Ruth Atkinson is a Los Angeles-based script consultant and story editor who has been helping writers, directors and producers tell their stories for over 25 years. Growing up Ruth couldn’t decide between being a writer, therapist or visual artist so she launched a career that blended all three. Helping filmmakers bring their stories to life is Ruth’s deepest passion and with plenty of hot coffee she can talk story all day! Ruth has story edited and consulted on award winning, … Read More about Script Consultant & Story Editor
Services
If you've landed here you are likely looking for feedback on a screenplay or pilot you've written . Or maybe you're a producer or director and you've got a piece of material or series you are interested in developing. Either way I'm here to help you develop your project. As a script consultant and story editor with experience working in all aspects of film and television, from development to distribution, and having read well over 2000 screenplays, my script analysis will ensure your … Read More about Services
Test Your Story Concept
I recently taught a webinar for The Writers Store on Story Development. In it we talked about the importance of testing your story concept before you end up like Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation lost in a sea of notes and pages with no idea how to move forward. What you want to do is find […]
Secondary Characters
Imagine Bridesmaids without Megan (Melissa McCarthy), Her without Samantha, The King’s Speech without Logue, or The Dark Knight without The Joker. These movies simply wouldn’t be the same without these well-crafted secondary characters. While it’s easy to see what role the protagonist plays in the story secondary characters are often given a backseat and left […]
Breaking a Story
Everybody has their own way of breaking a story or finding the shape of a narrative. One of the ways I use when I’m working with writers or working on my own stories is a variation of something Steven Pressfield (The War of Art) calls The Clothesline Method. You can find it here. The basic […]
Talking Theme
Back in the day when I had a desk job in development I routinely took home 20-25 scripts to read on the weekend. This was in addition to my weekly read. Part of the reason I did this was because we had a ton of submissions to get through and also because I’d just moved […]
Now Playing
The writers I work with are having so many success stories it's hard to keep up with the all the accolades. I'm so proud of all their hard work and it's wonderful to see it paying off. Here are some highlights: Writer-director, Fawzia Mizra's, feature debut, The Queen of My Dreams, had its world premiere at TIFF 2023 along with Film Independent Screenwriting Lab fellow, Billy Luther's Canadian premiere of Frybread Face and Me. Anna Fahr's, Valley of Exile, had its Canadian premiere at … Read More about Now Playing
