The ultimate goal of every screenwriter is to sell a script and get it made. However, the primary goal of every screenwriter should be to finish the first draft of a screenplay.
Without a first draft you’ll be stuck in a place worse than Development Hell. You’re left without food or water in a dark, sad, bleak place that I call Undeveloped Hell. And what’s even more galling is that you’re the Gatekeeper.
Never forget: a bad first draft is preferable to a brilliant unfinished 49 pages that have been gnawing away at you for two years.
Completion of the first draft is everything. Even if it’s barely 85 pages with a meandering second act, no real plot twists in Act Three and an ending that’s not only unsatisfying, but so wrong it belongs in a different screenplay. Even if it’s way too long (and you’ve known it’s too long ever since you hit Page 118 and you haven’t gotten to the end of Act Two.)
But too short or too long, at least you got to the Fade Out and you’ve typed in The End. Only then can the real work of revision, rethinking and fine-tuning begin. But getting to that completed first draft is the hardest part for most of us. If you can get a handle on why you’re not moving forward to completion, it might help you break through the miasma.
In my next post I’ll get into what I’ve found to be the biggest roadblocks that bring screenwriters down.
I've just read all the posts on this new blog of D.B.'s and, as a result, am finally coming out of my long, non-writing funk. Everything he says strikes right at the heart of my writing "issues," particularly his thoughts on "unproductivity." In many ways, he's been my savior, time and time again. Let me give you some perspective on how effective he truly is:
ReplyDeleteI'm the kind of procrastinator that makes other procrastinators look good. As a manic, feast-or-famine type writer (the worst kind, as we all know), I've actually gone through stages in which I'll think of/encounter something interesting or funny, intend to write it down, and then deliberately suppress the urge because I know how shitty I'll feel getting started again and realizing how long it's been since I've written - launching, yet again, a whole process of self-flagellation etc. The only person I've ever met who's been able to take away this boo-hoo-why-can't-the-stars-be-aligned-so-I-can-write self-pitying inertia is D.B. He's been my writing coach for over 5 years, and during that time I've written: a screenplay, four plays (two produced), a short story, and three sit-coms (one of which is currently being shopped around in LA by a legit producer). When I met D.B., I had one of those agonizing, mentally constipating "ideas for a screenplay" that had literally been gestating for 12 years or so. Four months after I met him, the screenplay was done (four drafts worth) and going out to people. And I've recommended him to tons of people - ALL of whom have subsequently insisted on taking me out to a fancy dinner to thank me for connecting them with such a gem of a motivator.
I'm totally in sync with what Stephanie says. Getting out of the funk is paramount. It's so easy to feel sorry for ourselves and watch the tube
ReplyDeleteI always hit a brick wall when I get into the second act. I think things are going so well, then I run out of steam. How can I get around this?
ReplyDeleteI think I speak for everyone when I say all blogs should quote "Network" more often.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more, DB. Only when the first draft is done can you start crafting something really good. For me it's a matter of silencing that inner critic and just letting the first draft be crap, reminding myself that the best stuff comes from rewriting.
ReplyDelete"Even if it’s barely 85 pages with a meandering second act...", I've got a couple of those on my computer. So, how do we get on with it? I want that next post!
ReplyDeleteYour pal, Roger
I have something like 8 scripts that are halfway done, or even more. I can't stop from trying to revise and revise those pages, then I get disgusted and lose interest and then I start a new script because I'm afraid to go back to it.
ReplyDeleteI still hear D.B.'s voice in my head when I'm grinding on a 1st draft: "Just finish the first draft. That's all that matters." Doesn't matter if it's a total mess.
ReplyDeleteI wish I understood the 3 act structure. I wrote a screenplay that was 182 pages long. Act 2 didn't end until Page 140. I ended up cutting the first seventy-five pages. It was still a lousy script, but I learned the value of cutting.
ReplyDeleteThis is some of the best advice that DB has ever given. The longer you tinker with the early pages of the first draft, the more likely you'll lose steam and interest in finishing it. It's way more fun and exciting to go back and fix the first draft, to infuse new ideas and layers to the story, than to rewrite the first act seven times without moving on to the end. Developing a good story is different than making decisions about life. In a story, it's just as important to know where you end up (Act 3) as where you've been (Acts 1 & 2) to create a great screenplay. Many things you tinker and fix and refix in Act 1 will end up getting changed once you reach the end and discover new things about your characters as they come to life, things you wouldn't know unless you REACH the end.
ReplyDeleteThe end? What's the end, Carlo? Six scripts in various stages of incompletion. I'd like to know what it's like to type in FADE OUT. Help!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree about a bad first draft being something to shoot for. I've had so many scripts that had the first 10 pages perfect because I kept going over and over and over to the point where by the fifteenth pass I hated the story and couldn't go forward.
ReplyDelete