I don't have co-writing experience, but here's Ted Elliott's column on same, re: his partnership with Terry Rossio. Kinda the Dream Team shining a little light ...


http://www.wordplayer.com/
columns/wp18.Me.and.My.Ampersand.html

I teamed up with a guy I didn't know, but he had a good story and I knew how to write a script. We wrote a proper contract to make sure we both agreed on what was going on.

It didn't work out. Simply because we both presumed the other had the same ideals as oneself. I presumed he wanted to make money on our writing, he presumed I wasn't interested in money but wrote for passion.

Thanks, Scott. That helps. Fortunately, we are friends and we do respect each other, and that's really the important part, I think. We do have an interesting partnership, however, in that my partner doesn't know how to type or even how to format a screenplay, so that makes things a bit trickier. And, because we didn't know what we were doing when we started, we didn't outline... so that kind of makes everything more difficult. However, we are enjoying this whole thing despite those difficulties, so somehow I think it will work out.

Judy, thanks for the article! Also a lot of good advice in there and very funny as well. :)

Desiree, sorry it didn't work out. You make a good point. Fortunately, we're on the same page that way... writing first for fun and hopefully for money later on.

Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott come quickly to mind re a scriptwriting team, and they speak of their partnership in interviews and on their wordplay site, so do some searching and reading, you'll find good stuff (that link is also in Scott's resource list, and use that list, it's fabulous).

One thing that I recall from an article I can't find just now, they each think the other is smarter. So pick a partner you think highly of, and harness each of your individual strengths in the teamwork. From my own experience, let go your ego when discussing work, never lose sight of the goal (the heart of the story, the heart of what you're doing) and always, always, be polishing your craft.

Atlanta - Thanks for that suggestion. That is actually the same article Judy pointed me to above, and it really is good.