John Rainey, founder of Rainey Script Consulting, has critiqued over 1500 screenplays since 1992. In 2003, John's In-Depth Analysis was rated 'Best of the Best' in Creative Screenwriting's review of screenplay consultants.

Our clients come from all over the world. Some of them have sold scripts and secured options. We recommend exceptional work to literary managers and producers.

Our services answer two needs:

1. To help the writer polish his/her script so that it has a chance to be read in today's competitive movie industry.

2. To provide critique and story suggestions to literary agencies, managers, and production companies in the movie industry that will enhance their project.

We offer the following:

1. SCRIPT EVALUATION
2. IN-DEPTH SCRIPT ANALYSIS
3. FOLLOW-UP REVIEW

SCRIPT EVALUATION

Script Evaluation is intended for experienced writers and consists of two parts:

1. PAGE NOTES

Page Notes are the unadulterated thoughts and impressions as we read the script at the point where we have the thought. We don't change them after we finish because we hope it would be valuable for you to know what thoughts come to us as we read, especially what takes us out of the story. Often, these page notes carry suggestions and revelations about character, story, and structure and are worth the price of the evaluation by themselves.

2. OVERVIEW

The Overview section covers general comments about Theme, Structure, Character, and Dialogue to compliment the specific Page Notes.

The Script Evaluation can run anywhere from 6 to 9 pages of typed, single-spaced comments.

IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS

The In-Depth Analysis is the Rainey version of the Full Monty. It covers the following areas:

GENRE - type of movie
LOG-LINE - In movie terms, the conceptual hook that makes the story unique and the screenplay commercial. It's a one-sentence summary of the story.
THEMES - The abstract ideas that permeate the story. The underlying moral, philosophical or political view presented and advanced by the writer, usually through the protagonist.
OVERVIEW - A summary of our impressions of the strong points of the writer and the script. The commercial and artistic merits of the script in general are also addressed.
CRAFT OF DRAMATIC WRITING - This section deals with specific areas of weakness in the beginning writer's knowledge and practice of dramatic writing. (not included with more advanced writers)
STORY - Comments on strengths and weaknesses of the story and how effective the story is with regard to today's market. Also addressed are the principles of tying theme to story in an organic manner that avoids "telling" the theme.
STRUCTURE - Detailed comments on the inner design of the story, pacing of the plot, relationship of the subplot to the main plot thematically, and the proper order of rites-of-passage steps that the main character should be taking in his/her transformation.
CHARACTERS - Observations on how well-defined they are regarding needs, wants, motivations, flaws, ghosts, and character traits. Do they act and speak in keeping with their intentions, drives and motivations? Are they sufficiently different from each other?
RELATIONSHIPS - How well do they work regarding the story? Is there sufficient conflict in each one creating a forward thrust to the story? Also, we take a look to see if there is sufficient Protagonist/Antagonist bonding through conflict that leads naturally to climax.
DIALOGUE - Does it match the character's semantic universe? Does it move the story and/or character forward? Does it reflect the character's needs within that situation?
WRITING STYLE FOR SCREENPLAYS - Screenplay writing requires a certain kind of immediacy in its expression. We suggest efficient ways to make the mind and eye of the reader zoom down the page.
FORMAT - Is the screenplay formatted according to current industry standards? We mark improper or antiquated formatting and how to fix it.
PAGE NOTES - in which we notate on the pages of the script my specific thoughts, ideas, reactions, suggestions, criticisms (things that work; things that don't work).
RECOMMENDATION - Recommend to CONSIDER or PASS AT THIS TIME with concluding remarks as to why this decision was made.

The in-depth analysis is 15-20 pages in length, or an extended phone conversation. Our coverage also provides proofreading which points out typos, misspelled words, grammatical errors, etc. Most agencies will not tolerate poorly presented material.

The in-depth analysis helps the writer tremendously, especially if he/she may sense that something isn't working but can't see the forest for the trees. It also assists the writer in understanding current script-writing standards in today's movie industry.

FOLLOW-UP REVIEW

Follow-up review is available to writers who have received the In-depth Analysis and desire feedback on their rewrite. This service includes Page notes with comments on Theme, Characters, Structure, and Dialogue.
The Follow-up Review can run anywhere from 6 to 9 pages of typed, single-spaced comments.

FEES

SCRIPT EVALUATION...........................................$395.00
IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS.............................................$795.00
FOLLOW-UP REVIEW……………………………$295.00
PLUS $3.00 PER PAGE FOR PAGES OVER 120.

www.raineyscriptconsulting.com
info@raineyscriptconsulting.com
800-304-6557
p.o. box 7000-696
Redondo Beach, CA 90277