Collaboration

Hi all,

This is my first post. Just discovered this forum and about a week ago decided to write a screenplay. My buddy has the same idea and also is writing his own screenplay. We are collaborating with each other on both screenplays and it helps to keep the ideas and motivation flowing. We intend to share bylines on both. It is a first effort for both of us. The question I have is, is collaboration common?
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By way of introduction, I worked in Hollywood from 92-95 as a Marine Corps technical advisor, doing all sorts of jobs, from casting and location scouting to reviewing scripts and getting Marine Corps planes, tanks etc for movies/TV that we'd approved (True Lies, American President, Major Dad, etc).

Have been doing journalism work since and currently editor of "The Military Engineer" magazine.

This will be my first screenplay. Following advice of Syd Field in his book "Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting." Already have my 3 acts in mind, plot points, main character bio and am using the 3x5 card scene method.

Although I worked in Hollywood and have been a journalist for nearly 30 years, I don't claim to know it all, or even that much about screenwriting so I hope to return to this forum from time to time with questions. I looked through some of the posts on this forum, downloaded a few, and am impressed.

Thanks.

Dave Vergun

Hey, Dave,

I am a screenwriter too. Currently I'm taking a course through Gotham Writer's Group and it's going great! Is collaboration common, you ask? It can be. Sometimes two heads are better than one! I don't know it all about screenwriting either but I'm really learning quite a lot through the course I'm taking. What kind of screenwriting software do you use? I've been using Final Draft and I like it a lot. Good luck to you in writing your script.....

Michelle

Hi Michelle,

I see that this is your first post too. As I mentioned, I'm just at the card stage (stringing scenes together & doing bio work). I didn't even realize that there's screenwriting software. There's so much I have to learn but that's the mechanics. A big part is the ideas, creativity, and structure, so I think my buddy & I are way ahead. We both brainstorm. In fact, tonight, we're going to a Pho restaurant to eat Vietnamese noodles and talk about our scrips and tomorrow we're going to his house to watch & critique some movies while his wife rustles up some beer and grub for us.

I'm currently living in Virginia (D.C. area), but would like to move to a more peaceful place (not LA), where my beagle can run free and the traffic is not so hectic.

BTW, we considered taking a screenwriting course like you did but instead went & got a book on how to do it. For us, it was a choice of learning it faster and comparing notes.

I still have the original 1995 Godzilla script at my house that I worked on (reviewed and edited but I wasn't the writer), btw. The movie was shelved for several years and when it came out, it was significantly different than the script.

Thanks for replying.

hey neighbors: FJ & G - we have a screenwriter's group meeting this Tuesday downtown, DC - if you're interested i'll hook you up.

write on!

That would be great. Perhaps my collaborator could also attend. I'm at [email protected]. Thanks!

dave...
if you want some basic info on the basics, and tips from the pros that i send to beginners, you can email me at:
[email protected]

hugs, maia

Warning! No matter if you collab with God Himself...

please, please, please get a contract with the other writer. And be careful of the wording in that contract. A poorly written agreement is as bad as not having one at all...maybe worse. :smack And if you are both working on SPEC, make sure other writer knows what that means.

Did you know that if a person/writer contibutes just one line in your SP, it is WGA law that you must include their name on registration of that SP.

Should you want to beg out of collab., you cannot use the other writer's material for the above reason and would need to re-write that material word for word.

Hope this helps.