Michael Ray Brown - Story SenseWho can a screenwriter trust for professional, honest feedback and assistance? The following script consultants are probably some of the busiest and most well-paid in the business, but they are also the most highly recommended screenplay analysts ScriptLinks could find on the web.
Michael Ray Brown - Story Sense As a free-lance story analyst Michael Ray Brown synopsized and critiqued scripts, novels, and treatments for producers and literary agents. His clients included Casablanca Filmworks, American Cinema, The Begelman/Fields Co., John Kemeny, Hanna-Barbera Prods., Capella Films, and NBC Entertainment. Michael was a staff story analyst for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century-Fox, MGM/UA, and Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures.
Michael has recommended and/or developed the screenplays for numerous successful films, including the box-office smash Lethal Weapon, Doc Hollywood, The Last Emperor, City Slickers, Regarding Henry, Under Siege, Free Willy, While You Were Sleeping, Apollo 13, Braveheart, My Best Friend's Wedding, Red Corner, Contact, Hart's War, and many others.
Michael has lectured at Screenwriting Expo, Sherwood Oaks Experimental College, the Dallas Screenwriters Association, and the Hollywood Scriptwriting Institute. He is a member of Story Analysts, Local 700S, I.A.T.S.E.; Filmmakers Alliance; Film Independent (FIND); Scriptwriters Network; and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Over the past eight years, Michael has written more than 50 hours of prime-time television. A staff writer on eight series, he also scripted the made-for-TV movies Escape from Death Row, Cruel Deception, and Angel of Death for New Dominion Pictures. He served as script consultant on the features East of Sunset and 3 Girls & the Golden Cocoon, adapted the play Dark Streets, Special Jury Award winner at CineVegas, rewrote Zeus for Pomegranate Pictures, and is currently rewriting Wind Jammers for producer Ric von Maur.
Creative Screenwriting magazine, in a comparative review of script analysts, rated Story Sense "Highly Recommended" and their "Best Buy."
Michael Hauge - Screenplay Mastery Michael Hauge is a story consultant, author and lecturer who works with writers and filmmakers on their screenplays, novels, movies and television projects. He has coached writers, producers, stars and directors on projects for Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Kirsten Dunst, Charlize Theron and Morgan Freeman, as well as for every major studio and network.
His book 'Writing Screenplays That Sell', now in its 32nd printing for HarperCollins, is a definitive reference book for the film and television industries, and his seminar with Chris Vogler, 'The Hero's 2 Journeys', is now available on DVD and CD. His new book, 'Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read,' has just been published by Michael Wiese Productions.
Michael has presented seminars and lectures to more than 40,000 participants throughout the US, Canada and Europe. He is on the Board of Directors of the American Screenwriters Association and the Advisory Board for Scriptwriter Magazine in London.
Aubrey M. Horton - ScriptDoctor911 Horton received his MFA in screenwriting from UCLA film school, a.k.a., "the Harvard of screenwriting." He's had two development deals and has consulted on projects for Warner Bros., Paramount, and HBO. He's also worked as a freelance story analyst for the Dick Clark Film Group. Horton has edited five books for the Directors Guild; he's worked as a judge for two national screenwriting competitions; he's given seminars at Barnes & Noble, Book People, the Austin Film Society, Borders Books, and St. Edward's University; and he's taught numerous screenwriting workshops. In Creative Screenwriting magazine Horton was highly recommended as a script doctor, in the top 8 nationally.
Horton has doctored scripts for screenwriters who've had their scripts produced, who've signed with agents/managers, and who've made the semifinals in Nicholl, Chesterfield, Austin Heart of Film , CineStory, and Final Draft. In 1999, a screenwriter (who has had several scripts doctored by Horton) wrote a project which won a Golden Globe nomination.
Aubrey M. Horton offers screenwriters a page-by-page red-ink edit. His MFA method is based upon the techniques used at UCLA film school.
Dara Marks - Inside Story Dara Marks, Ph.D., is a writer and leading international script consultant. She has devoted the last twenty years to the development of a groundbreaking new approach to the theory of the transformational arc and screenplay structure. Dara is the author of the screenwriting book 'Inside Story: The Power of the Transformational Arc.' In it she reveals her innovative process that helps writers maintain the artistic integrity of their vision throughout the development of their story.
Creative Screenwriting Magazine has consistently rated her one of the top script consultants in the film industry. She has worked with most major Hollywood studios and many independent filmmakers and has recently earned a doctorate degree in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Dara is a highly sought after keynote speaker whose work is committed to the idea that a culture speaks through its stories. She offers workshops, seminars and script development services. Her clients range from beginning and apprentice screenwriters to top studio writers and executives.
John Rainey - Rainey Script Consulting John Rainey started as a professional actor, and graduated from California State University, Long Beach summa cum laude with a B.A. in acting and directing. He studied with Libby Appel, and learned how to go deeply into character behavior. John encourages writers to take acting classes so they can understand the process of embodying their characters. John attended Cornell University in the MFA program for Stage Directing. He was associate to Ken Rotcop, a writer in the film industry for 35 years, and head of the creative department for three different studios.
In 1987, John started writing screenplays. The acting background gave him the facility to develop characters and write effective dialogue. The directing background enabled John to see the larger picture, the scope, structure, and through-line of a story, as well as tone and thematic development. His life experience of working in almost every type of service employment available gave John stories for a lifetime of writing.
Creative Screenwriting Magazine has rated John Rainey "Best of the Best" in the 2003 survey of screenplay consultants. John has taken ten options on six of his scripts. He has worked with over a thousand screenwriters in the past twelve years.
John enjoys sharing his knowledge with others as a lecturer on campuses, in writers' workshops, festivals, seminars, and screenwriters' expos, as well as in private consulting. John believes that everyone prepared to work hard can become a professional screenwriter, and he wants to help those who are willing to do the work to get their stories on the market.
Linda Seger - Making A Good Script Great Dr. Linda Seger created and defined the job of script consultant when she began her business in 1981, based on a method for analyzing scripts she developed for her dissertation project. Since then, she has consulted on over 2000 scripts, including over 40 produced feature films and about 35 produced television projects. Her clients have included TriStar Pictures, Ray Bradbury, William Kelley, Linda Lavin, Suzanne de Passe, Tony Bill, as well as production companies and writers from six continents.
Dr. Seger is an internationally known speaker in the area of screenwriting, having taught and lectured in over 30 countries on 6 continents. She presented the first professional screenwriting seminar in both Moscow and Bulgaria, and has trained script consultants and script editors in Germany, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Austria, and Italy. She has given seminars for studios, networks, production companies, television series, and film commissions.
As the author of nine books, (including 'Making A Good Script Great') Seger has appeared in more than 60 radio and television shows, including All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Good Morning L.A., Good Morning New York, and CNN.
Peter Soutter - Script Surgery Since 1995 he has worked as a script consultant and story analyst for some of the biggest film companies in the world. Academy Award winners Ring Larder (M.A.S.H.), Barry Levinson (Rainman, Wag the Dog) and John Boorman (Point Blank, Hope and Glory, Deliverance) have all had their work read by Peter. However, his specialty has always been discovering and mentoring new talent.
Peter is also an expert at advising script writers on how to break into the Hollywood market. He has written thousands of script coverage reports which acquisitions and development executives use to decide the fate of potential films.
Peter worked as a script reader for Propaganda Films, one of the worlds leading producers of feature films, commercials and music videos. This major Hollywood company included directors such as David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club), Michael Bay (Armageddon, The Rock), Simon West (Con-Air, The General's Daughter) and Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich). He has also worked as a freelance consultant for Universal Pictures and Village Roadshow (The Matrix).
Sandi Steinberg - The Script Surgeon Sandi Steinberg was a journalist, playwright, wrote two novels and a dozen short stories before becoming a screenwriter. She now rewrites and polishes screenplays for independent producers and production companies, and has worked in development as both Creative Director and Script Doctor. She has lectured for Women in Film, Scriptwriter's Network, Screenwriting Expo, and teaches an ongoing screenwriting and pitching workshop. She was one of only three people in the US trained as a script consultant by Dr. Linda Seger.
Sandi is four-star rated by Creative Screenwriting Magazine. She has acted as judge for several screenwriting competitions, including the Cable Ace Awards and the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Prize. She is a partner in Let's-Do-Lunch where she teaches a hands-on pitching class that has opened the door for many writers and has access to help writers find agency representation.
Many of Sandi's consulting clients have optioned and/or had their scripts produced. Some of the films from this list either in production or already produced include: There Is No April, Duty Dating, One Hell Of A Guy, Night Owls of Coventry, Emily's Song, 1500 Brazil (which she also rewrote with director, Jim Pasternak), and two television Movies Of The Week, Robin's Story, and The 5 Juaquins.
Sandi's first spec script, Curses, was written for and developed by Robert McKee (of Story Structure fame). Her latest script is recently in development with Jazbo Entertainment. Several other of her scripts, have been finalists and semi-finalists in the Chesterfield Film Competition, Austin Heart of Film Contest, the Fade In Screenwriting Competition, and Scripts/Splendid Pictures Open Door Contest, where she won Second Place. Her short feature film, You Are What You Eat, was produced by UCLA Extension as a winner in their Short Fiction Film Competition and has gone on to win several awards at film festivals. It has been shown on the Sundance Channel.
Rob Tobin - Writers Gym Rob Tobin is a screenwriter, script doctor, writing coach, lecturer, author of "How to Write High Structure, High Concept Movies," and has written and sold both feature film scripts and sitcoms. Creative Screenwriting Magazine recently produced two of Rob's instructional screenwriting DVDs.
One of Rob's scripts made the semi-finals of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's 2004 Project Greenlight (and was then optioned) and another of Rob's recently written scripts was selected a winner of the prestigious 2004 Telluride Indiefest.
Rob rewrote "Across the Red Line," a sports drama for the Cannell Studios; wrote the treatment for "Guard of Honor," (from the best-selling novel) for Midnight Soldiers; wrote the treatment for "The A-Team" for Cannell; and the sitcom pilot "Time for Joy" for Riviera Entertainment.
Rob is a former VP of Writers Boot Camp, has done workshops and book signings at major screenwriting conferences including the Screenwriting Expo, Slamdance, and Moondance. As a story analyst, he read more than 5,000 screenplays for Goldwyn, Spelling, Interscope, TriStar, TriMark and HBO, among others. He also helped establish a feature film department for Stephen J. Cannell ("The A-Team," "Hunter," "The Commish").
Rob is available for screenwriting, script doctoring and development work as well as lecturing, workshops and individual coaching and consulting.
David Trottier - The Screenwriter's Bible Dave Trottier has sold several screenplays and developed projects for The Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson Pictures, York Entertainment, On the Bus Productions, Hill Fields (for ABC) and New Century Pictures. Titles include Igor's Revenge (produced), Zorro the Gay Blade (produced, but not credited), The Muppet's Hockey Movie-The Comeback Kids (not completed due to Jim Henson's death), Ratman From Saturn, Kumquat, The New Musketeers, and A Window in Time. He co-wrote and co-produced the cult comedy, Hercules Recycled, now available on video. Most recently, he wrote A Penny Promise (produced), for a regional production company, and sold Hemingway's Twin, an inspiring story about the Hemingway women.
As a script consultant, he has helped dozens of his clients sell their work and win or place in contests (including two Nicholl Fellowship winners and a National Play Award winner). His book, The Screenwriter's Bible, is now in its fourth edition; and his exciting new volume the Freelance Writer's Bible, is now available. He has written a column for Script since 1989, and has published over a hundred articles in various national publications.
Dave has an M.A. from Goddard College and is a graduate of both the Hollywood Scriptwriting Institute and the Hollywood Film Institute. He teaches occasional classes in writing and communications at the University of Phoenix (where he was honored with a Distinguished Teaching Award) and has taught writing and communications courses at over 30 American universities.
His exhaustive written script evaluation is complemented by a one-on-one story conference that allows for a follow-up on the written evaluation. Get the answers needed to revise and sell a script.