So I've always wonderd, how do you co-write a script?

When I think about it, I always thought they just passed the script to each other and be all "Meh, you finish it. Im bored" or somethin'.

Probably a stupid question, but it's been bugging me for ages.

With great difficulty.

That's da short answer.

I'm sure those who've dun it a few times will tell da story (mourning glory) batter den I.

R

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Depends. The Coen bros apparently write in the same room or at least the same building at the same time. They are purely collaborative on every part of the script from start to finish, constantly bouncing ideas back and forth (oh, to be a fly on the wall)

Most of the time, from what I've heard anyway, both writers assign each other separate sections of the script once it is outlined and correspond via email or whatever…swapping, re-reading and rewriting each others parts before reaching a satisfactory compromise. But yeah, the processes and approaches vary widely from team to team.

To be honest, it’s not something that sounds attractive to me but then again if you got a like minded individual to combine your ideas with, it can result in something great that you probably wouldn’t achieve on your own.

A few people on here have collaborated on various scripts, most recently a work called "Thief". I'm sure they could give you some interesting insight.

Col.

Quoted from Colkurtz8 Scription Depends. The Coen bros apparently write in the same room or at least the same building at the same time. They are purely collaborative on every part of the script from start to finish, constantly bouncing ideas back and forth (oh, to be a fly on the wall) Most of the time, from what I've heard anyway, both writers assign each other separate sections of the script once it is outlined and correspond via email or whatever…swapping, re-reading and rewriting each others parts before reaching a satisfactory compromise. But yeah, the processes and approaches vary widely from team to team. To be honest, it’s not something that sounds attractive to me but then again if you got a like minded individual to combine your ideas with, it can result in something great that you probably wouldn’t achieve on your own. A few people on here have collaborated on various scripts, most recently a work called "Thief". I'm sure they could give you some interesting insight. Col.

Thanks!

That sounds about right. It sounds awful difficult.


thank you


- Rhys

First you write and Academy Award winning script, then I put my name upon it like Ben Afleck did to Good Will Hunting. Email me when its complete. Thanks.

I've co-written a couple of scripts and tried both ways:

- Both writers in a room bouncing ideas off the walls and writing them on a laptop connected to a big screen.

- A writer writes a draft, sends it to the co-writer or does a draft and it goes back and forth until no more changes are needed.

The first option works for creating a synopsis, treatment, beatsheet but we found option number 2 was a lot more succesful.

Quoted from jwent6688 First you write an Academy Award winning script, then I put my name upon it like Ben Afleck did to Good Will Hunting. Email me when its complete. Thanks.

Cash in all the money and say im lying when I wrote it first.

You find a way that works for both writers involved. There's really no right or wrong way to do it. The way I did the 2 week challenge with Sandra some time ago was we bounced ideas back and forth through email until we reached a good storyline we could write to. Little by little through that process, one or the other of us was creating a sort of outline. Finally, I think I wrote the entire first draft, sent it to her, she took a pass at it, sent it back, I took another pass, et cetera till it was done.

SimplyNoir with Bert was a bit different. He came up with the original idea, wrote a good portion of the script, and then sent it to me to play with it and do whatever I wanted to. I added several scenes, filled out others, and then sent it back. He trimmed what I'd written, cleaned it up here and there, and then sent it back. I put back the stuff he cut that I thought was important and explained myself. He looked at it for one more pass and we called it done.

But that's collaboration. It's easier than ever to actually collaborate with someone you only know over the net because of IM and Skype. The key though is discussion and compromise. Both parties have to accept the other party's ideas and then discuss the pros and cons of each. Then they have to do what is best for the plot/character/pacing/whatever. It's very much like any relationship or marriage. Give and take all the way and just trying to find that common ground where it all works out and then you hope the kid isn't totally screwed up when you're done.

Collaboration has it's strong sides in that two minds are better than one. Trouble is most writers are far too conceited to collaborate.

I've only done a co-write once before on a feature, and it ended up being a complete disaster.  Both of us wanted something different from the project (and particularly the characters), and so in the end, it was a mess.

What I'd recommend doing is hashing out a complete treatment before even attempting to proceed beyond that.  Make sure you're both on the same page with everything and then go from there.  I, unfortunately, just started with an idea and went from there.  Kind of "Hey, we both like this idea, so clearly it'll be great if we just start the damn thing."  Big mistake.

With co-writing, it definitely needs the structure, so you're both on the same page (as it were). Especially if you're just starting with an idea. The best part of collaborating is working out the story. That's the hard part. Writing the script is easy.

Didn't we have this question not long ago or am I just imagining?

I've co-written with several people with various success.

1. e-mailing the plot back and forth for a long time and then attempting to do the same with the script. Didn't work for me because it took so long I lost interest. Which is sad because it is a good story.

2. co-wrote with Shelton once. Took about 12 days. One person would write 5-8 pages in one day and then the other person would add another 5-8 the next day. That worked great for me. I never lost interest and kept on the ball until the first draft was finished.

3. I write a first draft and someone else rewrites it. Works pretty well.

4. I wrote about 30 pages of a script and then someone else wrote another 30 or so. Didn't work. Those who've read it said there were clear difference in style and very obvious different parts were written by different people.

My idea of the ideal collaboration would be where we discuss the story structure at length. Write out an outline/treatment, and toss it back ad forth until the entire thing is fleshed out. One person writes the first draft. The other basically reviews the draft extensively and makes the necessary changes after some discussion. Then that draft is passed passed to person one who does the same thing. Repeat until done.

The bonus here is that each person has long enough off of it to have a fresh take on it when they look at it again. My opinion anyway.

This is something that interests me a lot. I've got an incredible amount of ideas and I'd love to collaborate on some of them and I have some that I think would specifically work well in a collaborative form.

I wonder whether it's not so much a particular way of collaborating that is important, but in choosing the right style of collaboration for the particular project.

For instance in Pia's example above #4...

There is a film called The Signal. Check it out online. It's not a classic, but is certainly a good film...and the kind of film that could be made well and cheaply.

Three Directors collaborated on it, making 3, 30 minute segments each...all of which had a very different mood and theme, despite it being a continuous story with the same characters. This is of course the problem that Pia mentioned.

However it worked really well in that film. They found natural cut off points or story beats that allowed them to switch the point of view of the characters and move into differnet situations.

Watch it to see what I mean. If you Google: Watch movies online....you'll find a link that streams films and it will be on there.

I'm sure with the right planning that kind of thing could be pulled off well.

I've always thought it would be good to collaborate with several people as well...have it so that everyone is an individual character. Is that the way the Thief thing worked?

Rick

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films This is something that interests me a lot. I've got an incredible amount of ideas and I'd love to collaborate on some of them and I have some that I think would specifically work well in a collaborative form. I wonder whether it's not so much a particular way of collaborating that is important, but in choosing the right style of collaboration for the particular project. For instance in Pia's example above #4... There is a film called The Signal. Check it out online. It's not a classic, but is certainly a good film...and the kind of film that could be made well and cheaply. Three Directors collaborated on it, making 3, 30 minute segments each...all of which had a very different mood and theme, despite it being a continuous story with the same characters. This is of course the problem that Pia mentioned. However it worked really well in that film. They found natural cut off points or story beats that allowed them to switch the point of view of the characters and move into differnet situations. Watch it to see what I mean. If you Google: Watch movies online....you'll find a link that streams films and it will be on there. I'm sure with the right planning that kind of thing could be pulled off well. I've always thought it would be good to collaborate with several people as well...have it so that everyone is an individual character. Is that the way the Thief thing worked? Rick

That film sounds amazing, I think I'll give it a little look tomorrow


But you're right. I mean, some ideas CANT be worked with ONE person. Maybe it can, but I always think some ideas need another person there.



Also, your quote also reminds me of "New York, I Love You" (Or it's French original, Paris je t'aime) in which 11 directors write, direct, and sometimes act in their stories, which is intertiwned beautfully (Well, in the orginal at least) to create a movie.

Each sniplet has an emotion, a theme, a small, delicate part in which the larger picture could not do without.

The original is best, yet the American version is still OK. I mean, you got Natalie Portman acting, directing a little sniplet, along with other guys, too.

The french original has  21 directors include Gurinder Chadha, Sylvain Chomet, Joel and Ethan Coen, Gerard Depardieu, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuarón, Nobuhiro Suwa, Alexander Payne, Tom Tykwer, Walter Salles and Gus Van Sant, and more.

It's beautiful how the experiment, well, the way I see it as, worked well.

As you can see, they aren't ALL French directors - some are, but most are American, to British, to even an Australian director.

The American one, "New York, I love you", had directors like: Jiang Wen
Mira Nair, Shunji Iwai, Yvan Attal, Brett Ratner, Allen Hughes, Shekhar Kapur
Natalie Portman, Fatih Akin, Joshua Marston and Randy Balsmeyer



Thanks to George (and the rest of you), it gives me a great insight on how it is.

It's not easy, it's not hard either unless you know how to do it.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I'm sure with the right planning that kind of thing could be pulled off well. I've always thought it would be good to collaborate with several people as well...have it so that everyone is an individual character. Is that the way the Thief thing worked? Rick

Thief has  not been without its problems of course, but rather than buckling under to them, most of our people have used the environment to move beyond ordinary single-mindedness that often drags one writer down.

The obstacles we've encountered have brought new ways of considering the script as a whole. Probably the most beneficial thing we've done is a whole lot of character work that obviously can't just bling itself into the confines of a hundred page script. Nevertheless, the characters drive the script and we might consider developing this into more than a single, but first we need to get ourselves through this one.

It's all boils down to time and the amount of effort people are willing to put in. The thing is that it's hard work and the writers have to have a kind of passion that will pull them through the hard times.

Sandra