Does anyone have any tips on writing with a partner? I am thinking about writing with a friend of mine and we dont really know how to go about it.  please help....

If you want to save a friendship, I'd say don't do it.

I can't imagine it going any faster than doing it on your own.  What time you may save by have two writers, you'll only lose by arguing.


Or maybe I'm just being a pessimist.


Phil

No Phil,

I think you are giving solid advice here. Partnerships can definitely work, but they have to be special partnerships. And...

Just because people are friends, it doesn't mean that they can work well together.

I think the best partnerships are when people can put their egos aside for the sake of the work itself. Part of this then, as I mentioned would be to work out a detailed plan for the vision of the piece. But...

This is really hard. It's hard enough with one person let along two or more.

I'm not a pessimist and I don't think you are. I just think this is a realistic attitude and to accept that it might not work out. But people still have to try. They just might wind up collaborating with the perfect individual and it might work out-- like a good marriage. Just as long as you consider the divorce statistics before you make any commitment.

That's what I believe in-- making a commitment to something over the long term. It's a hard thing though because people's lives take them all over the place and especially for young people... things often just fall away.

Sandra

THank you both for your advice.  My friend and I share the same passion. We have been friends for about 12 yrs and have been through the ringer with alot of stuff over that time.  We have faith in each other, completely.  We know that we just have to stay grounded.  We both never wrote with another person and dont know how to go about it.  We shared some ideas already, and we both took ideas from each other.  Do we each write a scene? Do we sit and do it together? I just don't know the right way to go about it.

Whatever works with you. Either write one scene seperately or do it together. There's no precise formula as there is no formula for making a great script. Something that just came to my head at the moment, I suggest to start with the outline. Each of you write a outline and talk about it adding, deleting, etc. Compare notes on it before starting the script. Saves alot of time.

Gabe

I collaborated with George once, and one lesson learned was that only one person works on it at a time.

Back and forth.  One at a time is the only thing that works.

If you both work on it simultaneously you are wasting each other's time.

I teamed up with Nixon before and to my knowledge we never had any problems. In fact it was so easy it was probably a better experience than what one should look forward too.

I think if the other person compliments you and vice versa try it out but try to have an outline first and then kind of break up the work. Once you finish, that's when you may have problems with changes and all.

Thank you all so much for your help!!!

Quick question, has either of you ever wrote at all before? I just don't want you to think that two heads that don't know what they're doing are better than one.  You might find it even more of a pain than if you worked alone.

we both have written before, I am actually in the middle of the first script I am actually happy about (40 pages in).  There were others I started but I didnt finish them.  We both read the ins and outs, the dos and donts. We have Final Draft. I think we are ready! LOL  About 9 yrs ago, at the ripe young age of 21, we both "collaborated" on a screenplay that was so outrageous.  We laugh about it now, b/c we were so young and did everything so wrong... but even back then we were both on the same page throughout! :)

Honestly, if you're not bringing your friend along on the script you're halfway through, I'd say hold off. You say forty pages which is about the time when you're done with act I and getting slowed and discouraged in act II. I'd say plow through it by yourself and finish what you currently got. This new found desire to collaborate might just be your brain screaming "ahhh! It's getting hard. Let's find something to distract us!"

Just my two cents.

No I am finishing my script on my own, I am talking about a new script.  I know exactly where I am heading with the one I am working on.  Thanks for the insight though!

You may want to check out wordplayer.com. Even though I don't think it's "functional" anymore, it was run by two writers who had collabed on Pirates, Shrek, Zorro and others. Should have some general and specific articles to your situation.

Then make sure you come right back to simplyscripts.

I feel very open to working with others. Even if the project fails, I feel I learn a lot from the experience.

Truthfully, I've probably got too many irons in the fire, and it's a steep learning curve, but I really do enjoy helping other writers. Well-- just helping people in general. Crazy nut-case-altruistic -fool that I am. But really, it's not altruism, because I am also receiving a great joy out of the whole experience.

The thing (things are) is: that there are just so many elements to the craft and like others have said: there's no specific formula. There are formulas that help, but one can always contradict them; so there are many formula and many un-formula that work.

I think it's good advice to work one at a time and back and forth. In between, discuss the difficulties YOU EACH SEE, but not as an attack, only in scrutiny.

Perhaps assign each other tasks that compliment each other's skills and abilities. For instance, when I corresponded with Michael Prevette, I saw that he was quite good with structure, (at least compared to me). Whereas, my strengths currently lie in a lot of the detail work, tightness, word choice, character illumination... well, there are needless to say a lot of small details that-- when you start focusing on them, you lose sight of the larger picture and need someone like Michael, or someone who is generally more experienced, to point out larger structural flaws.

Even things like pacing and transitions can go all to Hell when a person loses focus on the big picture. Maybe they get wrapped up in character. Maybe they get wrapped up in action sequences. Maybe they get so deep into dialogue they forget where they are-- whatever it may be, it's easy to get sidetracked.

So, again: Try and compliment one another's skills. Delegate to each other. Is one person better at research? Then let him do research. Need to write a mood sketch to see what the "feel" of it all is? Who might be better at that? It's not a competition. Everyone is going to have their strong and weak points. If you're working with a partner, you need to both figure that out.

An important thing though: Is not to forget The Treatment. It's not so much for someone else, but it's for you. To help clarify and get and maintain that bird's eye view. Think of it as an important polishing tool.

Sandra

I wrote a script with someone who paid me for the script, and was going to produce it.

What we did was he had an idea for a script, and he sent it to me.

I, then, wrote the short script that night, and sent it to him the next day.

He gave me his input on the script.

I did a slight rewrite, and sent it back to him.

He had the final say, and did the final tweaks to the script.

I recieved my check in the mail.

He went after a couple actors he had in mind.
They didn't want to do the script.
He held auditions for the parts. Couldn't find what he wanted, and decided not to produce the script.

I think it worked out really well between the two of us. Bouncing ideas off of each other, writing back and forth.
I also think the script was really funny, too bad I can't post it. It belongs to him.

One of my favorite parts of the script is when the one guy pats his leg like he's calling a dog and says: "Here zombie, zombie, zombie..." :-)

Oh well, it was fun to do.

Cindy

Thank you all...this is very helpful....