Reader Question: What are pluses / minuses working with a writing partner?

There are definite upsides, but do due diligence up front… or else.

This is a first: A reader question via Twitter. From @LilPeep2U:

Luv Ur thoughts on how it affects writers block,legal aspects,reception by greenlighters,any struggles w/writing process etc

Finding a good writing partnership for both personalities….

Having worked with two different writing partners professionally for over a decade, let me start off by saying this: A writing partnership is quite a bit like a marriage. Ups and downs, good days, bad days, lots of laughs, lots of disagreements. The big difference is that in a writing partnership, you’re expected to create specific products — screenplays — which are the foundation of your partnership’s business survival. That creates its own unique set of pressures on the ‘couple.’

There are lots of pluses to writing with a partner:

• You bounce ideas / writing off each other: You don’t have to rely strictly on your own aesthetic or commercial sensibilities to determine if what you think / write is any good or not.
• 1 + 1 can equal 3: The combination of two writers’ creativity can result in writing that is better than either could achieve alone.
• The responsibility of somebody else: On days when you really don’t feel like writing, simply knowing that you have a partner relying on you can force you to suck it up and get to work.
• Someone to talk with: Writing can be a lonely exercise. A writer partner provides you someone with whom you can talk about things, both personal and professional.
• Different skill-sets: You may be good with story structure and themes. Your partner may be good with character and dialogue. You can play to your strengths.
• Watch each other’s backs: When you’re facing a script deadline, preparing a pitch, or have a big meeting, it’s not just you on the front line. You can pull each other through stressful situations.

Now this assumes you’ve ended up with a good writing partner. If you have a bad one, reverse each one of the pluses above, and you can see how there are plenty of potential negatives, too.

How to find and decide on a potential writing partnership? Per the former, I don’t really know what to say other than immerse yourself on various peer review writing sites or local writer’s groups until you find someone you think may click with you creatively and personally [perhaps GITS readers have better suggestions]. Re the latter — how to decide ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ — here are three big considerations:

• Talent: I’m talking sheer writing ability — understanding story, screenwriting principles, character development, brainstorming and structuring a plot, dialogue, and whatever creative spark it takes to generate many good story concepts, and the sheer will and persistence it takes to get from FADE IN to FADE OUT. It also helps if at least one of you has a good grasp of grammar and spelling.
• Personality: This is less about how you work together — because it’s possible to survive, even thrive with a contentious working relationship — than how you play as a ‘couple.’ That is, it’s really beneficial if you look forward to spending time with your partner because you fundamentally enjoy spending time with them.
• Respect: No matter how much you may disagree about creative choices either of you propose, it’s critical that you believe in your writing partner’s talent. If that belief starts to slip, then your writing partnership is pretty much headed for the rocks.

There is one other consideration: Access. If you’re completely outside of Hollywood and you meet someone who you’re not quite sure about in terms of talent, personality, and respect, but their brother is a senior agent at CAA, or their college roommate is a hot young director, or they house sit for an A-list actor, you may consider going forward with a writing partnership, despite your reservations. There is definite value in working with an ‘insider.’

Per the latter — and as a matter of course — it’s wise to commit only to a specific writing project to see how things go before making any long-term agreements.

Final word of advice: Even if you have a writing partner, it’s important for you to write solo in your spare time. Why? Because if your writing partnership ends, whatever you wrote in your partnership is not something you can use as a writing sample in Hwood to get work as a solo writer for the simple reason nobody will know if you can emulate what you and your partner created together. A solo screenplay, even if only a writing sample, can make that point.

Also you can use solo spec scripts to explore stories that may be meaningful to you that are not relevant to the writing partnership.

How about you? Have you or do you work with a writing partner? What advice do you have how to find one? How to keep one working well?

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