3 - 2 - 1 | Screenwriting Thursday
NoonWriters: Draft 1 is going to be going down an Aaron Sorkin hole for a bit - our upcoming prompts and technique notes will come from his MasterClass.
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Alright, lets get on with it:
3 IDEAS FROM ME
I.
When a manager evaluates your ideas and helps you choose the next project for you to focus your talents on, it’s not that they are dismissing your other ideas.
I’m sure with enough time, energy and effort you could make all of your ideas sing. That being said, some of your ideas may have more lucrative potential than others.
When a manager is suggesting you work on a small handful of ideas over others it’s because they think your time will be most monetarily rewarded by those particular ideas.
II.
I continue to see us moving into an indie revolution, largely by necessity.
Studios are not developing ideas the way they used to. Partly because tech companies have figured out how to monetize millions of creators who are willing to make things for free. Why would you pay millions to a studio when you already have attention monetized without paying a dime?
This system has benefits and (many) drawbacks, but I will acknowledge that there is a certain sense of equality in the notion that if you are able to gather an audience you can make whatever the hell you like.
III.
I don’t think many understand exactly how much more time it takes to read an unpolished script than it does to read one that’s been through the editing wringer.
If I am to indulge myself with this comparison - my mind is a sports car when it comes to reading. When properly motivated I can finish an entire 800+ page book in 24 hours. I have even had regular work weeks where I’ve flown through up to 3 books in a fantasy series.
So it might stand to reason that I can rip through a rough 90-120 page screenplay like it’s nothing.
FALSE.
Reading an edited and published work is like driving on a pristine track.
Reading an in-process screenplay is like taking that same sports car out onto a gravel road. You are forced to go significantly slower. You need to pay special attention to potholes, gaps, even minor divots. You might get lost if segments of the track aren’t completed or connected properly. You certainly cannot zip along at speed.
The more polished your work, the easier it is for your readers to speed through it.
2 QUOTES FROM OTHERS
I.
From Tom Albrighton, the author of How to Write Clearly:
“Clear writing depends on clear thinking. If your message isn’t clear to you, it won’t be clear to anyone else.”
II.
Stephen Pressfield, from The War of Art (incidentally Stephen wrote this book expressly for Robert McKee, the author of Story, Dialogue, etc, who is apparently a notorious procrastinator):
“There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.”
