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Is there any problem using "there's" instead of "there is?"

FOR EXAMPLE:

There is a good deal waiting for you. There's a good deal waiting for you.

Are both gramatically correct? Just checking. I am paranoid about this kind of stuff!

I would say either is acceptable but more importantly, if it's dialogue what would be most in character of the person speaking?

I would there's in modern film an maybe there is in a older, such as knights and that stuff.

I just read an article about this on wordplay.com by Terry Rossio, a big time writer in Hollywood (check the imdb.com for his credits). To paraphrase, he says to use whatever the character would say.

So if Joe Blow was going to say "Hey, there's got to be a reason for that!", then that's what you write.

If it's a stuffy english professor, he would probably say "there is".

The same goes for "don't", "wouldn't" "he'll" and any other contraction. Write it how the character says it.

That should be wordplayer.com

The Points are well taken in previous posts.

It's used in CONTEXT and then, there is CHARACTER. i.e. DIALOG. We sometines speak in contractions, but with regard to ACTION DESCRIPTION: there is this grammar thing. Contractions are considered a bit of a no know.

Some readers don't mind a contraction in dialog but do not think it is grammatically proper in description.

Just my .02

Peter

Thank you for the replies. I pretty much understood it to be acceptable in dialogue. My question was more geared the action paragraphs. For example-- I'm describing this guy's house.

A cozy two-story suburban house. The kind of place that proves there is no place like home.

COULD I USE THIS:

A cozy two-story suburban house. The kind of place that proves there's no place like home.

Will a reader get upset if I used the second version. I just feel like the use of the contraction makes for a better flow. I could be wrong.

Eric,

Context changes everything, however since the phrase in question is so recognizable I would say it demands to be written in the form in which it is so well known. i.e. "There's no place like home"

Unless of course the emphasis is on the word "is" as in "There IS no place like home." But now I'm rambling on in over analysis like the stoned college student of my youth. Sorry.

John Morse Code,

You're absolutely right.