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Today we'll kick off a new series. As with a lot of things that I teach, at first blush these topics might look like things that you THINK you already know. But I've found, almost universally, that when you scratch the surface of these topics, it turns out many beginners don't know them at all. So if you find yourselves rolling your eyes at these topic headings, just read on. I'll bet by the end you'll realize that you not only DIDN'T know the full extent of them, but that you've unknowingly been making these mistakes yourself. What mistakes? The Ten Mistakes New Writers Always Make (even though they think they know better.)
Mistake #1: Going Out with your Script Before It's Ready. Eyes rolling yet? Read on, MacDuff.
You've written your first script. It's a masterpiece (of course!) And now you're ready to get an agent, sell this puppy, get it made into a blockbuster, and collect your millions. Fine. But did you make sure your script was in shape? Did you find a small group of like-minded individuals (fellow-writers, industry insiders,) collect their notes, and rewrite your guts out? Or did you give it to your mother, your girl/boyfriend, and your best buddy who's in real estate, tweak a few things, and call it a final draft? (See my earlier column from January 17 on the Seven Myths of Screenwriting, Myth #2: "You Don't Have to Rewrite")
You'd better have done the former. And you'd better have REALLY LISTENED to the comments, gone back and REWRITTEN MASSIVELY, have your script READ AGAIN, MASSIVELY REWRITTEN AGAIN, and REPEAT THIS PROCESS AT LEAST ONCE MORE (or however many times it takes) before you are ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY CONVINCED THAT YOU CANNOT IMPROVE THIS DOCUMENT ONE IOTA MORE, until you are SO SICK OF LOOKING AT IT THAT THE MERE MENTION OF YOUR MAIN CHARACTER'S NAME EVOKES THE GAG RESPONSE, until you FEEL IN THE UTTERMOST DEPTHS OF YOUR SOUL THAT YOU HAVE DONE EVERYTHING ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH TO MAKE THIS PIECE THE ABSOLUTE BEST IT CAN BE.
Still think you know this? Really? Then why, when I get these scripts from students and I pose these questions to them, and they answer 'yes' to all the above, and then I point out a few (or usually more) fairly obvious (and fairly gaping) flaws in their screenplays, I get a response like "Yeah, I know, I thought I should probably fix that..."
GUESS WHAT?! YOU DIDN'T DO THE WORK!! IT'S NOT READY!!
But say, just for argument's sake, that you DID accomplish the above rigorous, exhaustive (and exhausting) list. Ready now?
Probably not. Why? Tune in next week. |
