Script consulting
I’m a working screenwriter. Alongside my own projects, I take on a few writers at a time for notes and mentorship.
You get a close, honest read of your script, a clear sense of what the next draft needs, and a working writer’s knowledge of how the industry will receive it. Here’s where that comes from: WGA member for over a decade. Two Black List scripts. Wrote and produced The Independent, starring Brian Cox, Jodie Turner-Smith, and John Cena. A feature currently in development at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. Represented by Anonymous Content.
About
Who you’d be working with
I’ve spent more than a decade writing features and television for studios, networks, and independent financiers. Before that, I sat on the other side of the desk, in development at production companies, reading the pile and deciding which scripts got sent up the ladder.
I wrote and produced The Independent, a political thriller starring Brian Cox, John Cena, Jodie Turner-Smith, and Ann Dowd, directed by Emmy-nominated Amy Rice. It premiered on Peacock in 2022 and is streaming now on Peacock, Amazon, and Apple.
Two of my scripts have been named to the Black List, the industry’s annual survey of the most-liked unproduced screenplays: The Independent, which reached the top ten, and Kings Canyon, a Cold War thriller. My work spans political thrillers, historical dramas, comedies, biopics, sports movies, and more. I’ve been hired to write features, half-hour comedies, and hour-long dramas on assignment for Amazon, Fox, Sony, CBS Studios, and Paramount. I’m currently developing a psychological thriller at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, and a Watergate drama with Chris Pine attached to star is set up at Amazon. I was one of twenty writers chosen from more than four thousand applicants for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Impact accelerator.
My years in development were spent as an assistant and then a creative executive at Steve Carell’s Carousel Productions, after starting out at Escape Artists on the Sony lot. That’s where I learned how scripts actually get read, covered, developed, packaged, and sold, which is the perspective I bring to your pages. I’m represented by Anonymous Content and The Nord Group.
I grew up in New York, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Virginia, and spent eleven years living and working in Los Angeles.
Press
In the trades
How I work
We start with a thirty-minute call, no charge and no obligation on either side. I want to hear about your script and what you want out of working together, and for you to get a sense of me and how I’d come at it. If we both think it’s a fit, we go from there.
Out in the world, a script has to earn its read. Some never get opened; plenty get set down by page fifteen or twenty. A reader working through a pile is looking for a reason to keep going, and the scripts that rise are the ones that keep giving them one. With me, your script gets the read it deserves: close and unhurried, pen in hand, cover to cover, with an eye on what’s working, what could work better, and how to get it there.
Then I put it in writing: a straight, specific account of where the script is strong, where it can be stronger, and what I’d do next. Once you’ve had time to sit with the notes, we get on an hour-long call to talk them through and take your questions. You should come out of it knowing exactly what the next draft needs to do, and how to give a reader every reason to keep going. That’s what moves a script to the top of the pile.
One-time
Notes
There are two ways to work with me: a one-time notes package, or ongoing mentorship (below). The packages are fixed-scope, and every package includes both kinds of notes: big-picture notes on concept, structure, character, and market, and specific page notes, from trims and dialogue alts to clarity and scenework. Plus the hour-long call to talk them through. Notes come back within two to three weeks.
Half-hour pilot notes
$700For a half-hour pilot, roughly 25 to 35 pages.
Hour-long pilot notes
$1,000For an hour-long pilot, roughly 50 to 65 pages.
Feature notes
$1,400For a feature, up to about 120 pages.
Want to keep going as you revise? You can work with me by the hour, at $200, whenever you want specific pages read, with no set schedule or commitment. Or move into ongoing mentorship (below) for a standing rhythm of calls and real accountability.
Ongoing
Mentorship
For writers who want a working relationship rather than a single set of notes, whether you’re starting from a finished draft or just an idea. And for anyone who wants the accountability that gets drafts finished. Writers on assignment have contractual deadlines; writers on spec have to build their own. So we set a realistic plan together, with deadlines that fit your life, and I help you stick to it. Pages have a way of getting written when someone’s waiting to read them.
Weekly mentorship
$1,200 / monthA 45-minute one-on-one call every week, used however you need it. If you’re starting with an idea and a blank page: we’ll shape the concept, build an outline, and get you writing. While you’re writing: send pages ahead and I’ll come to the call with notes, use me as a sounding board for ideas, or work through the places you’re stuck. Once it’s ready: how you present it to the industry. We’ll craft a logline, synopsis, and comps that make people want to read the script, build a pitch or investor deck, plan how to put your network to work, and prep you for meetings with reps, producers, directors, and investors. Month to month; stay as long as it’s useful.
Every-other-week mentorship
$650 / monthThe same relationship at half the cadence: a 45-minute call every other week, with the same plan and the same accountability.
I keep this small and work with a handful of writers at a time. When it’s full, there’s a waitlist. Starts with a short email. See below.
FAQ
Before we start
What kinds of writers and scripts do you work with?
Features and television, across most genres, and writers at every stage. If you have an idea you’ve always wanted to write and don’t know where to start, I’ll teach you the craft from the ground up. If you have a script or two behind you, we’ll work on raising your writing to the level that earns a full read and gives you your best shot at representation. And if you’re already repped and working, I’ll help you sharpen a draft before it goes out.
How do you protect my script and my ideas?
Everything you send me is confidential. And since I write in the same space you’re working in, let me be direct about the obvious concern: I have my own projects to write, I’m not looking for material or ideas, and I’m not in the business of taking anyone’s. Nothing you send me goes anywhere. So before you send a page, we both sign a short agreement that keeps your material confidential and protects us both. That’s a standard part of how I work.
How do I send my script, and how does payment work?
Once we’ve talked and agreed on the work, you send me a PDF in standard format, and I email you an invoice, due before I start the read. Mentorship is invoiced monthly, at the start of each month.
Contact
Get in touch
The best way to start is a short email. Tell me three things:
- What you’re working on.
- What you’re hoping to get out of it.
- When you’d like to start.
I read everything myself and reply within a few days. From there we’ll set up the first call, no charge and no obligation.
evan@evanparter.com