Pros and Cons
All the usual pros and cons exist with any partnership:
Pros
You have someone to share the workload with, bounce ideas off of, complement any gaps in your skill set, etc.
Cons
You may be at different skill levels, have unresolvable disagreements, or may not contribute equally to the project, etc.
The BIG THING You May Not Know
Suppose you sell a script with a writing partner — good news, right? Yes! But…
If you just wrote the script with your writing partner on a lark and have a bunch of ideas you’d really like to develop on your own, you may be in for a rude awakening.
Now you’re a partnership in the eyes of the industry. If you want to break out on your own, you’re virtually starting from scratch again.
Sure, you’ve just sold that hot new script, but that was with your writing partner. Who knows who wrote which parts of the script?
Maybe your writing partner did all the heavy lifting or came up with the really good stuff. Maybe the stuff you write on your own isn’t all that great. It certainly hasn’t been proven.
Hollywood is very risk averse. If your ultimate plan is to write a bunch of your own scripts, you may want to steer clear from a writing partner. Otherwise, it may be many years… many proven projects as a team… and many industry contacts later before you can branch out on your own.
If you have a great writing partner, that scenario works brilliantly. But if the experience of writing that sales-worthy script with your writing partner was unpleasant, you’re stuck with him or her for the foreseeable future. So choose wisely.
What has your experience writing with a partner been like? I’d love to hear your stories.
