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I've been an advocate of writing fast for a number of years. I know that sometimes material can't be rushed. Sometimes it's important for a writer to mull over stuff, to let it simmer, to allow it to develop naturally and organically.
This all sounds good if you're a poet, but if you're a screenwriter, it's bullshit. You have to work fast. Times a wasting. I know people who've spent more than a year (sometimes two) on a script. They can't finish it. They move forward. Start all over. Junk it. Go back to it. Somehow get a first draft or a rought draft, but ultimately never get to the point where it gets done.
It's really all about discipline. The day will come, after you've gotten your first deal and you've found yourself in a development meeting with the people who've bought your script and they want a rewrite (or the fourth rewrite) and they want it immediately. They want to give you their notes (good or bad) and they want you to go into a room and come back ASAP with the changes.
And they're right to want the stuff fast. Why? They want to make the movie. They can't send the script out to actors or directors until it's right. Maybe, if it's an option, they don't want to take it to a studio until the script works (to their satisfaction) and they can put together a package.
It doesn't matter what their reasons are: they want the rewrite and they want it fast.
If you're the type of writer or procrastinates and contemplates your navel now--before you've had your deal--you could be headed for trouble once you start playing with the big boys (even if the big boys are idiots). They're signing your checks.
You have to make them happy.
If you're too slow, they'll find somebody else who'll deliver the goods faster.
So start pushing yourself. If you've been stumped in the middle of act two for six months, maybe it's time to junk the project and start something else. Remember, while you're busy whining about how you can't figure out where your story is going, somebody else has finished his and it's making the rounds. |
