Okay, we’re just two days away from beginning our screenplay. I’m excited!
I’ve seen that some of you are concerned this is all going too fast. “Scripts need time and planning and research if they’re going to be any good!” you remind everyone.
Let me cut you off right there. The screenwriters who make the most money in this town are the ones who come in at the last second and rewrite a script in two weeks, or sometimes a few days, right before production.
Learning how to write quickly is going to help you in the long run.
One of things I became guilty of as I delved further into my screenwriting journey was over-prepping and over-developing my scripts. I would do everything you were supposed to do in screenwriting… EXCEPT WRITE.
If you have that problem as well, the only way to tackle it is to get outside of your comfort zone. And writing a script in 2 weeks is going to do that. Don’t listen to your brain. Listen to me. I will guide you to the good place.
Today’s task is a simple one. You’re going to FLESH OUT YOUR IDEA.
Carve out 2-3 hours, sit down, read what you’ve got so far with your title, your logline, your checkpoints, and your character essence sheet, and allow your mind to brainstorm. Any ideas you come up with, whether it be plot points, thematic ideas, what your supporting characters are going to do… write it all down in a single document.
This can be the same document as the one your checkpoints are in or it can be separate. Whatever makes you feel the most creative. We don’t want you stifled. We want ideas flowing freely. So if you think a blank document offers a better chance of that, go with the blank document.
The ultimate goal with today’s exercise is to fill in as much of the story as you can. The reason so many writers start screenplays that they’re unable to finish is that they don’t have enough of the story fleshed out in their head. They reach a point where they don’t know where to go next. Or they come upon a problem that they don’t have a solution for. The more ideas you put down into the document, the more prepared you are for those moments.
If you like more structure, divide your FLESHING OUT document into two halves. The first is notes to yourself and the second is things that will actually appear in the script. A note to yourself might look like: “Make sure every time Morpheus is mentioned in the early scenes, he sounds like a god-like figure.” A plot-related note would be, “Kylo is forced to fight the Knights of Ren in the desert just before he’s able to kill Rey.”
This should be fun! You’re exploring ideas. Coming up with a movie in your head. It’s the most exciting time of writing. Anything is possible! Writing only becomes a drag when we start judging ourselves. We’ll have plenty of time to judge in future rewrites. Today, though, is a celebration of your idea. It’s picking all the fruit off this amazing tree you’ve grown.
Tomorrow we outline.
Monday we write!
