FAQ


 1) How do you work with a client in developing a project?
    First, me and the client discuss the client’s personal and professional goals for the project – in person, by phone, or by email, at no charge.  Once we’ve determined how I can help, I ask the client to send me the material either by email, preferably in a pdf, or by regular mail in a hard copy. (A standard release form is required.)  Then I read the material and email the client a written evaluation or consult with the client about the material, again in person, by phone, or by email.

 

2) What kind of material do you help clients develop?
    Anything from the first vague ideas for a project to the most extensively reworked proposal, screenplay, or other movie, TV, or new media document of any kind. Also any previously published material to which a client owns the required rights for adaptation – books, comics, graphic novels, CDs, whatever the client wants to develop.
 
3) Is there a standard printed format for the written evaluations that you do for clients?
    No. Formats are customized on a case-by-case basis to meet the client’s specific, individual needs. And I’m always happy to supply a client with a sample format during the initial discussion.
 
4) Is there a standard rate of payment for either your written evaluations or your in-person, phone, or email consultations?
    No. Rates are determined in the initial discussion between me and the client.  For methods of payment, go to this LINK.
 
5) Will you do a standard coverage of a screenplay with a log line, synopsis, and comments?
    Yes, if that’s what the client really wants. But I discourage the use of coverage in attempting to submit a project to any agent, producer, studio, or other buyer. First, no agent or buyer will put much stock in a coverage given to him by the owner of the screenplay in question, especially if the buyer isn’t familiar with the person who’s written the coverage. Second, no log line, synopsis, or comments can ever truly and vividly convey the strengths of any screenplay. Finally, by its very condensed nature coverage discourages an agent or buyer from reading the actual script – exactly the opposite of what the owner of the script needs to convince an agent or buyer to do.
 
6) Will you collaborate with a client on a screenplay?
    No. My own writing career is separate from my consulting work.
 
7) Will you enter an arrangement with a client to attempt to produce a screenplay?
    Possibly in very rare instances but not customarily. If a client wants, I will forward a promising script to an established producer in exchange for a payment made to me by that producer.
 
8) Why does a client need to sign a release form to submit material to you?
    The release form legally protects both me and the client. The client prints out the form, signs it, retains a copy for himself, and sends the original to me by regular mail. This process establishes that I may have seen or may see in the future other projects containing elements similar to those of a client’s project, given the many projects that I routinely evaluate on an ongoing basis. The release form also assures the client that no other client of Silvestri Storyworks can ever make any legal claims against his material. All materials submitted will be kept confidential. For the release form, go to this LINK.
 
9) Is there any kind of movie, TV, or new media project that you will NOT develop for a client?
    Only one that I honestly feel I can’t improve upon in some significant way that would merit the client’s use of my consulting services.
 
10) What is your view of books and seminars that claim to quickly teach people how to make a hit movie?
    If it was that easy to do, the people writing those books and conducting those seminars would be doing it, not talking about it.