Pull the Trigger

Email me now at digital guerrilla cinema at gmail dot com to discuss your project: genre, subgenre, comparison films, etc. If you want me to read a screenplay for analysis, my fee is $250;  if you want me to propose changes for a rewrite you plan to hire me to do, I will deduct the analysis payment from the total fee. If you want me to read prose fiction for evaluation as a potential screenplay, my fee is $1.25 per double space page (deductible from my overall fee if you hire me to adapt your work). 

I prefer email communication, but I'm happy to do a zoom call so we can look each other in the eye. I accept payment via check; I will accept venmo or paypal but you're responsible for any fees. I don't begin work without  receiving payment. 

If you wish to hire me and I'm interested in your project, I will tell you when I can schedule work to begin. While various stages of assignments for different clients may overlap, I only actively write one screenplay at a time, so I can devote my primary attention to the project before me.

Once we've signed an agreement and I've received payment, we can get into greater specifics. Sometimes a client has a self-published novel for me to adapt; sometimes they have a detailed story treatment for me to work fom; sometimes they have a logline; sometimes they only have a lead character and a genre. If your ideas are more general, it will just take us longer to hit on the story you want to tell.

I do not audition for writing jobs. I have way too much experience for that. 

I typically like to spend two weeks rolling ideas around in my head. If I'm not working from a detailed story of some kind, I need to determine the structure of your screenplay and provide you with a loose outline. We will agree on the general outline before I begin writing.

I do not co-write with anyone else, even if we're going to share credit. I also don't provide short sections of work-in-progress, giving you the opportunity to request an inordinate amount of changes. It is important that I complete a first draft - and receive full payment for that draft - before you begin requesting changes. I spend a lot of time getting the first 10 pages right, since they are arguably the most important part of the screenplay (because professional readers will give you 10 pages to capture their attention), and then I concentrate on the first act, which sets up everything that follows. Once I'm confident in that first act, the remainder of the screenplay tends to fall into place. Clients have requested very few changes to my first drafts.

Structure is critical. I will use that term a lot. Structure is the measurement by which a reader will determine if the screenplay works or not; it dictates pacing and character development. A properly structured screenplay "feels" like a movie as you read it.

Although I have strong opinions and instincts about what makes a screenplay work, I defer to the client at all times. If we disagree on a point, I will present my case once, then make the requested revision. Arguing is not an effective use of my time or yours.

Once I complete all requested revisions to your satisfaction, the work will be deemed complete, and I will hope to work with you again!

I won't shut the door on consulting work, but I'm more interested in writing.

Gregory Lamberson