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This is a great thread. I think Dave's advice should hang somewhere on the site, separately. But how to do that? Too bad there's no special place for gold advice collection. Or maybe we could create a thread for it or something?
I'd put there Dave's response and add what Pia said about timing - if I'm not mistaken, that's how I understood that post. Because I do something similar - watch for the super long scenes and super short scenes and cut/add to even the scenes out. Short don't bother me as much as super long scenes. I think they might wear the audience down.
Writing ritual -- After finishing a script, I put it away for a month or so, so that when I go back to it, it's with a completely fresh perspective. I tend to live with a given script for months and months (see next paragraph) so when I'm finished with a first draft, it's time for a brain vacation. I have to cleanse my mind of it. This typically involves starting a new script. When I do finally go back to it, it's with a completely clinical eye. Even if there's a scene I absolutely love, if it doesn't move the story forward or reveal any kind of vital plot or character information, I cut it.
Plotting -- I'm a lazy screenwriter; as much as I enjoy creating stories and characters, I find the actual physical act of sitting down and transcribing what's in my head onto the page tedious and irritating. I don't want to have to type one single word more than I absolutely have to. Because of this, I tend to mull a story over in my head for months, sometimes upwards of a year, before ever writing the first word of it. During those many months I work out as many details in my head as I can, so that by the time I do sit down to write it, I already have pretty much the full movie in my head. Because I spend so much time working out the story before writing any of it, I am far, far from prolific. But, also because I spend so much time working on the story before writing any of it, when I do finally write it, the writing process goes very quickly, and I don't tend to need a lot of revisions.
Clearly this is not an approach I would recommend to anyone who has any hopes of being even moderately prolific, but it works for me.
I wouldn't worry too much about being prolific. I've done 8 scripts in the past two years and I often feel like I spread myself too thin and bounced from one to the next. This year I want to do what you're doing and be more meticulous with just one project. Be more streamlined. Less messy.
Some amazing editing tips there from Dave. I really hope they incorporate Grammerly into FD at some point as it is invaluable. I tried copying the whole script into word and it was too much, it never occurred to me to do 10 pages at a time – doh!
My ritual after I’ve finished a script? I don’t have one. I breath a great sigh of relief and satisfaction and that is it.
Plotting. I can plot a lot in my head and that works for shorts and even TV pilots to some degree. I sometimes write a 1 or 2-page outline before I start just so I’m sure of the story from a high level. However, for features I find I have to do some outlining first. The trouble is I have very little time to write, weekends only. I found using this book helped, “The Coffee Break Screenwriter: Writing Your Script Ten Minutes at a Time” – I follow the brief exercises in this book to get the story outline and the characters nailed down before I write Fade In.
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Bravo Dave! Great stuff there -- My greatest downfall is that I am incredibly lazy, but I should really try and pull my finger out and use some of these tips.
After I have finished a script- I print it, try and read it again, get about 10 pages in and despair about how shit it is. I then lock it away in a dark cupboard, grab a bottle of wine and have a good inner debate with myself about how crap I am and whether I can actually do this.
Fast forward an indeterminate amount of time - I find the script in the cupboard, read it again, get overcome with a new sense of "YES I CAN!" and begin re-writing.
Plotting - I do something similar to Angry Bear - I start with 10-15 important plot points putting them in order - Then I expand on these, what happens in these plot points? how many scenes make up this plot point? then I expand again, what happens in between, what leads them from one plot point to the other, then I expand again, with actual scenes - more detail about what happens, who is involved, how it should start and end (emotion/information etc) By this point I have about 40/45 detailed bullet points in a list order - Then I start writing
Using the above list, I don't generally write in a linear fashion. Sometimes I will skip to the important plot points, write them out (not too detailed, dialogue at this point is stale as hell, if there at all) - Then going back to the beginning, write out the "in-between plot points" scenes, leading me to the next one - most likely things change from my original list as I am getting to the next plot point too quickly, or not quickly enough. If I ever get stuck anywhere, I skip ahead and carry on writing later scenes. Once I have all my scenes done, I go through with more detail adding in dialogue, better descriptions, and actions, look at where I need/want to reveal information blah blah blah
Works for me as I never really sit there twiddling my thumbs with writer's block as there is somewhere in the script I can jump into and expand. And this way I have never really felt overwhelmed by a feature, as I feel more organized
I read a famous screenwriter once (I forgot the name) who said if he’s writing a script everyday - he waits until he gets a great idea fOR WHAT’S NEXT UNTIL HE CUTS IT OFF FOR THE NEXT DAY. NEVER WRITES IT. THAT WAY YOU ALWAYS START OFF writing and without no ideas that leads to writers block. I have tried to follow that. Always end the night with a fresh idea NOT written and start it the next day.
PS I don’t know where or how those capitals got in there. But like many of you stated - I am a lazy writer and refuse to go back and correct. Lol
Fillet steak and a good red wine. But currently I have a couple of rewrites and notes so annoyingly can’t finish something i’m Nearly there with. Like others I tend to work things out in my head before I write. I have got stuck a couple of times but when that happens, I work on another story, and when I come back to the trouble maker, i’m unblocked. The mind works on problems unconsciously I find.
We may have a different definition of "finish". Anyway - these are the things I do after typing FADE OUT.
First - Take a breather for a few days - week.
Then do what I refer to as my mechanicsNote - I write using Final Draft so these tools may not be available to all).
1. Copy and paste the script ten pages at a time into a Word File and run "Grammerly" A nice tool for finding typos and grammatical errors.
2. Run the script in audio (i.e., FD will read it to you) - many errors are discovered by listening to the script (note - this was a tip I got from Warren and it is a good one).
3. Run a word search on a list of pedestrian verbs (e.g., walks, enters, stops, goes, etc. etc.) to see if they can't be replaced with a more descriptive verb.
4. Generate a scene header report to make sure that I described a single scene in a consistent manner throughout the script (amazing how many errors I can make in this regard).
5. Revisit all named character descriptions when intro'd to see if I can do better.
6. Finalize an outline for the entire script. When I write the first draft I use a very rough outline if one at all. I create a detailed outline (I use Excel or the FD index cards for this) of a completed draft. Each outline entry has these elements:
Scene number Scene Location Scene Purpose Character's in scene Did I enter scene to early - yes or no Did I exit scene too late - yes or no Comments:
Example:
Scene number: 1
Scene Location: Medical Office
Character's in scene: LOWELL and DR FERGUSON
Scene Purpose: First intro of LOWELL and DR FERGUSON. Establish something medically wrong with Lowell and establish his friendship with Doctor.
Did I enter scene to early?: Consider eliminating having Lowell in the room by himself. Start scene with Doctor Ferguson still there.
Did I exit scene too late? No.
Comments: It's seven pages - needs to be trimmed more. Some dialogue could be deleted/replaces with action/reaction.
Then I print the outline and use that to start the next draft. It's a tedious exercise for sure, but for me it moves me from staring at script pages to doing something active and somehow that gets the creative juices flowing.
Anyway - that's what works for me.
I'm late to this thread, but I can't see you going too wrong following this method.
I think the main take-a-way from this is the detail in which a script should be polished. I certainly read a lot of scripts that don’t even seem to have the most basic editing. I think there is something to be said about a writer who agonises over the tiniest detail of their script and then presents it in a way that you really can appreciate the work that has been put into it.
Thanks for the mention, Dave. I live by this feature, it's amazing what it picks up.