Script Partners: How to Succeed at Co-Writing for Film & TV, 2nd Edition

Introduction and Acknowledgments

Cecilia (Mia Farrow):	You do believe in God, don’t you?
Tom (Jeff Daniels):	Meaning?
Cecilia:	The, the reason for everything, the, the world, the universe.
Tom:	Oh, I think I know what you mean: the two men who wrote The Purple Rose of Cairo, Irving Sachs and R. H. Levine. They’re writers who collaborate on films.

—The Purple Rose of Cairo

Years ago, in the middle of co-teaching a screenwriting class at the Florida State Film School, we heard a knock on the door. We opened it.

Two frantic undergraduate students stood in the hall. “Tell us how to collaborate! We want to write a scriptx together and we don’t know how!”

“Hey,” we said, “you’re interrupting our class.”

“It’ll just take a minute!” ...