Crafting Short Screenplays That Connect, 2nd Edition

5

Connecting to Collaboration

A former screenwriting student, Tom Kurzanski, e-mailed me one day.

I just wanted to thank you for planting the seeds of writing with a partner. The seeds took root and I partnered up with a good friend and colleague of mine (Michael Young). Now here I am with a T.V. pilot that, I feel, is some of the best writing I’ve ever done.

Tom isn’t alone. I’ve seen the interest in co-writing scripts rapidly rising among writers and students. And I’m not surprised: Each year the list of script partners and their successes grows longer (in 2002, half of the scripts nominated for the Best Screenplay Oscar were co-written by ampersands, the industry designation for writing teams). Why? Because as Tom and Matt Stevens & I and ...