I have to acknowledge I love talking stories, not only telling them.

We are five advisors from Brazil, England and France. Each morning, we prepare the work with the authors by sharing our opinions about their projects. Which strengths and weaknesses. I’m very interested in the way my co-advisors read and talk about the scripts.

First word will be about structure : does it work? is it clear?

Then about the story lines : how many? Strong enough?

I really focus on the authors’ wish, and ask them to sum up the story they want to tell in a few sentences. This is our entry point to see if the script really tells that story or another one.

I feel I always have to come back to that point, so that I don’t put too much of own desires for the story. There might be a lot of good ideas out there, but I feel very concerned about their use for this specific story the author wants to tell.

Some of the advisors suggest exercices to the author: to define more precisely their character, for example, they pretend to interview him / her. It can bring surprising details.

The main effort that is asked to the authors, besides clearing up the structure and the plots, is to show not tell. In the dialogues lie gold nuggets for action. You say they don’t get along? Then write a scene where it shows.

I am very impressed about authors’ good will and how they already feel in which direction they could be working to enhance their scripts.

Then we’ll talk about the various possible options, and all these discussions make me long for the next versions !

What a thrill to be here, actually!