Private Consultation
(Script Analysis)
For Directors and Writer-Directors
Judith's powerful Script Analysis tools, applied to the script you are going to direct.
How exactly do you bring the words of a script off the page and into life? How do you access the rich, inexhaustible "subworld" of a script and connect it to the infinite resource of your own imagination? How do you keep getting deeper, simpler, and truer with your ideas? Where do you find the "hot button" words and phrases to whisper to an actor just before the camera rolls, that make the actor feel stimulated and supported by an "actor's director"?
Good preparation sets you free to follow your instincts.
Judith reads your script, then meets with you in one or more two-hour sessions, to take you below the surface of your script and prepare you to cast, rehearse and shoot. We unlock the script's "story subtext," its "playable" secrets - imaginative backstory, adjustments, and spines; images, themes, events and arc. We discuss each character, and as many individual scenes as you wish.
This work applies to any genre; it helps you access your intuition so you can think on your feet; it gives you a safety net to fall back on in any contingency; it allows you to make any script your own. Its focus is the director's work with actors, but it's important preparation for talking to designers, producers, agents and executives too.
Interestingly, this work is particularly useful if you have written the script yourself. And in fact, although Judith does not call herself a "script doctor," some writers have found it useful preparation for re-writes.
The cost. Fees are on a sliding scale:
$160/hour for projects budgeted at under $4 million;
$180/hour for projects at $4-10 million;
$200/hour for projects at $10-20 million;
$220/hour for projects over $20 million.
Plus $90 for the time I spend reading your script before we meet. Once we have set a time for the consultation, you can send your script via PDF file. The charge for script-reading may be higher if the script is over 90 pages. If it’s a short film, the script-reading charge will be lower, prorated to the length of the script.
Usually it is best to schedule two-hour appointments. Consultation can be in person in Los Angeles, or by skype video. Scheduling of appointments is subject to Judith’s availability. If it’s a short film, we can plan a one-hour (instead of two-hour) meeting.
Payment for an in-person consultation can be by cash, check, or credit card. The best way to arrange payment for a skype video consultation is by credit card.
THE BOOKS It is required that you have read one of Judith’s books, either "Directing Actors" or “The Film Director’s Intuition," prior to a consultation. Both books are available in bookstores or through Amazon.com or publisher Michael Wiese Productions www.mwp.com.
To arrange a session, call 310 392-2444 or john@judithweston.com. To send or deliver a hard copy of the script, please contact us for the address.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR CONSULTATION
It is not necessary to do extensive preparation – except that there is one thing that I am certain you must do in order to benefit from the meeting. Re-read the script – whether you wrote it yourself or someone else wrote it. Let yourself re-connect with whatever it was that you love about the script and that made you undertake the project. Also, think about what it is you wish to get from the consultation - your concerns and questions. I can be of most help if you tell me at the beginning of our meeting what you want to accomplish during our meeting. If you have done some script analysis work on your own, that’s great. If you haven’t, that’s okay too – I can help get you started.
Private consultation is also available for directors who wish to practice rehearsal techniques one-on-one with Judith. For a description of the Rehearsal Intensive Consultation, click here.