Script dissatisfaction

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  • Script dissatisfaction

    Hi, I have so many screenplay ideas it hurts

    I have worked on two recentely which didn't work out too well.

    Trouble I have at the moment is I get into writing it but by the time I get to the end I feel what I have written is crap and not just issues that can be fixed but fundamentals which makes me wonder what I ever saw in it in the first place.

    I'm a writer director and I'm working on my next feature script. I have a big hollywood agent sniffing around asking for material but I can't settle on an idea which I think is any good. I always feel they are dull at their core the truly great ones I've come up with will cost too much.

    Has anyone else had these issues? I'm not sure wether my ideas arent that great or I'm simply not giving them enough of a chance, I should batter them much more.

    Can anyone offer any words of comfort...sniff...

  • #2
    Re: Script dissatisfaction

    EVERYBODY has those issues.

    There are two good ways to get around it that I can think of:

    1) Find a group of people you trust to bounce ideas off of throughout the process, people who are honest and know good writing.

    2) Complete a thorough outline before starting your project so you can figure out the problems before you've wasted your time writing half a draft.
    Chicks Who Script podcast

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    • #3
      Re: Script dissatisfaction

      big +1 on what Emily said. My outlines get longer and more detailed for each script I write, which is a good thing. The outline is the spine of the script and once that is solid, writing the script is the easy part.

      That being said, I've yet to write a script that followed my outline 100%, and that's because I get too anxious to start writing before the outline is perfect. So, the current outline I'm working on is going to be _the one_. :-)

      -MT
      If Lindsey Lohan has a child, and that child will lead...I will follow.

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      • #4
        Re: Script dissatisfaction

        Originally posted by mtoomey View Post
        big +1 on what Emily said. My outlines get longer and more detailed for each script I write, which is a good thing. The outline is the spine of the script and once that is solid, writing the script is the easy part.

        That being said, I've yet to write a script that followed my outline 100%, and that's because I get too anxious to start writing before the outline is perfect. So, the current outline I'm working on is going to be _the one_. :-)

        -MT
        i could haven't written all that about myself.

        word!

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        • #5
          Re: Script dissatisfaction

          Ditto what mtoomey said. I used to jump into writing the script too soon (without a fully developed outline) and I would always run into problems and have to rewrite the whole thing multiple times. Now I'm forcing myself to work out the story in detailed outline form before writing the script. Doing this with my latest, I discovered my original story premise simply did not have enough meat, and I kept reworking my premise till I came up with a far more original idea that uses the same initial setup I had before. Now I'm addressing all those important things in the outline: the plot, the structure (Blake Snyder's beats), the character arcs, the theme, the major turning points and climax and resolution. I've solved most of the problems and will be ready soon to write the script. Of course I'll change some things along the way, but the main thing is, I now know that the premise will sustain a feature-length script and that I have an exciting and emotionally satisfying ending to the story.

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          • #6
            Re: Script dissatisfaction

            First, what Emily said.

            Second, you are your taste. Your taste is what makes you a good or bad writer. I know a lot of people who can execute pretty well, but they have crappy taste and put all their energy in ideas and stories that feel warmed over, mediocre, and derivative, stuff that just plain won't work. If you're getting excited about stuff that doesn't end up panning out, then perhaps you need to reevaluate what stories work for you and what makes you interested in something.

            Third, as has been said over and over again, writing is rewriting. Every writer hits that moment when they can't stand their current script, or they've spun their wheels and done all they can do and realized they need to throw it out. Three years later, you might come back to the project and realize that now you know how to make it work. You'll be a better writer, and you might understand what was missing. Or maybe you just need to put more time into it now, as Emily suggested with working on the outline. Writing is work, and it's very very hard work. It's every day, it's many many hours a day, and it's brutally difficult to do well, and the only way you get better is by working harder at it and doing more of it.

            Last, I come up with one or two really great original concepts a YEAR, maybe, if I'm lucky. Most writers I know are like me. Yeah, I can force something that's just sorta OK into a decent script because I've been doing it for long enough, but those 'a-ha!' concepts are few and far between and they take an extensive amount of legwork to come up with.

            In short: do more, work harder, prep endlessly, and keep working more harder.

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            • #7
              Re: Script dissatisfaction

              Yeah really nothing more that I can add, as it seems to have been summed up pretty perfectly. I don't know if the OP did do any sort of outline, but if you didn't I can't believe the amount of people who try to jump straight into a script. It kinda makes me mad to think people do this, write half a feature then find themselves suddenly stuck and have to start the whole thing again. It's mindboggling.

              Sure maybe a extremely few people could attempt it, and pull it off, but most will make an absolute mess of it.

              You have to do some sort of an outline to figure out if it has the weight of a feature, and to basically figure out how the whole thing fits together.

              Would a builder start putting together a skycraper without a blueprint. Of course not. Everything is planned rigorously.

              Personally I don't outline my scripts in horrendous detail, I find that a 2 page beat sheet is enough for me. It is so simple, but without it, I would be lost.

              A beat sheet or an outline should, in theory, give you an idea on whether you actually like and feel a connection to your story as a whole, or whether in fact you don't like it.

              Hope this has helped.

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              • #8
                Re: Script dissatisfaction

                Even fundamentals can be fixed.

                A couple of years ago I took an old script and changed the core concept, and nothing from the original script remained. Except I wouldn't have been able to write that new script without the old script.

                Writing is rewriting.

                - Bill
                Free Script Tips:
                http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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                • #9
                  Re: Script dissatisfaction

                  I had a crap screenplay, only I liked the idea of it... so I took some time off, decided I'd change one character (a secondary lead), and the entire script shifted into something I now think is pretty damn good (albeit, still not getting any reads. Sigh).

                  I outline too - most do even if it's in our heads - but normally as I type the characters adopt their own personalities and it can alter the course of the work totally!
                  The trick here is to be sure that - if you allow this to happen - that it takes the story to an even greater place.

                  In terms of the agent: if you've got the directing skills already then toss him/her a showreel and worry about the writing side later on. Pay those bills first, man, damn it!
                  You'll come to discover that writing takes a hell of a lot of time, and having to work day(/night) jobs can eat up most of that time and leave only a lacklustre longing to veg' out before the TV when you do have those few precious hours, so get some gigs, forget about the 9-5 and the words will come.
                  Cufk, Tish, Sips.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Script dissatisfaction

                    There's some great advice about finishing a draft, putting it in a drawer for a period of time, and then coming to it with fresh eyes. Many people do this with scripts, but not many follow the advice when it comes to outlines. We get so excited about our ideas and the possibilities that we plunge in without letting the ideas simmer a bit.

                    Try letting your ideas and outlines age a little bit, and you might find that you come up with a different direction or a different take that can make all the difference.
                    Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary.

                    -Steve Trautmann
                    3rd & Fairfax: The WGAW Podcast

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                    • #11
                      Re: Script dissatisfaction

                      That's like that Mitch Hedburg joke where he said, after a joke bombed, that he was going to take all the words out of that joke and put in new ones.

                      Originally posted by wcmartell View Post
                      Even fundamentals can be fixed.

                      A couple of years ago I took an old script and changed the core concept, and nothing from the original script remained. Except I wouldn't have been able to write that new script without the old script.

                      Writing is rewriting.

                      - Bill

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Script dissatisfaction

                        Originally posted by jamypac View Post
                        That's like that Mitch Hedburg joke where he said, after a joke bombed, that he was going to take all the words out of that joke and put in new ones.
                        And look where it got him, he's dead.

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