Screenwriting : "To [Revise] or not to [Revise] that is the [Dilemma]" by Mike Childress

I rewrite a script right after I finish writing it, Mike Childress. Sometimes I put the script aside once I've finished rewriting it to see if I need to do more rewrites.

I know what you mean about looking back at scripts and groaning at the action lines. I like to do a separate rewrite where I visualize the script. Visualizing the script helps me rewrite the action lines. And I'll look at an action line and ask myself "how can I make this more entertaining/exciting/scarier/suspenseful/funnier?"

Maurice Vaughan I had almost finished the feature and Short I am writing now, but THEN, after three months of reading articles and blog posts, discussing screenwriting with people on here and elsewhere, starting The Screenwriter's Bible, and drum roll ACTUALLY READING SCRIPTS (well skimming through a bunch at least) I basically slammed on the brakes and stopped writing. I am essentially rewriting said scripts now BEFORE they are finished. Going back to the dusty, old script vault and taking a gander at the "old" stuff was like looking at essays written in high school after finishing grad school and writing in professional environments for years!

So my line of thinking is maybe it is better to leave the vault works buried in the crypt for now, and knowing I will be more proficient in the craft even five-six months from now it likely will be even easier to go back to the novice, well more novice, stuff and clean it up/overhaul it. Even fresher eyes letting them lie for a bit again. That as opposed to now where, yes, I am WAY better at writing screenplays than in March, but at the same time still sucking up spec script tradecraft like a sponge... I remember from my early days on here someone on a thread mentioned having like twenty or so old scripts lying around! One good thing is I am not want for ideas for plots so the only real limitation on crafting new stuff (with the new skills) will be the usual impediments like time, and potentially writing the first novel concurrently with the screenplays...

Glad to hear you're WAY better at writing screenplays than in March, Mike Childress! I didn't read scripts at the start of my career, and it was a huge mistake! It's not that I didn't wanna read scripts. I just didn't know it was helpful. It's something every new screenwriter -- and every screenwriter -- should do. If anyone's looking to read scripts, go here: www.stage32.com/loglines and www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/10-great-websites-download-movie-scripts

I'll usually walk away from it for a few weeks. clear my head of the script and then go back and look at it fresh.

Maurice Vaughan When I started writing in the format I, for some reason, decided I was going to shun convention, not read scripts, and was going to write the way I wanted, albeit adhering to the screenplay format (generally). Now when I started reading scripts I did see a few verbose ones, and I was instantly transformed into the Brad Pitt/Once Upon A Time in Hollywood/pointing at the television GIF going, "Just like me, just like me!", and that was within the group of Nicholl winner scripts no less! However, the lion's share were written with concise action lines, and not a ton of flowery, verbose descriptions. I will continue to read through as many as possible, but now I get it, and my fourth feature is much better already as a result.

Bill Albert "Absence doth make the heart grow fonder"! I am thinking I let the old scripts breathe, like opened wine, for a while, and we can reunite when they have...oxidized a bit...

Maurice Vaughan I JUST got the USCO certificate for the first three hahahaha. A sign from the universe to persevere?!

Sometimes having time away from an old script gives perspective. Learning more from life can help too. I've certainly had experiences in life and from writing that have confirmed that.

Samuel Lebow Agreed. I think in a few months I will be way more effective a reviser than I am now. "Fresh eyes (even re: your own work)" can be useful!

Definitely. I honestly tend to pass stuff along to people I know. Usually my dad (he can be very critical, which can always be helpful) and then to some friends in my industry or who were formerly part of it.

I sent the first few pages of one script to a few friends who were like "MAKE THIS MOVIE NOW!", but they are part of the echo chamber, i.e. fellow fantasy/sci-fi nerds, and they know me well too, and obviously those relationships influence judgment, subconsciously or not. I haven't let any industry connections read my stuff yet, but will eventually. I do kind of like the idea of complete strangers' judgment though... My Da doesn't watch TV or movies so he might be the ideal judge!

my problem with going back to old, early days scripts is always not that i find problems, it's that i find everything is problem and the logic is never as clean as i thought it was at the time. maybe one day i'll get around to them lol

Pat Alexander My suggestion is to not overthink things too much as it ends up creating more problems. It just causes a person to shut down mentally and can worsen writers block. Just my advice.

Pat Alexander Hahaha. That has to be kind of akin to well-known actors who were in some movies early on in their careers that they would rather (everyone) forget about! I mean if my Boo Charlize can get over her role in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest my first scripts can't be THAT bad...

I used to drive myself crazy doing rewrites. I found out it works better to write screenplays you want to write and once you are pretty confident and screenwriting becomes more naturally then go back and rewrite. That might help you keep your sanity. Be patient because writing screenplays well doesn't happen over night... Some things just come from a lot of practice.

So Dan Guardino the current feature script is like my first in that I get the weird ScriptSpeak now. I have been rewriting it as I am still writing it (cough action lines), and it is already light years away from the others, style-wise. I have exited Plato's Cave and see the sunlight. I have drunk from the flowing fountains of Mount Scriptus! It's great, but the conciseness is not fully engrained in my brain yet, i.e. I still catch myself occasionally typing out temporal qualifiers or adverbs, etc. Not muscle memory yet, but to be expected. Pish posh.

I found rushing any rewrite is a bad idea. I've done it too many times and crashed and burned as a result. Only when I'm happy that all 8 sequences are lifting above their weight, then I dive into the rewrite. Patience is key (for me anyway), rather than setting a timer and rushing headlong into an invariable car wreck. It's a case of hurry up and wait :)

Marina Albert I think if it were harder for me to write, come up with new plot ideas, etc. I would already be scrambling back to the vault to revise... One thing I forget, too, is I wrote the first three REALLY quickly, and might have actually burned myself out on them as a result. I finished the last of the three (fifty+ pages written in two days), and submitted it to a competition ONE MINUTE before the deadline, and then kind of looked at all three of them like, "Begone from me ye daft scallywags!" So I will let my little ideation reprobates rest for a while longer methinks...

I'm definitely with the charge of The Light Brigade and writing forward. Like you Mike Childress, this morning I had cause to revisit an early draft of a script it took six years to wrangle into shape, and I felt positively embarrassed. I've learned so much since then and now feel I know more about what I'm doing, so, it's onwards for me. And like Lot's Wife, perhaps it's dangerous to look back!

Ingrid Wren Six years...oh boy! I have to remind myself I have been writing in this format for all of...six MONTHS... The band Boston also warned "Don't look back", and Wolfe wrote, "You can't go home again", but as we know people shun advice all the time!