The first page is like the first child.
It doesn’t come easily.
There’s tension, fear, doubt, resistance — and pain.
You scream inside.
You want to quit.
You think: “Why am I doing this?”
And then it happens.
The first page appears.
And suddenly — love.
Pride.
Attachment.
Responsibility.
From that moment, you’re no longer alone.
You’re connected to your story.
You want to protect it.
You want to raise it.
You want to see where it goes.
Through pain comes love.
Always.
If you’re struggling with your first page —
you’re doing it right.
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“And this is the ending of the story.”
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I get it, but to me it's more like:
THE FIRST DRAFT IS THE FIRST CHILD
Since the first page has proved deceptively easy for me. But going into Act 2 and then wrapping the draft... that's the struggle.
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Hahaha. I like both analogies :-)
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I feel it, Aleksandr Rozhnov. It's like that when I outline though.
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Good analogy for some, but I find the first page and like 75% of the script is easy. I struggle at the end. I always feel my endings are quick. I build and build and then wrap it all up in 2-3 scenes. But if I didn't do that, I'd have movies that are way too long.
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With this post, I wanted to highlight my point that producers or agents should read the first 10 and the last 10 pages of a script.
Because it’s a tremendous struggle and intense effort to start a film in a way that makes people want to keep watching.
And at the end, you need to show that you love your story, not that it exhausted you.
That’s why the last 10 pages should be just as gripping, showing that by the end you haven’t given up — you’ve only grown more attached to your project.
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This is amazing and inspiring.
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Aleksandr Rozhnov Unless the page 1 is egregiously bad, 10 pages is a standard for many readers. From that you can usually gauge the general aspects of the script.