Screenwriting : Has anyone gone back to script No.1 by Craig D Griffiths

my first i wrote in college. i got a B- and i went OFF on the Professor bc i was a good writer. Years later, after being an assistant and executive, i re-read that script, called up my professor, and apologized and said she shouldve givenme a D. I was too close to the personal material to know. im smart enough to know now it wasnt a movie, just a therapeutic writing exercise.

My first script was badly executed. I rewrote it. Even though it's been rejected by many many production companies, studios etc. because of the themes of the film, it's still my favourite passion project. I'm determined to realize the film. I'm looking to go the crowd funding and grant route to get it made. Which is possible because it's micro budget. It has six locations and they are just rooms and a yard. My first is my baby.

Actually, (surprisingly! lol!) my first script did okay... well... as far as contests. It certainly gave me some confidence to continue. But the script itself is such a specific, small story that it's hard to find the right people for it. So I've filed it away as something I'd like to produce myself. But I've had some great comments from Indy producers... So we'll see. If/when I do go back, I'm sure a revision is in order. Lol!

Wish I could go back to my first script, The Fakir. It was a fun ensemble comedy about an Indian mystic who had a vision he should play basketball for the LA Lakers. It was back in the era of Jerry West, Pat Riley, Magic, Kareem and so many other fantastic players. Even had Kevin Peter Hall, who I met in a coffee shop in Studio City, interested for the lead. (KPH was great!).

Anyway, as an inexperienced writer I had no idea what the clearance rights/issues would be. Still, was a fun script.

Second script, Neon Cactus, in its first draft, placed in the Nicholl Fellowship in 1990. All these years later working to fund the twenty-somethingth rewrite - pretty much fully cast and a strong production team behind it.

Ha! The first "professional" short story I ever wrote was called "The Fakir!" (In no way similar.) :D

The very first short script I wrote was bought by a Producer to turn into a feature...

Said Producer has since vanished off the face of the earth...

There's a moral in there somewhere and I'll let you know when I figure it out ;-)

Hey Craig D., absolutely great question. Man, it brings fears and tears in my eyes as I write this. Wow! My very first script actually i was obsessed with. It was the history of Rome during the Gallic Years about the migration of the transalpine Gauls. it was called "Gaul - The Gallic Years," about the leader of the Gauls- Vercen (something) I couldn't spell his name then and I couldn't spell it now. I did such excessive (the word obsessive) research on this script my girlfriend broke up with me, because she thought I was nuckin futs. She threw the script at me down the stairs as I gathered it up like a science experiment. Believe it or not, I did not number the pages like idiots cousin, stupid. Basically, when the great julius Ceasar kept a diary about the wars that took place and about losing a battle to these tribes and there strategies. Interesting enough. I wrote it at 130 pages and wondering if I still have it in storage in my old computer somewhere. Wow! Thanks for the mam/memories! It opens up with Ceasar testing out the goods with the vestal virgins. Warm Regards,

RJN

Raymond, that was a very funny/sad/scary story..all at once! By the way, it's Vercingetorix and I'm sorry but there is a movie done about it already (it's called Druids, 2001). Good news is it was a failure, so you can always try a reboot!

Yeah, I went back to my first script after a long time away, rewrote it for like the tenth time, and finally submitted it somewhere: to the Austin Film Festival. We'll see what their judges have to say ...

A friend was directing a little film in Laguna Beach, Ca. I spotted a script on a chair, looked it over and thought "What's the big deal? This stuff looks easy to write."

Boy, was I wrong! I was totally clueless on my first script, a "Walk to Remember" type tear-jerker. But I was able to talk friends into being actors, a college into giving me free shooting sites, and a hospital into giving me free ICU access, and my non-comprehensible script actually got made into a film. Would I go back and rewrite that script? Ain't no way!

I have so much fun reading all the comments. Glad to see we all share the same emotions and memories. Thanks everyone.

My first script was such crap, that I never transferred it over to my new computer. The story was DOA and never, ever going to bring it back to life. Like Young Frankenstein, it would be Abby Normal.

Yes. Some scripts I've given up on, but never that one. :)

Haha! Thanks Martina, you rock! Yes, it brings up memories! I remember a scene in it where an old vetran and a young boy are rolling over a field of carcasses as things pop beneath them in a battlefield they are serving each other life lessons about what war is to them and there perceptions. As the dialogue is interspered with the crunch/crackle/pop like rice krispies etc. I have to dig this up! I poured heart, blood, angst and tons of illegal substances inside of me when writing this. I ran a biker bar years ago. Another life. Totally, better than Druids. Great topic pick.

I wrote my first one when I was 10 so it was awful, but I've tried going back to it but it's too horrible.

Our first script was called "The Squad" and we still have both the handwritten and the printed version in a box that says "First script". We revisit it every once in a while just to remember how far we've come since then and how awesome we thought it was when we just finished it. It wasn't. Not too sure if we'll ever make a version that's less terrible than this one (like an upgraded version using the skills we have right now)..