Script Doctoring

Rewriting From The Ground Up

You’ve got a completed script, your core concept is sound, you feel strongly about your themes, but it’s just not hitting like it should.

Readers and producers are saying “pass” instead of “recommend.”

Or maybe you’re heading toward production, and your director or producer is complaining.

Maybe your narrative prose is overwritten and hyperspecific, hurting the pacing of the read.

Could be your story has stalled, your characters are unmotivated and flat, plotting is suffering, and you just don’t know what to do.

Maybe you need to hand it off to another writer to give it a doctoring pass.

What’s that mean?

As your script doctor, I’ll analyze your script (essentially a quick developmental edit), identify opportunities for improvement in your story, plot, characters, and dialogue.

That might mean rearranging plot points, adding or removing scenes, deleting or conflating characters, and rewriting character voices.

I’ll edit or rewrite your narrative description to industry specs; extraneous detail removed, white space and rhythm improved.

I’ll edit and rewrite dialogue to remove exposition, enhance subtext, and reinforce each character’s unique voice and point of view.

This might mean a light pass, it might be a thorough ground-up rewrite. All designed to ensure your core concept and themes are protected, while producing a better, stronger, more engaging story that excites readers, producers, actors, and directors.

ProTip: A rewrite like this can work for screenplays, novels, and business books, too!

Better Dialogue, Better Stories

Confident your structure and story are sound, but the dialogue still isn’t hitting like it should? Does it feel unnatural, expository, on-the-nose?

Whether you’re writing books, screenplays, training courses, or marketing videos, believable, naturalistic dialogue is critical.

That’s because listeners find your stilted, unnatural, expositional dialogue “revolting”… even if they don’t realize exactly why.

Yes. Revolting.

Maybe you’ve heard of the “uncanny valley.” That’s when humanoid objects like robots or CGI characters that “closely but imperfectly resemble actual human beings provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of uneasiness and revulsion in observers.” (Wikipedia)

Bad dialogue can generate a similar response. Your audience thinks, “That’s not how real people talk.” “A person in that situation would already know that.” “God, this movie/book/ad is awful.” “This writer/company/service sucks.”

Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, I didn’t say it. I’m here to help.

I love doing dialogue rewrites.

Whether you’re rewriting first draft dialogue, giving final draft characters a unique voice and motivation, or removing exposition and looking for ‘white space,’ I can help.

Now, it’s important to recognize that crafting organic, naturalistic dialogue depends heavily on understanding all the intimate details of the characters.

It’s our job to know each character’s unique personality traits; their backstory – education, cultural influences; how much they know; what they want and need out of the scene (or the scene needs out of them); what their aspirational motivations are – conscious or unconscious; and then to find ways for the character to express what they want and need without ever letting them say what they want.

I repeat: find ways for the character to express what they want and need without ever letting them say what they want.

A dialogue rewrite might be just the thing to give your characters a unique voice, help insert subtext, and enhance themes. It can improve a reader’s empathy for characters, increase engagement in your story, and make roles more attractive and challenging for actors.

Want to hear more?

Read my article, How The Crazy Lady At CVS Can Help You Write Better Screenplay Dialogue.

ProTip: A dialogue rewrite like this can work for screenplays, novels, and business books too!