Has anyone ever said their script was actually really, really done?

I mean, I thought I could call one done, then I find all these things that need fixed or  that I want to make better. So,  I rewrote it again. I'm sure that if I opened it up again, I would be writing it over again.

Going for years without writing hasn't done anything to help either...

Cindy, awesome to see you back on the boards!!!

I wrote a script a couple of years ago that I actually rewrote the hell out of. My first time for rewrites. I was proud of the result. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the producers wanted another rewrite for various reasons. I read the script for the first time in almost two years, and I blushed because I thought it was so bad!!!! So, no, I don't think any script is ever really finished.

Being a half full glass kind of person though, this realization that I have become a better writer has made me go back and look at some of my older scripts. Scripts that are horrible and I never planned to revisit, but now realize that I can rewrite them because most of them are great concepts.  

A story is like clay, you can continue to work it forever and the results are a thousand different shapes.  

You can always rewrite something, but something can easily be called done, even at the same time. Just because you see something wrong or something that should be fixed doesn't mean that it needs to be. You can settle and let it rest and it's probably for the best that you do or else you'll never be able to move on to bigger and better things. The vast majority of writers aren't sitting on their own "Citizen Kane" so there's only so good that a script can be made. Just work on it until you're satisfied then move on to something else. I've been working towards trying to believe this, but it's a long, slow process.

Cindy,

JMHO, it's not going to be perfect.  Just make sure it is as good as you can make it before sending it in or out.

My process when I finish a script for the first time.  I do 4 page one rewrites -- each focusing on something different, and only then do I consider it my FIRST DRAFT and ready for show.  But that's just me -- I like to polish mine until I can see my reflection.  

But by no means will it be perfect.

Ghostie

I've been on Facebook too long. I keep looking for the like button. ;-/

Pia, I'm glad to be back. Home computer is up again. Yay!
I know what you mean about taking another look at old scripts, and wanting to rewrite them.
I mean you've already got the bulk of it there. I've done the same. A rewrite will keep us busy while waiting for the muse to wake the hell up again. LOL

Mr. Blonde, I have done that, but when I revisit my old stuff, well, some of it, I have to redo it.

Ghostie, 4 page rewrites sound great.

CJ, I know what you mean about taking too much to heart. I do that. I've been thinking about dusting off my first script I ever wrote and going back to more of what the first draft was actually about.
I used to have a problem with endings, but I've been working on them.

It is like letting your kids grow up - at some point you got to let them go. I will do re-writes if I get a major change in my head (e.g., what if the protag was female?, psychic? etc.). But I do get to a point where the re-write of an old script gets in the way of writing the next one.

I can't seem to let go of mine. I've been re-writing this one feature (my one and only) for over a year now to the point where it makes me practically physically ill to go back over the same lines for the thousandth time. Yet I feel like it's so close to being ready that stopping and starting another is like throwing away all that work.

The only time when the script is done is either when you get paid for the job and/or when it's filmed. Until then, it's a work in progress. Got to be your own pep coach throughout that time.

Gabriel,
I think you gave me the answer that I needed.
I thought I  was being  a crazy old lady.