Skip to main content
Close

The Dreaded Second Draft

By K.P. Hooker · August 20, 2010

When I'm reading someone else's screenplay, the idea of taking it into my own hands, editing it, and punching it up all seems easy. When I'm reading my own work, however, my mind is overloaded. These characters are actively living in my head which muddles the story. Also, I've personally gotten the story out of my system and want to be done with it.

 
Right now, I'm awaiting the first critiques of my latest screenplay. I'm using the waiting period as an excuse to go to the gym, hit shows around Silver Lake, and be a little lazy… but part of me is afraid of what I'm going to do when those "crits" come back. How will I proceed?
 
Well, here's the rough plan- I'm accepting the fact that after the crits come back, I'll be back to square 2, the little known square that comes after square 1. The work that I did detailing every scene on an index card? I'm going to have to do that again. I already have my own ideas about changing one of the relationships in the script which means there will be very little copy + pasting from the old script. Somehow, my scenes that should have added up to about 100 pages fell short, so I'm going to have to add more content and that content will have to be MEANINGFUL, not just filler.
 
It's all of the work and none of the excitement that comes with planning and writing that first draft! Sounds sucky, right? But this is the first screenplay that I've written that I feel has potential for salability, so I'm hoping that I will find joy in the re-plan/rewrite. Even if I don't, it has to be done. To be honest, I've given up on other screenplays I've written or else they've been a little too fringe. I'm not quitting on this one!
 
Take a break and listen to Patton Oswalt talk about the difficulty of writing screenplays. He understands.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01l1WIC9mBo