SHORT VERSION: Dave Trottier is a produced screenwriter, top script consultant, and award-winning teacher.

LONG VERSION: Dave Trottier has sold, optioned, or developed numerous screenplays and screen stories for The Walt Disney Company, York Entertainment, On the Bus Productions, Hill Fields (for ABC television) and New Century Pictures. Titles include Igor's Revenge (produced), Zorro the Gay Blade (produced, but not credited), 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.   More recently, he wrote A Penny Promise (produced; winner of awards at two film festivals) and sold Hemingway's Twin, an inspiring story about the Hemingway women.

As a teacher and script consultant, he has helped hundreds of writers sell their work, break into the biz, and win contests (including two Nicholl Fellowship winners and a National Play Award winner).  Dave rated in the top 5% of the "Cream of the Crop" category of Creative Screenwriting's report "The Best Movie and TV Script Analysts and Consultants as Rated by Screenwriters." 

He has taught at the major screenwriting expos and conferences, has lectured or led seminars at over 30 American universities, and taught occasional writing classes at the University of Phoenix (where he was honored with a Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005).  He also conducts his own online courses and screenwriting workshops, one-on-one mentoring program, and Sundance Retreat; plus he teaches courses at Screenwriter's University. 

His major work, The Screenwriter's Bible, is now in its seventh edition. He has authored 8 books in all, including Dr. Format Tells All, Double Your Creativity, and Two Screenplays.

He has been a senior writer for Script Magazine since 1989. His column "Ask Dr. Format" is the longest-running screenwriting column in the industry. He has published hundreds of articles in national publications, including Writer's Digest, Hollywood Scriptwriter, Disney Channel Magazine, Creative Screenwriting, Screenplay Scoop, Logline, American Writer, and many more. Read his interview with ScreenCraft.

Dave is also known as Dr. Format because he has been the go-to guy for screenplay formatting. His book The Screenwriter’s Bible was the basis for the software Script Thing, which later became Movie Magic Screenwriter. He was a content advisor for Screenwriting Pro, and has conducted a formatting webinar and written articles for Final Draft. If you are curious, see the article, "How I became Doctor Format".

With his B.A. in business administration (from Cal-State, Fullerton), Dave has a strong business and marketing background. He served for five years as the marketing manager and then executive vice president for a distributor of memorabilia and precious metals (about 100 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 served on the board of the Arts & Humanities Department of Cal-State, Long Beach, before moving to his present home near Sundance, Utah, where he married Virginia artist and educator Marsha Sawyer.