Film & TV Scriptwriting Private Sessions on Zoom

Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn’t comfortable. I dare you. – Michaela Coel in her 2021 Emmy acceptance speech for her original script ‘I May Destroy You’

For more information and registration please e-mail Elana at goldenelana@gmail.com or call: +1.323.350.4650

Writing a script for a feature film or a TV series is a fascinating endeavor. It is also a rigorous process that requires both creative imagination and skill. Often it can become lonely, and at times, elusive. Having another pair of eyes and ears by your side will keep you moving when you think you don’t have one more cohesive sentence in you. 

Whether you have only an idea, a few pages written, or a first draft that needs work, I will share with you my knowledge, experience, and intuition to support you in writing the script you yearn to write. Our sessions will be confidential and safe so you can explore deeply, make mistakes, be ridiculous, original, and brilliant. This will allow for the true gold of your talent to shine.

As you merge the triangle of character, plot, and theme, weaving together subtext, visual detail, and dialogue, your story will come to life within a dramatic structure in a script with archetypal depth. When you write “The End,” you will be amazed by the script you have produced. A script that matters!

HOW IT WORKS (for both feature films & TV series)

  • We meet once a week or twice a month in sessions of 3 hours on Zoom—your choice. 
  • In our first session, we view together a feature film and analyze the 3-act structure principal and how the characters confront obstacles and change as they achieve (or not achieve) their goal.
  • We break down your script into acts and discuss the world of the story, the dramatic question at the heart of your script, the deeper needs and behavior of your characters, the story’s twists and turns, subtext and theme, and how best to express it all cinematically. 
  • We start each session with a 5-minute meditation to open up to creativity and imagination. 
  • In between sessions you write pages on your own. 
  • I read your pages ahead of our next session and when we meet we go over them scene by scene, line by line.
  • If you’re writing a TV series, I help you develop the overall trajectory of the season, break it down into episodes, write the PILOT, and prepare a proposal for the project.
  • At the end of our work together, you’ll have a script for a feature film or TV series (including proposal) ready to be sent out.

*** I am also available to write, re-write, edit, or co-write a film script or TV series.

FEES

$2000 for 6 one-on-one sessions—3 hours each—on Zoom. 

$950 to read your script, if you have one, and meet you for a 2-hour consultation on Zoom. 

***. Fee for writing, rewriting, editing, and co-writing a script is project-dependent.

For more information and registration please e-mail Elana at goldenelana@gmail.com or call: +1.323.350.4650

Films & TV Series that Have Inspired Me Over the Years

WHO I AM 

After working on 40 feature films as script supervisor and film consultant in New York and Los Angeles for 20 years, and after training as a director at the Beverly Hills Playhouse for three years, I founded “The Writing Studio”—a Los Angeles based school for creative writing and screenwriting in 2000. Since then I have taught thousands of classes, workshops, and private sessions to hundreds of writers from around the world, coaching them on scripts for film and TV series, novels, memoirs, and short stories. 

My own scripts always position personal stories against a historical/sociopolitical background. My latest, The Weaver of Bucharest—a female driven World War II drama—was selected to be workshopped at DreamAgo, a Sundance-like film institute in Switzerland. I have a BFA from the New York University Film School where I wrote and directed an award-winning short film The Open Window and an MA in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica, California. I am a human-rights activist and have been studying eastern philosophies and practicing meditation for over three decades. 

Fusing my education with my professional experience and spiritual insights, I developed a unique method for coaching script writing.

I look forward to working with you!

Sincerely yours,

Elana Golden 

Los Angeles, CA

WHAT CLIENTS SAY:

“Working with Elana on my psychological thriller TV series has not only helped my writing immensely, but has nourished my life. I always look forward to our regular sessions. We started in-person-sessions and have transitioned to remote, which in some ways is even more intimate. We start with a short meditation and then screenshare, which works great. I recommend Elana to any writer or aspiring writer, wholeheartedly.” – Gina Luciano, CEO Technology Company, Boston, Mass, United States 

“I wrote and published a memoir about my military sexual trauma experience. Elana has been a wonderful teacher, mentor, and support in adapting my memoir to a script for a feature film. She helped me to further dramatize events, relationships, and conflicts. She helped me make it so much better. In writing it I have let go of the trauma and pain I’ve been carrying. Elana knows what she is doing when it comes to screenwriting. She is a tremendous coach.” – Heidi Lobstein, MSN, RS, Writer, Prescott, Arizona

“I received Elana Golden’s review of my script for a feature film Anna’s Waltz in a coaching session via Skype. It was very thorough and insightful, and I was thrilled to see that she was truly interested in my story, not just doing her job. It is an enriching experience for a screenwriter to have a well-trained story-eye analyze your work. Elana enabled me to improve my story whilst keeping my vision in mind. Thank you so much, Elana!” – Elisabeth Loesch, Screenwriter, Director, Novelist, Geneva, Switzerland

“I had been toying with an idea for an Anime TV series for a number of years and was looking for a screenwriter to write it. Elana suggested I write it myself and said she would coach me. I am glad I listened. As a first-time writer I knew little about script writing. Elana has been there at every step of the way, guiding me. I see her as more than just a teacher, she’s a true artistic and spiritual companion. I recommend Elana’s coaching to anyone who has a script to write, wherever in the world you are, whatever your level of screenwriting experience may be.” – Christina C. Content Producer for TV Events and Marketing, Los Angeles, CA

“I am a first-time screenwriter and wrote a script based on a real-life experience I’d had. In our coaching session, Elana zoned in on what was working and what was not, and how I could improve the script all around. She truly brought it to life! It was a magical experience working with her. I highly recommend her to anyone interested in writing a screenplay or making an existing one greater! – Michael Vaccaro, Actor, Director, Los Angeles, CA

“I worked with Elana privately on a screenplay. I had never written a screenplay nor did I have a clue as to how to proceed about it. I am absolutely impressed with the way Elana showed me, step by step, how to deconstruct a story to its bare bones to find the structure of the script so that I could then, begin to write it. Elana’s care and dedication to my needs was instrumental to my writing and finishing my script. I highly recommend.” – Mimi Fuenzalida, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Los Angeles, CA

“I worked with Elana as coach on a script for a feature film, a TV pilot, and a historical novel I am now adapting into a screenplay. With her gentle but frank guidance it made it easy for me to see my work with more clarity. I am a better, more competent writer because of our work together.” – Caroline Garner McSweeney, Screenwriter, Novelist, Los Angeles, CA

“Elana coached me on a film script. In the warm and safe space she created, I was able to tap into my power as a writer, open up, and allow my imagination and creativity to flow. Her guidance was always constructive and motivating.” – Jazmin Garcia, Filmmaker

Films & TV Series that Have Inspired Me Over the Years

For more information and registration please e-mail Elana at goldenelana@gmail.com or call: +1.323.350.4650