Another thing, I've learned that a lot of people think of a rewrite as reading back through your script to fix spelling, grammar, or other glaring mistakes.  In fact, I used to be just like this.

After doing some serious rewrites for a producer in New York, I've learned that rewrites sometimes cause you to ditch sub-plots you've fallen in love with for more simple scenes.  It is all for the good of the script.

Rewriting is the hardest part.  It's easy to write what pops in your head.  It's hard to realize the mistakes in your ideas and really use your noggin' to think of a way out of it.

Quoted from Jonathan Terry Another thing, I've learned that a lot of people think of a rewrite as reading back through your script to fix spelling, grammar, or other glaring mistakes.  In fact, I used to be just like this. After doing some serious rewrites for a producer in New York, I've learned that rewrites sometimes cause you to ditch sub-plots you've fallen in love with for more simple scenes.  It is all for the good of the script. Rewriting is the hardest part.  It's easy to write what pops in your head.  It's hard to realize the mistakes in your ideas and really use your noggin' to think of a way out of it.

True, but it depends on how indiscriminately you write whatever pops into your head during the first draft. Sometimes a re-write can mean a total make-over and sometimes only a few scenes.

I'm very meticulous in my first drafts and follow the outline pretty much to the tee, so my rewrites aren't that drastic for the most part. I'm one those people who edit along the way as well.

But yeah, it hurts to let a great sub-plot go because your find out it really doesn't add to your story.

I never used to be a fan of rewriting until my most recent project, if only to read the script and think "wait, I have a much better idea on how to handle this scene!"  Or to see that certain bits go on too long, or become unneccary and bog down the flow.  I've had to sacrifice more than my share of jokes to the great deity known as "story."  I recently submitted a short play to a friend of mine and had to cram 22 pages into 16 without losing the actual story.  And this was after a re-write where my wife ripped it to shreds.  However, both situations enabled me to strengthen the story over the plot and I came out with a tighter piece with some, I hope, funny lines.

Now I've become too addicted to re-writing, so another key is knowing when to stop.