The SUCK Syndrome

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  • The SUCK Syndrome

    Today while organizing my past work (yes I was throwing the stuff away) I came across some of the first works I ever did. Eventually, there it was staring at me my first screenplay. It had the proper number of brads and the appropriate cardstock cover, and a huge foot print on the back. I don't remember stepping on it but I guess at some point I did.

    This was THE screenplay. The million dollar plus first sale for a newbie that would make me famous. That GREAT idea. So, I sat down and read it. I laughed. No, it wasn't a comedy. I also wanted to crawl under a rock when I finished it. The story was weak, the structure was bad, even the formatting was off. And to think, at that time, I thought that was the BEST!

    Now I seem to have just the opposite problem. I work to come up with an idea and nurture it like a first born. I have faith in it and work hard at it. With the outline in place, the 3 acts down and a kicker ending, I feel read to start. By the time I get to around page 60 or 70 I stop. It comes from out of nowhere *whack* like being hit in the back of the head, I toss it, not giving it a chance. I have lovingly labeled this the SUCK SYNDROME.

    So, I was wondering, has this happened to any of you or do I take this as a sign? ( ) Anyone care to share?

  • #2
    When you first start out in this craft, you don't know enough to realize you're a hack, but as you read books, acreenplays, and write you begin to realize how difficult it really is. I don't think there is a writer alive who doesn't cringe at their early work. All you can do is write on.

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    • #3
      The SUCK Syndrome

      I'm learning that very quickly and I'm just starting on my first script and I can already understand that it's a difficult craft. Hell, I've re-written the first scene about 10 times and I've finally got to the point where I'm not terribly worried about the quality, but rather getting my scene down on paper. I'm just hoping it gets easier once I get that first scene completed. I understand this art is about writing and re-writing.

      BTW Cyfress, great signature!

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      • #4
        The dreaded Act 2--I think this is where most of us have problems. Beginning and an ending can be easy to come up with, it's writing what sustains the audience in between that usually ends up veering off course.

        Maybe spend more time on the outline/preparation to make sure Act 2 works, and also to make sure you still love your idea after you have been batting it around for several months before you have even sat down to write it.

        Also as Cyfress said, most of us cringe at our own work regardless. So maybe try and pick up one of the recent ones and finish it, or at least analyze the WHY of how you think it came to suck at page 70.

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        • #5
          Ahh The Suck Syndrome. Otherwise known as The What The Hell Am I Doing With This Crappy Script I Hate Screenwriting Syndrome.

          This is one of the reasons why outlining is important. You may have an outline but there's something missing if you're chucking entire scripts at page 70. If you feel that WACK at page 70 Cleo, then just step aside for a moment and get to the root of the concept. You want to determine if it's a problem with the idea or the way you're writing it.

          And I always try not to talk to anyone about my idea while I'm writing a first draft. Sometimes you get those little whispers and those little, "well how do you plan to do this." Stuff like that can totally have you second guessing your script, and this is before you even get to Fade Out. Focus.

          I try never to throw away pages on a project. You never know what you can use later on in this script or another one. Take a deep breath and go back to that outline. Your answers are in there.

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          • #6
            Sounds to me like it's mainly a confidence issue, and that you're giving yourself too hard a time over this.

            At the root of it is your fear that your completed draft is going to be a disappointment, so maybe it's time to get started on that other much better idea you had.

            But you'll only fully mature as a writer once you complete your projects, even if it's only one draft you do.

            Tell yourself it doesn't matter what happens to your script once you've finished. Don't put any extra pressure on yourself with it. Don't promise to show it to anyone. Just finish the damn thing.

            Of course, now you're aware of this trend of stopping at page 60, that's acting as a block too. That's why you have to finish the script you're working on right now. Do not allow yourself to work on anything else till you've finished it.

            Remember, once you've reached the end, you can stick it in a drawer for as long as you like. But you need to get over this hurdle.

            It doesn't matter if the last 40 pages suck this time around. You need to write them. Only then can you start to look at why they suck, if they do, and you can begin to work out how to make them suck less, or where maybe you took a wrong step with your planning. (But I have a sneaking feeling that once you've written those 40 pages, you'll actually think they're pretty good. )

            Take some of the pressure off yourself. That's my advice. There's no ticking clock that says you have to sell a script by such and such time/date. Just focus on learning and improving as a writer.

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            • #7
              Re: Personal & Mechanical

              Bill - what a thoughtful, wonderful post. It's something we all struggle with and it really made my day to see your well-crafted response. And now *insert sound of chain saw* back to writing my sucky script.

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              • #8
                Cleo,

                Notice how many scripts get made the Hollywood way- .000000000002222 of all written. That sucks â€" or does it? Yeah, that sucks, but imagine how many scripts are written as a percentage of possible script ideas. Not every idea for a screenplay is a winner â€" as far as screenplays are concerned. Itâ€TMs really very hard to find the second act in many screenplayideas. Outlining is key as has been mentioned.

                Think of yourself in a reality game like the Bachelorette except you have a roomful of men and all of them look similar to your favorite movie hunk and they all think youâ€TMre the best thing since sliced bread. Now you get to spend a year with one or more of these guys if you can determine with which one do you want to spend that time. How do you determine that? Questions â€" dialogue â€" dates? Basically i.e. outlining â€" how will that guy play out. Now what if like many People might do â€" get down to that one man or woman and find - well itâ€TMs not â€" heâ€TMs not everything you wanted it to be or is it, is he? How far do you go? Are you being with the one person you should be with?

                It takes a gut decision. What made you pick that guy out of all of the other ideas â€" I mean men???

                Your gut should be able to tell you â€" this is it â€" for one year or however long, I want this â€relationship.â€

                How many true loves come along in our lives? 3 maybe if weâ€TMre lottery lucky. How many things do we make work because we think we can make them work? I probably sound like Dr. Phil, but seriously â€" does your gut really say it sucks? and thereâ€TMs no real second act? Develop your gut (Not with beer pizza and milkshakes) What youâ€TMre doing should be developing your gut instinct. Focus on the idea that you really love and that your gut instinct tells you that the story needs to be told and that other would want to see. Obviouisly not every â€guy†that you â€date†is your future â€husband.†Your gut and your voice as far as finding true love and finding â€true†screenplay stories develop consciously and unconsiously â€" you need to make a conscious choice for your voice by following your gut. You now know what you know now and you know what you want â€" yes?

                BTW, weâ€TMre not just screenwriters, we are soldiers in the fight for quality control as to what scripts get written in the universe. The better we are at quality control the more quality stuff goes to the WGA for registration.

                (and what Bill said - too.)

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                • #9
                  Personal & Mechanical

                  First - always finish your scripts, even if you think they suck. You can rewrite a script that sucks, but you're still stuck forever in writing on a script that's not finished.

                  Some day you'll be deep sea diving or about to win a NASCAR race or in bed with a famous underwear model and *wham* the solution to that script problem will pop into your head. You'll know what's wrong with the script and how to make it unsuck. But if it's not a finished script, it'll either be too much trouble or you won't be thinking about it in the first place.

                  Second - the problem may be that you've got the mechanics under control but have lost the personal in the process. Writing a script is like juggling chainsaws - sometimes you get two chainsaws in the rotation and have trouble getting that third one in there (or think that juggling two chainsaws is probably good enough to get you on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, since they get the third tier guests anyway). But you need to become confident with the two saws and then add a third.

                  A major reason why people burn out on scripts is that they have no driving force, no emotional connection to the story. It's mechanically perfect - but it's mechanical. Once you get those mechanics under control, you need to search for the personal and emotional reasons why you are writing the script. How is this story about the survivor of an alien invasion searching for other survivors amidst the rubble of Nelsonville, Ohio YOUR PERSONAL story?

                  That means you have to get in contact with yourself (walking around pretending to be talking on a cell phone in public doesn't count). You need to dig into yourself and dig into your story and figure out what big emotional problem of yours this story set in the rubble of Nelsonville, Ohio this story is REALLY exploring. That way, you are connected to your story and can't quit - it's a part of you. Abandoning the script would be like abandoning your left arm (which may tie in to the chainsaw juggling analogy). If you are emotionally attached to a script, not only will the script be a better story, it's almost impossible to shelve it (though it may become so emotionally painful that you may want to).

                  All of this may sound wacky - but that's how good screenplays get written - the written finds the interface between an extremely peronal story and the mechanics of writing a screenplay and the requirements of popular entertainment.

                  If I'm writing about a human survivor searching for others - I'm writing about being lonely. If my script has aliens still hanging around Nelsonville looking for humans, I'm lonely and feeling alienated by society (them aliens are symbolic). If I come across a group of humans who decide I'm so tall, I'm a liability (the aliens will find us) (I'm 6'3") and the group rejects me... you can add betrayal to that mix. This dopey story may be all about whatever emotional situation I'm going through right now! And that's what will keep me writing the script right up to the end - it's cheap therapy. I'm working out my personal problems as I write the script. It's a safe environment to work out those problems because no one will ever suspect that the Alien Leader is my ex-girlfriend.

                  All of my scripts are about ME, and they have all of the mechanical stuff, and they are often about the quest for sunken ships or Navy SEAL Teams captured behind enemy lines or vampire hunters who can no longer trust or crime victims who are reincarnated and looking for revenge (you get a new chance at life and screw it up by carrying all of the hatred from your past).

                  Maybe you need to find YOURSELF in your scripts. The first script was personal, then they became mechanincal, now you have to add the personal back into the mix.

                  Or maybe it's just that Act Two is a b!tch.

                  - Bill

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                  • #10
                    I'm finding myself doing that too, Cleo, except I don't even always get to the point of writing, I just scrap the outline. I don't have any solutions, but at least you know you're not alone.

                    There are a lot of great posts in this thread.

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                    • #11
                      Great post by Martell. If you did not read it, go back and do so.

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                      • #12
                        Great Posts

                        All of them.

                        Bill, amazing insight and more true than I'd like to admit. Sometimes the personal part of the script is what makes it so damn hard to write. How much of yourself do you give up?

                        All or nothing.

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                        • #13
                          the early years

                          I disagree with you on this Cyfress:

                          I don't think there is a writer alive who doesn't cringe at their early work. All you can do is write on.
                          There is always the trash.

                          Of course, like wc alluded to, there might just be a spark of brilliance in one page or two lines that could be used elsewhere, woth a good effect.

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                          • #14
                            Re: the early years

                            Another great post from Mr. Martell.

                            But I have to add-

                            If you truly feel your work is failing, all is not lost! Take all of those half-efforts, stack them up and shellack them into furniture. End tables, coffee tables, a dinette set, etc.

                            I'm currently building a florida room onto my house from my scripts that don't work. You won't believe what you can build with a massive pile of paper, some screws, waterproofing material and paint of your choice.

                            Think outside the box. Next time that pesky neighbor comes over uninvited for a barbeque and asks, "How's the screenwriting going, Ancon?" Just look over in your apron, flip your brats and nod at the new addition. "Couldn't be better, Tom," you'll say.

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                            • #15
                              Re:

                              Second Bill.

                              Everybody sucks. Some graduate.

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