Howdy,

If this needs to be moved to another forum, please do. I'm offering screenplay tutoring, and since I'm new to the tutoring part of this all, this could mean a few different things. First, a bit about myself.

I graduated from NYU with a double major in both Dramatic Writing and in Film. This double major isn't common, nor was it even technically allowed. Only myself and one other girl did it in my year, and I met maybe a handful in my 4 years there. In essence, it means that I have complete training in how to write a screenplay and also how to produce one. My focus in each respectively was in TV writing and in directing. Outside of the program I've written and directed 2 features with a small group of friends, one of which played at a local film festival in my home town. All in all I've written 7 feature screenplays and dozens of spec scripts (episodes of current TV shows). I interned with Late Night with Conan O'Brien during his last year there. After I graduated I did freelance production work, working on a couple Food Network shows, a Discovery Channel show and a ton of commercials. After 2 years of doing freelance work, I made a choice to put production on hold and started working in public service.

After I graduated the chair of the Dramatic Writing department told me that I would make a great teacher, after I gained more experience. My thesis adviser, at my crit panel, said that my biggest strength was being able to give criticism to my classmates. My writer's group agrees with that as well. I've taught before and mentored kids while I was in high school, so I have experience teaching. I figured that while NYU can't hire me as a professor yet, and I can't take on a full time teaching job with my current job, I would see if there was a market out there for people who wanted screenplay tutoring.

Some background on the type of work I've done:

I've written across all genres, mostly around comedy. I wrote my first romantic comedy last year, wrote a feature about the dark side of poker. I've never done an historical feature, but I'm up for anything. I wrote a 30 page paper on the horror genre, so I got that down pretty well as well.

I've written spec scripts (basically, an episode of a current TV show, it's what you write for your portfolio) of My Name is Earl, How I Met Your Mother, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, House, West Wing. I'm up to speed on pretty much all TV, so if there's a show you want to write an episode of, I should be fine.

Here are some YouTube clips of shorts I did in college:

Sophomore year - http://www.youtube.com/watchv=NfbVAw...lukgbcMr-AFFfZ

Junior year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kgvf...cJ3aUNl27E_cdQ

Junior year - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ind3U...cJ3aUNl27E_cdQ

Trailer for my feature - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgZ3QpJNRLY

Also, this goes without saying, but anything that seems like poor writing is 100% the actor's faults. Always is.

Anyway.

I can offer a few different things:

- basic from the ground up tutoring: what a screenplay is, from basic theory to advanced nuance. How to outline a screenplay, how to plot out your timeline, how to develop your characters, etc. I can teach you everything you'll need to get a good understanding of what goes into writing a screenplay. I can do the same for either screenplays or TV writing.
- develop your own work: if you have an idea in mind or have had this thought for a great TV show, I can help you get it onto the page. We'll do work on developing the idea, outlining it and eventually getting a first draft.
- specific lessons: if you have specific issues you want to work out, i.e. how to get your 150 page screenplay down to 120 pages, or how do I make this funny, we can do that too. One of my biggest strengths is tweaking and revising.
- overall, I offer a great objective viewpoint on your idea. Even if you have a terribly boring idea, there's a way to juice it up and get it to something you can be proud of.

What I will not do:

- write your screenplay for you. I will tweak, I will advise, I will critique and help you get where you need to be. I will not write your idea for you. At least, not as a tutor. If you want to hire me as a ghost writer, that's a whole other thing.
- leave you before your work is done. I know that one of, if not the hardest part about writing something is finishing it. My adviser always told me that there's no such thing as writer's block only a refusal to write. I'll keep on your ass to finish whatever you start, believe you me.
- be your agent. I would love it if the screenplay you wrote got picked up and became a huge hollywood hit. I have many contacts in the field and I would gladly help you find places to send your script, show you how to register it, etc. But I'm not going to make that my full time job, since that's the full time job of an agent. Also, getting an agent as a writer is very, very difficult.


Pricing:

Since I'm young and new to this, everything is negotiable. I want to start at/around 40/hr since that seems to be a standard starting rate for specialized tutoring. I can work out packages of sets of hours for lower hourly rates, etc. I don't want to start off with pre-packaged amounts of hours because deepening on your background it might take longer than others. Based on what I consider general knowledge to be, I would say that it could be 3-5 hours of general theory to lay the groundwork. For theory and what not, I can do Skype or some other kind of video chat. If there's video, I'll draw you charts. If not, I guess I can just e-mail you the charts and what not.

If you have a specific idea in mind, I think I could give you the amount of tutoring necessary for you to write out a draft in 4-6 hours. After that, notes on the feature would be another 1-2 hours. The rewriting process is it's own beast, so we can cross that bridge when we get there.

At this point, I'm looking to take on 2-3 students and then see how it goes. I'll accept based purely on first come first serve.

Validation:

If you need any confirmation on any of this, there are several mods who I know in real life who can confirm. One mod actually played a very small role in a feature I did. I also sent around the poker screenplay I wrote to a few STTFers, so they can give you an idea of my writing style. PM me for details about any of them.

Cheers

bumping so it doesn't get archived

PM me your contact details and other relevant information.

Disclaimer: I haven't seen your material, just read the OP. Exercise in time management.

yeah i wasnt sure how long to write it since its a new type of coaching offered and im a new tutor. ill PM you

ta kindly. we'll be in touch.

l'romanji, nawmean? see you around kensington. keep it on the long 5.

bump

Bump. If you're interested but unsure about pricing let me know, I'm negotiable

nice avatar....hahahaha

thank you. if you want to learn how to write a comedy just as funny, PM me

bump for the holiday season

this is really really awesome but I don't have the time or the money at the moment....

Bump

Doing more freelance work now, just finished producing an indie feature, have a little more free time over the summer if anyone is interested

How much of a general idea does one already have to have to get something like this into the works? I've always been interested in doing something like this just for fun (And really wishing I went to school for it,) but have never really sat down and tried to hammer a bunch of details out.

Good question. I guess it depends what you're looking for. Are you looking to learn enough to write on your own, are you looking for just enough to write a screenplay on your own and then have me coach you through re-writes, or are you just looking for someone to help organize story ideas? They're all different and valid things, just depends what you need.

In terms of what you need to know already, I'd just say basic writing skills. Writing a screenplay is different from writing an essay or short story or book. You don't NEED the poetic flare, in fact it usually hurts you in a screenplay.

One of my best qualities as a writer is teasing out story ideas and structuring stories in a way that can be written. If you have an idea of a movie (I'd be cool if this happened then this happened then this happened) then I can help you structure that into a movie.

I can coach the basics that you'd probably read from a book, but I also know what matters most from the books and what you really need as an amateur.

Hope this helps.

Gonna give this a bump.

Over the summer I did take on a 2p2 student. He sent me a written out idea of a movie he had, and I wrote him back a few pages of notes about how to help frame the story, ideas, etc. Basically 1 session, then he didn't have time to pursue the screenplay further.

An update on me since the OP - I've since co-produced a feature indie (was also the on set script supervisor), and was the co-producer for content for a start up most recently. Been working on a few scripts of my own, and a pilot which I (knock on wood) will get to pitch sometime soon. I've also been working on stand up and storytelling lately, so most of my work has been around that.

Cheers

give this a bump

Very cool, wish I could afford your services right now. Truly creative minds are rare, Good luck!

How much to read and give detailed notes on a full screenplay (around 100 pages)?

sent a PM, but i'd say for $40/hr id be able read and write up detailed notes in 2 hours. could do $75 total for a first time.