The Art of Script Consulting: Toby Wagstaff on the Intersection of Creativity and Commerce
A good script consultant knows how to analyze and optimize the elements that make up a screenplay: structure, character development, dialogue, and thematic elements. A great one takes time to get to know the writer behind them. Toby Wagstaff - a seasoned screenwriter, former literary manager, and freelance script consultant - emphasizes the importance of articulating what it is a client or collaborator really wants to say in their work, and using that north star to connect story, character, and theme into a resonant whole.
Understanding the Essential Elements of a Script
At the heart of any screenplay is the story. For a script to work, it needs to have a clear beginning, middle, and end. This structure helps guide the audience through the narrative, ensuring they stay engaged from start to finish. Unexpected twists and turns can thrill and delight the viewer, but aren't effective if the audience doesn't understand the basic road they're on in the first place. Toby has seen many new writers struggle with this basic structure. They may have a great concept, a unique character, or a killer action sequence, but without a well-defined structure, the script can feel meandering and unsatisfying.
To address this, Toby encourages writers to think about what made them excited enough about their idea in the first place to spend long hours alone tapping away at their laptop. Is it a new cinematic world that's never been seen before? A character's journey and growth through obstacles they have to overcome? A deeper statement about a unique experience, emotion, or perspective? The best way to map out your story's route and destination is to truly understand why you're trying to get where you're going.
Building Character Depth
Stories are about change. Characters start in one place, go through something profound, and end up somewhere new, both inside and out. This is what gives life to a narrative and makes it relatable to the audience. Toby emphasizes the importance of creating characters who are not only unique and engaging, but are also missing something essential that's stopping them from being whole. He encourages writers to spend time understanding their characters' backgrounds, motivations, and desires.
Whether a protagonist becomes stronger, wiser, or more flawed, their journey should be meaningful, transformative, and tied closely to the story's theme.
Developing a Resonant Theme
The theme of a script is what it's about at its deepest level. Whether it's love, forgiveness, redemption, obsession, or sacrifice, it embodies the writer's personal perspective on some profound aspect of the human experience.
In a great script, the events of the story and behavior of the characters can feel so natural that what happens seems inevitable. But as every writer knows, that's the opposite of the truth - everything that goes into a screenplay is a choice, and agonizing over difficult choices often takes the most time and energy of any part of the creative process.
In deciding what will happen in a script, story addresses the question "what", character the question "who", and theme the question "why". Why this story? Why this character? What do I have to say? Why do I want you to sit through 100 pages of stuff I made up? What do I want the audience to think and feel after the credits roll? Toby's advice is that if a writer's not thinking about theme, then they're not thinking about what the point of the whole project is.
A strong theme also gives a script depth, makes it linger in the mind after the reader has put it down, and can make it stand out to producers, directors, and audiences. That doesn't mean it has to be obvious or heavy-handed; characters don't have to turn to the camera and just blurt out what they think or what they've learned. Instead, theme should emerge naturally from the characters' actions and the story's events. It's the sum total of everything on the page and the screen, the star around which plot, action, and character all orbit.
Balancing Creativity and Commerce
In script consulting, there is always a tension between creativity and commercial appeal. Writers want to tell unique, innovative, and personal stories, while producers and studios are often looking for something easily digestible and marketable, with broad appeal. Toby strongly believes that it is possible to achieve both, but a thoughtful approach is required.
If the writer isn't expressing something that has some truth or importance to them, it's unlikely they'll ever create great work, so reinventing a whole script or totally changing what it's about isn't in anyone's interest. But sometimes the writer needs to tweak how they're presenting their thoughts, in order to connect with readers and audiences.
Maybe what they think is the ending is really the halfway point; maybe changing the age, background, or origin of a character will bring out a new energy in the story; maybe aspects of the plot, characters, and theme are all individually strong, but they don't connect, support, and reinforce each other. A gifted and experienced script consultant will find a way to see what the writer is aiming at, and focus the elements on achieving a powerful and resonant story, which is what producers are ultimately on the lookout for.
The bottom line, according to Toby, is for the writer to stay true to what they have to say, rather than chasing trends, or trying to copy what's popular. Writing what you think someone else wants will always lack a spark. And the marketplace is simply too saturated for mediocrity to get attention.
Bridging Creativity and Commerce in Script Consulting
Script consulting is more than editing and providing feedback; it's about helping writers connect the dots between creativity and commerce. Toby Wagstaff's approach focuses on developing strong stories, creating compelling characters, and ensuring the writer's personal voice resonates with the audience through the themes woven into the work. By balancing originality with market needs, he helps writers craft meaningful and commercially successful scripts.
