In my professional work as a script doctor at ScriptProfessor.com, I am always struck numb by those that believe anyone can write and that everyone can fix a dramatic work.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Understanding how to make a script work is a tough task that few people in the world really understand and even fewer are able to perform at any price.


The trick to script doctoring is confessing that every script has different needs.  There is no single solution that can heal any ill.

Too often, our training suggests that drama and conflict are formulaic — a math problem, if you will — in need of “solving” merely by placing the correct contents in the righteous order.  If that were possible, let alone true, then we could have computer programs “solving” broken scripts and the need for the human touch would be unnecessary.

That brings us to the indefinable necessity of:  The Human Touch.  It takes an experienced eye and a journeyed heart to correctly infer the original author’s intentions, strengths, and inherent weaknesses and then intervene, without first doing any harm, to make the most of the base idea.

Sometimes that process is painful for the original author as everything must be thrown away and started anew — but the residue of the founding intention is never lost and that seminal fire is always celebrated in the ongoing, ovaric, doctoring of any script or dramatic work.

Script Doctoring is more than just fixing conflict, realigning structure and including missing emotion — it is about honoring the method in the madness of the characters — and in order to get to that sacred place, experience and training are a necessary must; but without empathy and yearning, all the training in the world won’t tell you where a script is lame and how to make it race again in the right light of original inspiration.

8 Comments

  1. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    ANNE says:

    I like that. Fixing a script needs to be about the writer and not the fixing person. Does what you say apply to other forms of writing like speeches and presentations.

  2. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Thanks, Anne! Great to have you back with us!
    Yes, the argument I make is connectible to all forms of persuasive and dramatic writing when it comes to help making the work better. Young people are not as talented “fixers” as their aged counterparts, I argue, because they do not have enough treacherous life experiences to know the difference between beauty and peril and the horror between the divine and the ordinary.

  3. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    ANNE says:

    That makes sense. Good to know these things David so I know where to turn when my one great novel is ready to come out.
    Sorry I’ve been out. I’m back now as things settle in.

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    I understand you’re busy, Anne. Times are tough now. People crest and fall with interest and desire.
    I’m here and ready to help you with your novel when you’re ready!

  6. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Good point, Gordon! It’s all about experience, I suppose. People don’t know any better because they haven’t done it before and so they make false assumptions to promote their wishful guessing.

  8. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    That’s an excellent point, Katha. The most successful script doctoring, in my experience, is when you’re working with a producer or a director and the original author is out of the loop. Original authors don’t want to change one word of their “perfect gem” and they end up wasting a lot of money on advice they never intend to take.

Comments are closed.