WRITING ANALYSIS
“Trai, I so appreciate your positive feedback and support regarding my WIP. You are the source of encouragement I need; my writing teacher. The term writing teacher has a wonderful sound to it. Each of your suggestions will help me enormously as I waddle my way through a deluge of information. I sincerely appreciate your time and commitment to your true calling. Especially allowing us to each work at our pace and your review of late submissions. Your assistants are also great!”
– Kathleen Quinn, author
“Working with Trai was such a blast! She is sharp, dedicated and goes the extra mile but she’s also friendly and funny. Her Story Notes were extremely insightful and inspired me to dig deeper. Her Market Evaluation and Submission Services exceeded my expectations. Chapeau!”
– Rafaele Desire, author of “Island Bird”
“While working with me at Prelude Pictures, Trai produced a seemingly endless supply of ideas, story breakthrough ideas, on countless treatments, scripts and books. Her fertile mind worked non-stop on draft after draft helping our writers improve their work. Trai is dedicated to her craft, is not afraid to tear apart a concept and start again, and has the patience to see a project through to the end. Simply put, if I were writing scripts, I would want Trai there challenging every scene.”
– Peter Saphier, Producer, Lost in Space, Scarface, Deerhunter
“Trai presented her feedback to my script in a very constructive manner, offering suggestions and encouragement at the same time. And her comments were carefully thought out and clearly articulated; it was obvious that she dug in and did some serious work on my behalf. It was obvious that she cared about me and my project. She delivers praise with the same passion that she delivers criticism. I’m working on a new script now, and when it gets to that point, guess who I’m gonna call?”
– Diane Cheklich, Producer, Trap, Writer/Director Offshore
“Trai was the first person who instilled in me the confidence to take on this task and guided me through the process with encouragement and kindness. Her notes were always right on, she knew what sections worked and what sections needed improvements. Trai’s support has never wavered and I feel truly lucky to have her as my mentor and friend.”
– Deborah Olchick, Line Producer, The Woodsman, Blade
“Trai generally gets right to the heart of the matter when giving story notes. She not only has theoretical knowledge about good story construction, more importantly she possesses a kind of sixth sense and can sniff out what makes a story strong. She can spontaneously figure out what a story needs. This is a big leap from editors who say a story needs more pace, or needs to be funnier, but do not know how to zero in on the areas that will make these improvements happen.”
– David Del Bourgo,“Prague Spring” (novel), “Beyond The Valley of the Contemporary Poets”
“Trai is easily one of the best analysts I’ve worked with. Her notes are consistently thorough, insightful and, most of all, ‘helpful’. She knows her stuff and communicates it well. Her notes have helped me improve every script I’ve had her read.”
– Matt Leonard, “Nanobots,” award-winning short filmmaker.
“Trai has a talent for finding problems in a story, grasping them, and twisting them around in ways so that what seemed impossible before suddenly works. It’s hard to define problems with characters and plot; it’s even harder to see ways of fixing them. Trai can do all this and more. She is also great at understanding the story for what it is. She doesn’t try imposing her own vision on it; she only refines your own and helps it become what you want it to be. An immensely helpful editor in any situation.”
– Benny, Scriptwriter’s High School Fellowship
“Trai is a talented, perceptive and very experienced story analyst. Her comments are always incisive, and her suggestions invariably improve the story in question. She has a good feeling for what works and what doesn’t. When working with individual writers, she is selfless and dedicated. Her comments go to the heart of the story and always keep in mind the commercial aspects of screenwriting.Anyone who has the opportunity to work with her will learn a great deal.”
– Lance Thompson, Writer (“Mr. Belvedere”), movie trailer editor
“Trai has thorough understanding of the big five: story, structure, character, theme and tone, but what impresses me most is her gift for recognizing the type story a writer is attempting to tell. Then, instead of trying to change that as many story gurus do, she offers notes suited to each writer’s particular style and voice. This is an excellent opportunity to have your script analyzed by a talented writer who has read and discussed thousands of scripts from all genres. She really is dedicated to helping others create the best possible screenplays and has the ability to take you to that next level as a writer.”
– Frederic T. Dray, Story Analyst – HBO Pictures, All Girl Productions, Warner Brothers
Trai is a gold mine. She spoke to me in positive terms. She nailed the essentials and brilliantly. she’s a worker; she’s thorough; she’s savvy; she knows how to approach people. She really knows her stuff. She’s generous with it. I’ll keep in touch with her.
– Evelyn Marshall, author, “The Piano Player” (SCWC)
STORY INSTRUCTOR
“You’re better than my agent at Harper Collins.”
– Karie
“I’ve taken a fair amount of classes in a spectacularly humongous variety of fields and I can honestly say that you are one of the best instructors I’ve had. My experience with you has been interesting, informative, challenging, entertaining, and well-paced. You might be one of those rare people of whom I say, If she were teaching about model trains, I’d go – I know it would be interesting. You have a great way of connecting and personalizing while maintaining absolute control of where and how things are going.”
– Terry
“ I’ve never been in a class in my life that felt so practical and so inspiring at the same time. Great information, great teaching style, challenging work load, steep-but-doable learning curve…The best class ever!”
– Travis
“Your observations are so on point. Wow! I’m amazed at how easily you move from one genre and world to another and are able to see them from the author’s mind. I write from the seat of my pants, as one of the other students mentioned and this class is really making me stretch, which I love. Thank you.”
– Cindy
“Trai is super engaging—dynamic, bright, fun, and funny. Her class was challenging in a positive way. Very educational, good discussion. Loved her and her seminar. Awesome.” – Castle Rock Writers Conference attendee
“I enrolled in Trai Cartwright’s online class. I’m am getting a great amount out of it. I’ve been in a workshop class with her and she is phenomenal. I have gained so much from the lessons. I’ve written them out and underlined and studied and journaled and shared with my critique group and re-written some parts. I will continue to study and be inspired. Thank you, Trai”.
-Jean
“Whew! It’s like therapy for my character!! Trai, I absolutely loved this class! Everything we did was useful and important. The pacing of the class was perfect, and your feedback was incredibly, fantastically helpful. Thanks so very, very much!
“This class has really helped me nail down the essentials of this story. It has been very interesting to watch others work through the same process. Thanks so much for your input and encouragement.”
-Jennifer
“This is my first experience with online training also, and I couldn’t have done it any other way. You really made it accessible to someone with a new job, deadlines, and a life with other responsibilities. Thank you so much!”
-Leah
“Okay, for all of you who didn’t make it the Colorado Romance Writers meeting, you missed a doosey. Trai Cartwright’s workshop was fabulous. It helped congeal a few of things I have been thinking about for a while into a usable and accessible form for my ‘little gray cells.’ Are we ever lucky Trai decided to come home to Colorado!”
– Channah
“It’s always a pleasure to listen to someone who knows what she’s talking about, presents her ideas clearly, and makes it obvious how her information can be helpful to me. That describes Trai’s workshop on Screenwriting and how it applies to fiction writers in the short story or novel form.”
– Linda Berry, author, The Trudy Roundtree Mysteries
“When I attended your workshop on Intuitive Structure, I immediately wanted to call my publisher and say, ‘No, no it’s not ready yet!’ I’d gotten a lesson on how important it is to have underpinnings to your tale that go beyond the basic plot outline. Your energy made your classes absolutely joyful.”
– Gayle Carline, mystery author, “Freezer Burn” (SCWC)
“I started dreaming in screenplays by the third night. I can’t watch movies the same way anymore!”
– Delaney, Explorati Teen Writers Boot Camp
“Trai’s a super instructor. She’s very knowledgeable and informative yet in a fun and relaxed way. As a workshop attendee, I felt I was in good hands!”
– Alicia Bien, actress (“24”), screenwriter
”I have attended several screenwriting seminars, and Trai Cartwright’s workshop was by far the best. Her inside knowledge of the specific criteria that studio producers use to screen out bad scripts from good, is of great importance to any screenwriter, who wants to achieve a profession level of writing skill, and wants their scripts to succeed as films.”
“Trai’s class provided material not covered in many screenwriting books, and is based on her in-depth, working knowledge of the currently accepted standards for professional screenplays. Her “Rewriting Checklist” and “20 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Screenwriting” are essential craft tools and excellent, concise guides for screenplay writers of all skill levels and experience.”
– Randal Crookston, screenwriter (NCWC)
”Trai gave tips and guidelines for structural elements along with story and character arc development. The information in her presentation will allow me to skip a lot of the learning curve for screen writing.”
– Grace L., mystery writer
”I want Trai Cartwright to teach all my classes — she even made even the formatting stuff interesting. I couldn’t wait to get to Writers Camp every day!”
– Joey, Explorati, Teen Writers Boot Camp
To inquire about Craftwrite’s services or to engage Trai Cartwright for a workshop, please go to our Contact Page.