So I kind of think about screenwriting as akin to gymnastics. Especially when you're trying to make it as that first time writer. Getting your foot in the door, getting read, getting repped, getting optioned.
To me, the stuff that defines the degree of difficulty are things that are secondary to the story and plot, but vital to the actual script. Things we talk about on these boards all the damn time.
Things like genre, tone, voice, length of script, number of characters, number of subplots, rating, budget, etc.
For example: you want to write a romantic-action-dramedy, with a cast of over two dozen characters, that's going to clock in around 150 pages, that has so much profanity and sex and violence it verges on being NC-17, and there's no way it will cost less than $80mil.
Yes, I know this is an extreme example.
But here's the thing -- it's not *that* extreme. Let's say the degree of difficulty of that script is a 10, and it's a difficult script to write, and it takes 18 months to finish, and when you finally get it to the point when you literally can't make it any better you score 4 points out of 10 on the execution.
Now take the guy who just wrote a contained thriller with four characters, it's lean and mean at 100 pages, and it reads like a house on fire. Sure, it's not that hard of a script to write. Anybody could do it. Degree of difficulty is a 5 out of 10.
But he nailed that script, he nailed the story, and he got a perfect score. 5 out of 5.
Who has the better script? Who has the better chance of getting a rep? Optioning it? Starting a career?
It's something I always think about any time I start a new script:
What's my degree of difficulty here? And can I stick the landing?
What's yours? Can you?
To me, the stuff that defines the degree of difficulty are things that are secondary to the story and plot, but vital to the actual script. Things we talk about on these boards all the damn time.
Things like genre, tone, voice, length of script, number of characters, number of subplots, rating, budget, etc.
For example: you want to write a romantic-action-dramedy, with a cast of over two dozen characters, that's going to clock in around 150 pages, that has so much profanity and sex and violence it verges on being NC-17, and there's no way it will cost less than $80mil.
Yes, I know this is an extreme example.
But here's the thing -- it's not *that* extreme. Let's say the degree of difficulty of that script is a 10, and it's a difficult script to write, and it takes 18 months to finish, and when you finally get it to the point when you literally can't make it any better you score 4 points out of 10 on the execution.
Now take the guy who just wrote a contained thriller with four characters, it's lean and mean at 100 pages, and it reads like a house on fire. Sure, it's not that hard of a script to write. Anybody could do it. Degree of difficulty is a 5 out of 10.
But he nailed that script, he nailed the story, and he got a perfect score. 5 out of 5.
Who has the better script? Who has the better chance of getting a rep? Optioning it? Starting a career?
It's something I always think about any time I start a new script:
What's my degree of difficulty here? And can I stick the landing?
What's yours? Can you?
Comment