Stop making excuses and just get the pages written
Here are the previous “How To Write a First Act” posts…
Day 1: Writing a Teaser
Day 2: Introducing Your Hero
Day 3: Setting up Your Hero’s Life
Day 8: Keeping Your Scenes Entertaining
Day 9: The Inciting Incident
Day 10: Refusal of the Call
Day 15: Dealing with Exposition
Day 17: GSU
It’s funny that I can espouse all the screenwriting knowledge in the universe, much of which will make you better writers, better teachers, and more knowledgeable about the screenwriting process overall. Yet the most common issue in screenwriting still seems to be GETTING THE PAGES WRITTEN. I’ve noticed in the comments section some of you saying you are 10 pages behind or 15 pages behind. You weren’t able to get the pages down and so I’m here to tell you today, IT’S TIME TO GET THE PAGES DOWN.
I once had this writer hire me for a consultation. He wanted me to consult on his opening scene. I said sure, of course. He sent it to me. It was pretty good. I gave him some notes and wished him luck. A year and a half goes by and I get another e-mail from this writer who wants another consultation. I was like, “Sure, you have a new script you want feedback on?” He said, “No. I’ve written the second and third scenes in my screenplay that you read last year.”
Naturally, I assumed he’d taken time off and recently decided to start writing again, which is what I asked him. He said, “No. I just want to get it right.” Now, anyone reading this story can do the math. A screenplay has about 50-55 scenes in it. If you’re writing one scene every year, and I’m conservatively estimating you’re 30 years old, there’s a very good chance that you may not finish your screenplay before you die.
It was so ridiculous that I assumed he had to be messing with me. But he wasn’t. It was the most severe case of fear in regards to the pursuit of screenwriting that I’ve ever come across. He was convinced that this was the correct way to go about writing a screenplay. He was going to meticulously work on every single scene until it was perfect. I’m not even going to bring in the pressure this put on me. What were the ramifications if I told him a scene sucked? I could set him back an entire decade!
The reason I bring this up is because human beings have this weird tick whereby whatever it is that they want the most, they deliberately construct a series of artificial obstacles in front of it in order to ensure that they never succeed. A common example of this is getting into the extreme nuts and bolts of screenwriting. Convincing yourself that you have to understand every single rule down to the most meticulous detail before you can write a script.
I get it. I talk on here all the time about how high the bar is to break into the industry. You hear that enough, you become convinced anything less than perfection is pointless. However, I can promise you that while half-assing it isn’t going to get you anywhere, going to the other extreme and overanalyzing and overstudying everything to the point of paralysis isn’t going to get you anywhere either.
At a certain point, you have to get the damn pages down.
One of the reasons I came up with the First Act Challenge was to circumvent this issue. We are taking away the overwhelmingness of having to write 110 pages with a perfectly thought out beginning, middle, and end. By only having to write the first act, you’re off the hook. You don’t need to have any idea what happens after page 25 of your screenplay if you don’t want to. You just have to get those 25 pages down.
You cannot convince me, under any circumstances, that writing 25 pages is hard. A screenplay page is 95% white space. It’s the easiest page of all the writing mediums to write except for, maybe, poetry. I’ll tell you what is hard, though: Writing 25 pages that need to live up to an artificially created perfection you’ve demanded of yourself. Yeah, that’s hard.
I get it, guys. When you write a sh#tty scene, you feel sh#tty. So it’s easier to not write the sh#tty scene than to write it. But I’m telling you that this is a horrible habit to create as a writer because it establishes that not writing the scene always takes precedence over writing it.
For a lot of you, this is a deep-set problem that goes way beyond anything that has to do with screenwriting. This is a mental block. And until you address it, and what it is that’s blocking you, you’re never going to be able to complete any assignment, whether it be a screenplay, an act, or even a scene. You assign too much importance to it, and once that happens, the thought of failing at that assignment convinces you that not writing it is the better option. Because not writing it means you will never have to face failure.
Let’s not split hairs here. That’s what this is really about. It’s a fear of failure that’s stopping you. And those of you who have been doing this the longest, have the most fear of all. Because every time you write something and it doesn’t garner interest, you consider it one more nail in your “Am I actually good at this?” coffin.
So what I’m going to do is I’m going to give you a gift. It’s a simple mindset change that should solve this problem for you. You ready for it?
STOP TRYING TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL SCREENWRITER
From now on, I only want you to write to enjoy writing. With every project you begin, you are no longer trying to break into Hollywood. Instead, just write for the enjoyment of writing. Write to feel good. Write to feel accomplished that day. Write that movie you’ve always wanted to see that you’ll now get to see because you wrote it. And then, when you put the script out there in the world, if something good happens with it, consider it gravy. If not, you still win.
Once you start writing for yourself, you’ll find that all those artificially created obstacles that you convinced yourself you needed to overcome before you were able to write that great American screenplay – they’re gone. Because it doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters is that you’re enjoying yourself. And if you’re not enjoying yourself? Then, honestly, I don’t know why you’re writing at all. Is the goal to be miserable? How is that working for you?
You have to release all this judgment that’s dictating your writing. Once you segue from “is this good enough?” To “am I enjoying myself?” writing is going to be so much easier.
But Carson, we’re supposed to submit this to you for your contest. We want our first acts to be as good as they can possibly be. Let me alleviate your fears here. A first act that you send to me is going to have a one million percent higher chance of me liking it than a first act that you never sent to me because you never finished it.
I know this is a little confusing because this site focuses on the minutia of screenwriting and now it sounds like I’m saying none of that matters. No, it matters. But if I’m being honest, I could give you one sentence that would take care of 80% of what you needed to know to write a good screenplay. And it would be this: Write as much as possible and read as many screenplays as possible. That would be it.
Come on, guys. I want a lot of submissions for this contest. So stop creating excuses why you can’t write and just get the pages down. You still have 5 weeks. Even if you haven’t started yet, you could get a first act written in that time easily. Hell, I’ve given you a blueprint for writing an entire script in one weekend!
I love you guys. I believe in you guys. Now get the f$#*ing pages written.
:)
