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REWRITE RIGHT, OR GIVE UP WRITING
My Fellow Writers,
One of the most frustrating things about writing is not knowing when a script is done. You do a half-million rewrites, get back some strong responses from friends, and you think you're ready. But then you send it out, and the reviews come back mixed. Of course, they always come back mixed, so that doesn't tell you anything either.
Since I started off as an executive, I sometimes feel that my inner critic is stronger than my inner writer. In fact, I find myself putting a gag around the inner critic dozens of times a day - just so I can get a first draft of a scene done without hanging up on just one line.
But once you get that first draft done, how should you approach rewriting? This is the real vital question, because most first drafts need considerable work to make them into movies.
First off, writing is all rewriting. Or, as Hemingway said, "The first draft of everything is shit." (I think Hemingway liked to use profanity whenever he could.)
The point is, talking about rewriting in any in-depth manner would fill up a class, or even a film school education. While I don't have the kind of time, inclination, or knowledge to fill up that many pages today, I can give a few general tips that I've learned from my own work and the giants I've worked with and read.
First, in rewriting, YOU MUST HAVE A PLAN. It's just as important here as it was in the time before you wrote the original script. If you don't know where you're trying to go with your rewrites, you're not going to get there. You're just going to end up making minor polishes to dialogue and find yourself frustrated that the script never really gets all that much better.
That plan can be an outline, index cards, a new treatment, a list of consolidated notes, or whatever. It cannot be a general idea that you're simply going to make the script better.
Run your plan by a few people who read your script. See if they respond to it. Make sure it's a better roadmap and outline than you had when you first started the script. After all, you now know more about the script and the characters than you knew back then. Put that knowledge to use and really start to focus in on the movie in your head.
Second, TAKE IT ONE STEP AT A TIME. A few years ago, I developed a script with one of the highest-paid rewriters in town. I found it quite curious how he would give me notes on one particular aspect of the script, e.g., the main character, before even turning to some other thing. I went through four rounds of polishes before the script was where he wanted it. Each time, he'd have me focus on a different aspect. The first time was for structure, making sure that the flow of the script worked, that all of the scenes were in order and vital to the telling of the story, etc. Then there was one for the hero. Then one for relationships. Then finally one polish that pulled everything together that might have changed in the previous rewrites.
Third, LISTEN TO YOUR GUT. This is where we most often go wrong as writers. Something doesn't quite work, but we convince ourselves that it does, and try to keep it in the script with all our hearts, even when its killing the drama and will never fit in that particular story. You have to set your standards EXTREMELY HIGH for each and every scene and line. That fucker has to sing, or it's just going to bore your readers. By "sing," I mean the scene better have something that keeps them turning the page. Humor, drama, suspense, horror, action - and whatever it is, it better be original and germane to the story.
Finally, PLAY THE MOVIE IN YOUR HEAD. This will drive you mad, I guarantee it. Because I'm not just talking about visualizing Harrison Ford in the role of your lead. I'm talking about playing each and every line in your head, with all the parts, and doing it over and over and over and over until you are so sick of it that you'd rather go become a lawyer than continue in this insanely frustrating business of screenwriting. You play the movie until you see it. Then you look at the script and see if they match the movie you just saw. It takes patience, it's painful, and it's hard to learn. It takes the focus of a goddamn god, which is why I can only do it for a few seconds at a time. This means that I'd rather do just about anything than rewrite a particularly tough scene.
When I'm rewriting, if I catch on a line or a scene AT ALL -- I know that there's something wrong. Because when I have a great scene, I can read it a hundred, a thousand times and still like it. That's the test. If you're just reading along and not seeing the movie, you're fucking screwed.
That's all I've got for today. Aside from a few tidbits I borrowed from an e-mail to a friend, I didn't even have to rewrite it once. (Which tells you two things -- (1) I usually edit profanity out, and (2) Hemingway was probably right about first drafts.)
Hope this helps. I'm off to rewrite. Let the suffering commence!
Unredacted,
Grady
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