Dr. Format Answers Your Questions, Revised Edition

Do you have a question about formatting or spec writing? Now you can have all of Dr. Format's prescriptions in one place. Dr. Format contains every column Dave Trottier has written for Script Magazine, and each entry has been updated to current standards. In all, Dr. Format answers hundreds of questions with concise answers and clear, illustrative examples that empower you to write with confidence. With a humorous flair, Dr. Format teaches you how to direct the camera without using camera directions, how to handle foreign languages, and how to use spec writing principles to develop your characters. And he provides expert guidance on screenwriting issues not found anywhere else. Dr. Format goes beyond the rules and gives you practical applications that will expand your writing repertoire. Understanding formatting and spec writing principles is a key to crafting a great screenplay. Let Dr. Format help you do just that.

Dave Trottier has sold several screenplays and developed projects for The Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson Pictures, York Entertainment, On the Bus Productions, Hill Fields (for ABC) and New Century Pictures. Titles include Igor's Revenge (produced), The Muppet's Hockey Movie-The Comeback Kids (not completed due to Jim Henson's death), Ratman From Saturn, Kumquat, The New Musketeers, and A Window in Time. He co-wrote and co-produced the cult comedy, Hercules Recycled, now available on video. Most recently, he wrote A Penny Promise (produced), for a regional production company, and sold Hemingway's Twin, an inspiring story about the Hemingway women.

As a script consultant, he has helped dozens of his clients sell their work and win or place in contests (including two Nicholl Fellowship winners and a National Play Award winner). His book, The Screenwriter's Bible, is now in its fourth edition. His exciting new volume, the Freelance Writer's Bible, was released in January, 2006. He recently designed Dr. Format software for screenwriters. He has written a column for Script since 1989, and has published over a hundred articles in Writer's Digest, Hollywood Scriptwriter, Road & Track, USA TODAY, Vision, Disney Channel Magazine, COINage, Gift & Stationery, Single Parent, Creative Screenwriting, American Writer and other national publications. His short story collection, Dexter's First Date and Other Titillating Tales, was also published.

With his B.A. in business administration (from Cal-State, Fullerton), Dave has a strong business and management background. He served for five years as the marketing manager and then executive vice president for a distributor of memorabilia and precious metals (about 150 employees). Prior to that, he was in middle management for a large corporation. As a marketing consultant and business writer, his past clients include The Walt Disney Company, Honda Acura, American Premiere, Lucasfilm, Nutrex, Mitsubishi Materials, Ivy Communications, and Citizen America. He edited the quarterly newsletter Precious Metals Today for four years.

Dave has an M.A. from Goddard College and is a graduate of both the Hollywood Scriptwriting Institute and the Hollywood Film Institute. He teaches occasional classes in writing and communications at the University of Phoenix (where he was honored with a Distinguished Teaching Award) and has taught writing and communications courses at over 30 American universities. He served on the board of the Arts & Humanities Department of Cal-State, Long Beach, before moving to his present home in Utah where he married Virginia artist and educator Marsha Sawyer. They have two children.