Terms of Service

Effective October 8, 2026

These terms cover every story development engagement with Games Writers Play. They’re written in plain English on purpose. If anything here is unclear, ask me before you sign.

1. Who you’re working with

Games Writers Play is a program of Acts of Writing LLC, a Georgia limited liability company. All agreements, invoices and payments are with Acts of Writing LLC. In these terms, “I”, “me” and “my” mean Acts of Writing LLC, and “you” means the person booking. Sessions are led by Mikhail Saburov. You can reach me at [email protected].

2. How these terms apply

Before any work starts, we both sign a short engagement agreement. It names the package, the fee, the start date and the program’s length. These terms are part of that agreement. If the agreement and these terms ever say different things, the agreement wins.

The version of these terms that applies to you is the one published on the day you sign. If I change them later, your engagement keeps the version you signed under.

3. What you’re booking

The free call. The 15-minute call is a conversation to see whether we’re a good fit. It commits neither of us to anything.

The Foundation and The Structure. Each package is a set number of 60-minute video sessions, ending in a finished document that you write with my guidance: a treatment for The Foundation, a scene-by-scene outline for The Structure. Your agreement states the number of sessions and the program’s length. Television projects may run longer, and the agreement will say so.

Custom work. Projects scoped individually are covered by their own written agreement. Where that agreement is silent, these terms apply.

The fee is for the engagement as a whole. It is not a per-session rate, and booking commits the full fee.

4. Payment

You pay the full fee after signing the agreement and before the first session. You can pay in one of three ways:

• By card, through Stripe.
• With Klarna, through Stripe, which lets you split the cost into installments. Klarna pays me the full fee. Your installment plan is an arrangement between you and Klarna, on Klarna’s terms, and Klarna decides the schedule and any charges.
• By bank transfer, against an invoice I send you.

Sessions are scheduled once payment has cleared. All prices are in US dollars.

5. Cancelling before we start

If you cancel at least 7 days before your first session, I refund the fee in full, minus the payment-processing fees I can’t recover. If you cancel less than 7 days before the first session, the engagement counts as started and section 6 applies.

If you live in the EU or the UK, you may also have a separate right to cancel. See section 18.

6. Once we’ve started

Once the first session has taken place, or the 7-day window in section 5 has passed, the fee is not refundable. That includes stopping part-way, leaving sessions unused, or changing your mind about the project.

This is why the free call exists: to rule out a wrong fit before any money moves. Once you book, I also hold your dates for you and turn other work away.

I may, at my discretion, offer a partial refund or a credit toward later work. Doing so once doesn’t create an obligation to do so again.

7. Materials, scheduling and pauses

Materials. Anything I need to read before a session is due two days beforehand. If it arrives late, the session moves to a new time. It isn’t lost.

Rescheduling. Either of us can move a session with at least 24 hours’ notice.

Late cancellations and no-shows. A session cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice, or missed, counts as held. I may waive this once per engagement, at my discretion.

Pauses. You can pause the engagement once, for up to 30 days, by telling me in writing.

The time window. All sessions must take place within the program’s length in your agreement plus 30 days. Reschedules and a pause both use that extra 30 days. When I cancel or move a session, the window extends by the same amount of time. Sessions still unused when the window closes expire, without a refund.

8. If I have to cancel or stop

If I need to move a session, I’ll give you at least 24 hours’ notice except in illness or emergency. A session I cancel is always rescheduled, never lost.

If I can’t complete your engagement, I’ll refund the unused sessions pro rata, meaning the fee divided by the number of sessions, times the number left. Or, if you prefer, I’ll give you a credit for the same amount. Everything made so far stays yours.

9. Recordings

Sessions are held on Google Meet and recorded. By signing, you agree to recording, and I’ll confirm it at the start of each call. You get a copy of every recording to keep and use for your project.

I keep my own copy only to refer back while we work. I don’t share recordings or use them for anything else, and I delete my copy 12 months after our last session.

10. Who owns what

Your story is yours. You write everything for it, including your treatment or outline and your drafts, and you own all of it. My notes on your project are yours too. I take no credit, no ownership and no share of any future income from your project.

My method and my materials stay mine. That includes the guides, templates, question sets, worksheets, reference lists and diagrams I share in our work. You can keep your copies and use them for your own projects. You can’t republish them, teach from them or sell them.

11. Confidentiality

Your agreement includes a confidentiality clause covering everything you share with me. If you’d rather use your own NDA, send it before you share anything and I’ll sign it if it’s reasonable.

With or without a signed NDA, I keep your material confidential. The exceptions are material that is already public, material I already had or develop independently, and anything the law requires me to disclose.

I work with many writers, and stories in development often share ideas, themes or premises. Keeping your material confidential doesn’t stop me working on other projects that happen to resemble yours.

If custom work involves a collaborator, I’ll name them to you before they see anything, and they’ll be bound by the same confidentiality.

12. Talking about the work

I won’t name you or your project, or quote you, without your written permission. If you’re a founding client, your agreement covers the case study you’ve agreed to, and you approve the final wording before it’s published.

I write and teach about story craft. I may draw on general lessons from our sessions, with nothing that could identify you or your project. Your premise, characters, plot, title and any distinctive detail of your story stay out of it.

13. AI tools

I don’t put your material into AI tools. Nothing you share goes into Claude, ChatGPT or any similar service. The one exception is an AI note-taker or transcription tool on our calls, and only if you agree to it in writing first.

14. What I can’t promise

I deliver the sessions and a finished document. I can’t promise that your project will sell, get you representation, win a competition, find funding or get made. The creative decisions are yours.

This is creative consulting. It isn’t legal, financial, agency or management advice.

15. Your side of it

You need to be 18 or over to book. The material you share should be yours, or you should have the right to develop it. Please don’t share anything that belongs to someone else without their permission.

16. Liability

I’ll do the work with care and skill. Beyond that, my total liability for anything arising from an engagement is limited to the fees you paid for that engagement. I’m not liable for indirect or consequential losses, such as lost income or opportunities. Nothing here limits liability that the law doesn’t allow to be limited.

17. Payment disputes

If you’re unhappy with a charge, please email me first and give me 14 days to put it right. Most problems are quicker to solve that way than through a bank. If you dispute a charge with your card provider or Klarna instead, I’ll share the signed agreement, these terms and our session records with them. Sessions pause while a dispute is open.

18. Clients in the EU and UK

If you live in the EU or the UK, you have the right to cancel within 14 days of signing, without giving a reason. To cancel, email me a clear statement that you want to.

If you ask for sessions to begin within those 14 days and then cancel, I refund the fee minus a proportionate amount for the sessions already held. Once every session has been held, the right to cancel ends. I’ll refund within 14 days of your cancellation, using the method you paid with.

This right sits alongside section 5, and you get whichever is better for you.

19. Law and disputes

These terms are governed by the law of the State of Georgia. If we can’t resolve a disagreement by talking it through, it goes to the state or federal courts in Fulton County, Georgia, or to small-claims court where eligible. If you live in the EU or the UK, you keep any protections your local law gives you.

20. The rest

I work as an independent contractor, not your employee or agent. If any part of these terms turns out to be unenforceable, the rest still applies. Notices between us can be sent by email. Questions about any of this go to [email protected].