Script doctor

A script doctor, also called a script consultant, is a screenwriter or playwright hired by a film, television or theatre production to rewrite an existing script or polish specific aspects of it, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements.

Script doctors generally do their work uncredited, for a variety of commercial and artistic reasons. They are usually brought in for scripts that have almost been "green-lit", during the development and pre-production phases of a film, to address specific issues with the script, as identified by the financiers, production team, and cast.

Under the Writers Guild of America screenwriting credit system, a screenwriter must contribute more than 50 percent of an original screenplay or 33 percent of an adaptation to receive credit. Uncredited screenwriters are not eligible to win the Academy Award for Best Screenplay or the Writers Guild of America Awards.

People considered script doctors

Many screenwriters have been called "script doctors" for doing uncredited work on screenplays, some of which are known:

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Latest News for: script doctor

Barbara Clegg, actress and scriptwriter who became the first woman to write for Doctor Who - obituary

The Daily Telegraph 22 Jan 2025
Barbara Clegg, who has died aged 98, was an actress turned scriptwriter best known for scripting the classic 1983 Doctor Who series “Enlightenment”, starring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor.

Benedict Cumberbatch Reveals if Doctor Strange Will Be in Avengers: Doomsday

Coming Soon 22 Jan 2025
Benedict Cumberbatch is opening up about Doctor Strange’s future in the MCU going forward. Cumberbatch first played Stephen Strange in 2016’s Doctor Strange, which was directed by Scott Derrickson.

Seven-year-old Karachi boy raped before being murdered, autopsy reveals

Dawn 21 Jan 2025
DIG says cause of death is yet to be determined by doctors ... Doctors who performed the autopsy had said that the marks of injuries on the body suggested that it was “not an accidental death”.

World’s first chatbot ‘Eliza’ revived using original 1960s computer code from MIT

Interesting Engineering 21 Jan 2025
In a paper published on the preprint database arXiv, researchers highlighted how ELIZA’s “DOCTOR” script simulated a psychotherapy session, responding to user inputs like “Men ...

John Sayles: ‘For the last 25 years it’s been hard for me to get screenwriting work, much less actually get a movie made’

The Irish Times 18 Jan 2025
I am encountering a few technical difficulties getting through to John Sayles over video. Some bleeps. Some freezes. We are cut off. Now, he’s back, as rugged and charming as ever ... He supported the career through script-doctoring mainstream work ... Protein ... .

World's First AI Chatbot, ELIZA, Resurrected After 60 Years

Slashdot 18 Jan 2025
12). The "DOCTOR" script written for ELIZA was programmed to respond to questions as a psychotherapist would. For example, ELIZA would say, "Please tell me your problem." If the user input "Men are all alike," the program would respond, "In what way." ... .

Across social platforms, Neil Gaiman’s fans are struggling: ‘People are grieving in a very public way’

Polygon 17 Jan 2025
Before July 2024, the Neil Gaiman subreddit was a relatively chill place by internet discourse standards ... He’s written episodes of Doctor Who and Babylon 5, and the English-language script for Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke ... “They will be hesitant.

Back in Action review – Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx slum in Netflix comedy

The Observer 16 Jan 2025
If only a fraction of the big star salaries had been siphoned off for a script doctor then maybe we could have had some real fun here ….

All’s Fair Cast: Brooke Shields Joins Hulu’s Kim Kardashian Legal Drama

Coming Soon 15 Jan 2025
(Photo Credit. Netflix) ... This marks Shield’s first scripted TV show after nearly five years since appearing as a doctor in an episode of 9-1-1 ... Who is in the All’s Fair cast? ... Delicate ... The drama is slated to make its debut sometime this year.

I lost my home to the Altadena wildfires. These are the logistics I never even ...

Business Insider 15 Jan 2025
I had to call my doctors to re-send the scripts to an open pharmacy, but I had just refilled my medications the week before, so there was pushback from my insurance.

Regulator accuses drug middlemen of wild price hikes, possibly steering business to selves

Raw Story 15 Jan 2025
The biggest middlemen — CVS Caremark, OptumRx and Express Scripts — are part of huge health conglomerates that also own insurers, pharmacies and providers such as doctors offices ... He later died ... UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health and Cigna-Express Scripts.

'Jeopardy!' production on hold amid California wildfires

Newsday 13 Jan 2025
No word was given on when production would resume ... Production of "Wheel of Fortune" is also on hold, as are the scripted dramas "Doctor Odyssey" and "Grey's Anatomy," which stopped shooting Wednesday ... Most Popular.

The Russo brothers said "f*** no" to directing Avengers: Secret Wars until "stumbling upon" the ...

Games Radar 13 Jan 2025
Secret Wars, with frequent screenwriting collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely returning to pen the scripts ... return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as none other than Doctor Doom, the ...

Lockerbie: A Search for Truth review — this is an uncomfortable watch

The Times/The Sunday Times 02 Jan 2025
Colin Firth on playing the doctor exposing Lockerbie lies — ‘I’m in awe of his determination’. The script is mostly high quality, but there are moments of clunkiness ... Mostly the script is respectful ...

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