Timothy Cooper is one of the good guys, a writer/director who loves writers and stories and applying one to the other until a great screenplay pops out. Once a philosophy student at Yale, he went on to the Upright Citizen’s Brigade and developed his web series Concierge there while waiting for his feature script, Away From Here, to emerge from production purgatory.
“Creating your own stories creates your own jobs. The way to get the most control is to do it yourself, put it in your own hands, get your friends together and make it yourself.” Cooper said, “There’s no guarantee that one project will get produced, or get the release or marketing it deserves. You have to keep lots of irons in the fire.”
The most extraordinary fact I know about Timothy Cooper is that he develops at least three loglines EVERY DAY and doesn’t even think that’s unusual.
You can read some of them at this tumblr, 365loglines. These loglines are free for you to peruse.
Cooper runs a boots-on-the-ground writing group in Manhattan, Blueprint Screenwriting Group, which is oriented toward professional goals for screenwriters.
Rather than teach a set of rules or structure formula, Cooper combines outlining and scenework together to hone each idea, which he works with the writer to elevate to a professional concept.
“I have pitched to major networks and production companies, been on both sides of the table at pitchfests – if your idea doesn’t pop in the logline, if it is convoluted or bland or generic, you have lost part of the battle.”
If you are interested in elevating your concept and writing a stand-out script that will attract representation and producers, which I know you are, then I can confidently recommend getting in touch with Timothy Cooper.
He tweets here, and you can contact him at timothy@therealtimothy.com to ask about Blueprint or his loglines or coaching you through your current logline or script.
He is smart and knows what he’s talking about and he is really interested in your idea already, I am not even slightly exaggerating.