davis
It’s funny because I’ve such varied tastes. For instance, David Fincher’s Mank, which is about the making of Citizen Kane and the writing of the script. So for a writer to watch Mank is a great thing, I think because it’s about a writer who’s played by Gary Oldman, trying to understand what Orson Welles wants on the page. And deals a lot with the Randall first and the relationship that Mike had with Randall first. And ultimately, you know, being bedridden, and still writing probably will be considered to be the greatest movie ever made. So that’s a wonderful movie to watch. And it’s Fincher’s movie.
Ashley
That’s a great recommendation. I haven’t seen that yet. So, I’ll put that on my list. What’s the best way for people to keep up with what you’re doing anything? You’re comfortable sharing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, I will round that up for the show notes.
Mick Davis
Well, you know, I’m not a big social media person, to be honest. But, you know, I am on Instagram and I am on Facebook. I really don’t. The only reason I got on Facebook is to keep my eye on my two kids who live to make sure that living a normal life. But that’s about it, really. And then in terms of what I’m doing next. You know, I think, you know, IMDb is pretty good for letting you know and stuff but the next one is a sculptor with Andy and then after that, I’m doing another thriller called Due Process in Alabama. There’s plenty to keep me busy in office right now, you know.
Ashley
Perfect, perfect, so I’ll definitely I’ll put your IMDb page, people can click over that and just keep it at things. Well, I appreciate your coming on and talking today. Good luck with this film and good luck with your future projects as well.
Mick Davis
Thanks so much. Appreciate that.
Ashley
Thank you. We’ll talk to you later.
A quick plug for the SYS screenwriting analysis service, it’s a really economical way to get a high-quality professional evaluation on your screenplay. When you buy our three pack, you get evaluations at just $67 per script for feature films, and just $55 for teleplays. All the readers have professional experience reading for studios, production companies, contests and agencies. You can read a short bio on each reader on our website, and you can pick the reader who you think is the best fit for your script. Turnaround time is usually just a few days, but rarely more than a week. The readers will evaluate your script on six key factors Concept, Character, Structure, Marketability, Tone, and Overall Craft which includes Formatting, Spelling and Grammar. Every script will get a grade, a pass, consider or recommend, which should help you roughly understand where your script might rank if you were to submit it to a production company or agency. We can provide an analysis on features or television scripts. We also do proofreading without any analysis. We will also look at a treatment or outline and give you the same analysis on it. So, if you’re looking to vet some of your project ideas, this is a great way to do it. We will also write your logline and synopsis for you. You can add this logline and synopsis writing service to an analysis or you can simply purchase this service as a standalone product. As a bonus, if your screenplay gets a recommend or a consider from one of our readers, you get to list the screenplay in the SYS select database, which is a database for producers to find screenplays and a big part of our SYS select program. Producers are in the database searching for material on a daily basis, so it’s another great way to get your material in front of them. As a further bonus, if your script gets a recommend from one of our readers, your screenplay will get included in our monthly best of newsletter. Each month, we send out a newsletter that highlights the best screenplays that have come through our script analysis service. This is a monthly newsletter that goes out to our list of over 400 producers who are actively looking for material. So again, this is another great way to get your material out there. So, if you want a professional evaluation of your screenplay at a very reasonable price, check out www.sellingyourscreenplay.com/consultants. Again, that’s sellingyourscreenplay.com/consultants.
On the next episode of the podcast, I’m going to be interviewing the filmmaking team of Cheston Mizell and LE Stamen. Who just did a really independent film called Love Virtually it’s an ensemble romance where they combine live action with a lot of CGI. It’s sort of a modern take on, you know sort of the metaverse and all of this sort of CGI and interacting in a virtual world. Again, it’s a very independent film and they’re very candid about how it all came together for them. You know, they talked about and I asked some questions about, you know, the CGI, the metaverse, and all of this stuff that they were not necessarily experts on at the beginning of this. They just had a passion for this particular story and sort of figured it out. So, we really walk through a lot of that, how they got this thing finished, how they got it funded, and then ultimately, just what they’re doing with it and how they’re out there promoting it. So, it’s another just really interesting story. These guys just got out there and they’re just making things happen for themselves. So, keep an eye out for that episode next week. That’s the show. Thank you for listening.