48 pages in!
It’s likely that you are in one of two mindsets. You’re on that first draft adrenaline rush where you’re writing down anything your imagination can come up with, feeling like a young Tarantino in the process.
Or you’re freaking out about the fact that you don’t have nearly as much story as you thought you did. You’re a fraud. You don’t know how to write. Every scene you’ve written sucks.
The Writer’s Inner Critic absolutely LOVES this part of the process, the part where you doubt yourself. It gets to remind you just how terrible you are so it can ensure that you never put yourself on the line or attempt to do anything big with your life. This way you stay at home in that safe little bubble, your biggest task each day figuring out what to eat for dinner. Chic-fil-A or In and Out.
Here’s some good news.
No screenplay has ever been written IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND that didn’t have at least five mental breakdowns from the writer, who was convinced that both a) this was the worst idea ever for a movie and b) they were a fool to think they could ever actually write it.
So if you’re feeling any of these things, you’re in good company.
Here’s what you have to remember. And it’s something I figured out through my own experiences.
With each draft, you realize that you can move stuff up. That big moment that happens on page 30? You could move that up to page 15. That thing that happens at the midpoint? That should actually be your first act break.
And then the next draft, it happens again. Your new midpoint sequence? It could probably be moved up to page 45.
It’s only after three or four drafts, when you’ve packed your script with a big solid game-changing moment every 15 pages, where you start to feel the power of your original vision. That’s where the movie becomes real in your head.
You’re nowhere close to that at the moment. You’re still trying to get a sense of what your story is about. And you’re doing that by writing eight pages a day. Those pages are like little notes to yourself about what your story can be.
So stop worrying if your script feels dumb right now. It SHOULD feel dumb right now. It’s the dumb version of your movie. The smart awesome version of your movie is several drafts away. But you can never reach that awesome version unless you first finish this one.
Ignore your inner critic and KEEP. ON. WRITING!!!!
P.S. I saw the craziest thing the other day. It was a line of 71 cars at the In and Out drive through in Culver City. I counted every one.
