The Screenwriting Lesson That Transformed My Writing

When I was a screenwriting student at UCLA Extension, I learned many invaluable scriptwriting lessons about character motivation, screenplay structure, individualized dialog, and so on. These lessons all paled to the one that most helped my storytelling.

The value of working with a skilled script consultant/editor.

Way back when, the Muses smiled on me that one of my screenwriting teachers was a truly excellent script editor. Judy! All my one-on-one editing sessions with Judy going over my scripts page by page, note by note, lesson by lesson were “operations” that washed gallons of blood across my pages. My blood. Judy was always patient, assured, and brilliantly knowledgeable re my creative blunders.

These sessions were the best learning-to-write experiences I ever had.

These editing sessions were mind expanding instruction of how to truly write a screenplay story. I learned live -- inside my own script, sitting next to a former showrunner and A list writer and producer -- storytelling basics. And I could ask vital questions about my script and the craft.

These marathon script surgeries greatly developed my stories and provided invaluable storytelling lessons I could apply to later scripts.

Actionable Editing Takeaway

When first being edited by Judy, I quickly understood a critical writing/editing technique that I’ve used ever since. A principle that has vastly improved my story creating and editing.

When reviewing my notes from the editing session, I would painstakingly induce from them the writing principles/rules that I had broken or didn’t know.

I can’t stress enough the value of performing this inductive practise.

My big tip to you is:

After being edited by a story pro go through your notes and don’t just see them as practical action points. Study them and figure out the principles of what you got wrong and never did.

I would invariably do this and apply the insights to my future stories. For example, in my last session with Judy (sorry she’s retired) I understood and pounded into my head the key story principle of Variety.

Applying this inductive learning process and enacting its results greatly developed my writing muscles. And I did get better! Slowly and in spurts. This knowledge -- first written in bright blood and later seen in haloed white headlines -- I now share with my own writer and producer clients.

It is intensely hard work to learn how to create stories. I shudder to think how my life and work would be without that career changing relationship, editing, and learning principle. Thank you, Judy!

I hope you too can experience all the story enhancing benefits of working with an expert script consultant.

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