When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

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  • When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

    I've been working on my script since forever, and there are things I always seem to add and take away from it. It continuously changes and evolves. I could carry working on this thing for another thousand years if I had the time.

    So my question in, when is a script ready? When is it finished?

    I don't know the answer to that question.

    But I can't sit around working on it forever, so I guess it is finished now. No, it's not the greatest script ever, but I think it's pretty good. From all the people who have read it (no not a single friend or family member) I have an undoubtedly had more positives than negatives. Like, adbsurdly outweighed positives.

    But a script can't please everyone anyway, can it.

    So the desicision has been made. Query letters are going out this week.

    Unless you guys think I should sit on it for another thousand years???

  • #2
    Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

    The most important question is: is it your first script? If yes, shelve it. Lather, rinse, repeat until at least your fourth script to play it safe, or until you are getting feedback along the lines of "you need to send this out NOW." Whichever comes first.

    INT. PINEAPPLE - DAY


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    • #3
      Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

      Hm... I pondered if I should answer... and think, yes, and give some courage, as long as I still have something

      Shelve first script? Why? There are first scripts that made it, and for your reader it will be always the first script, when you already have sit 10 on your shelf at home which have NOT gone out.

      Okay, it is a matter of practise and skill - but if you have rewritten it that long and learned your basics and are convinced it is the BEST YOU CAN DO, I think you should do it!

      I tried it with the first draft of my first script (you may say, I'm an idiot, but I don't do usually more than two drafts with my writings, so I thought it was just fine) and I already got noticed positively. Now I'm at a point, where I understand you very well: I sat and rewrote and polished and everytime I look at it I think "oh, maybe I should rather do this... or that" - but these are only moments.

      I made the experience in writing and other artwork I do, there HAS to be a moment, where you say, it is FINISHED and I won't touch it again. Perhaps trying another similar project, but I won't touch this one. It is complete, and every little chiseling and scraping on it won't make it better. If I look today at stuff I wrote 5 years ago, I say, oh, I would do this otherwise today. But if you always wait and think you'll do probably "better" in 5 years, or 10 or whatsoever - you'll never send anything out...

      I don't know if these experiences will help you, it is in fact a personal matter.

      So... *pad on your shoulder* read it one last time if you think you have to, then start sending the letters out.

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      • #4
        Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

        Originally posted by fanatic_about_film View Post

        Unless you guys think I should sit on it for another thousand years???
        You're hardly immortal, so what's the purpose?

        "Artificial Intelligence will never match the efficiency of Natural Stupidity"

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        • #5
          Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

          it's finished when the director yells, "that's a wrap."
          even after you sell it, it will have to be rewritten to accommodate the director and lead actors and such decision-makers.

          what i think you're really asking is when is my script "market-ready". and the answer is when other people in the know and who can be objective tell you it is.

          there are always exceptions and abnormalities that happen in this business. selling a first script would be one of them. but rarely do you really KNOW the true nature of that first script. often it's just the first script that was sold, not the first script written or it was something that was rewritten 17 times over the course of 12 years. that overnight wonder is usually a falsehood and that writer most likely will tell you he or she's been writing for 15 years and have 30 scripts collecting dust on the shelf. stuff like that.

          often people try to sell their early work. it's usually just a lesson learned the hard way but you have to do it to get through the lesson so query away.

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          • #6
            Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

            ...
            Last edited by spyder23; 01-26-2011, 10:49 AM. Reason: nevermind

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            • #7
              Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

              I think you should start querying. It's never going to be "perfect." Even if it sells for a million bucks it will change.

              More importantly, you should start working on a new script and be putting your creative energy towards that. If anyone is interested in your current script, they'll probably want to know what you're working on now, and it would be good to have something to show them.

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              • #8
                Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                even after you sell it, it will have to be rewritten to accommodate the director and lead actors and such decision-makers.

                @nikeegoddess I know this. This is not what I am asking about. I couldn't care less if it gets changed later down the line...

                ...okay, maybe I do a little, but that's life (if I ever was lucky enough to sell it). It would be their property and not mine.

                But anyway I am not concerned with this.


                I knew I had something with this one, but I still needed to hear it from someone else; someone in the business.

                My point: Get someone qualified, with a knowledge of the market and how well your writing is, to give it a look. I honestly almost queried that comedy last year and can't imagine how bad it, and I, would've looked had I sent it out.

                Just get a different set of eyes, one who's "been there/done that" on the pro level, to take a look.

                @spyder23 I think you missed what I said earlier. I HAVE had people look at my script. And I do not mean any friends or family. I have had ONLY other writers read my script. Is that not a good enough fresh pair of eyes?????

                I have had INSANELY more positives than negaitives inwhat people ahve said about it. And i asked for nothing less than BRUTAL HONESTY when reviewing my work. MOST of them loved it.

                A script supervisor recently read it ho thought it was very good. Another screenwriter who is repped at CAA loved it. The lsit goes on.

                If most hated it, I would have set fire to it long ago, but most do like it. They have all given be great advice on what to change or improve. I have taken onboard all their advice and made what I felt were necessary improvements.

                I feel it is as ready as it can be. That's my honest opinion.

                So is it time or is it not?

                I think it is.

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                • #9
                  Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                  A script's finished when the writer's done with writing, rewriting, proofreading and polishing.

                  A script's ready... well, that's a different topic all together.
                  2011 Screenwriting Goal: 15 pages a day.

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                  • #10
                    Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                    So your original question was just rhetorical?

                    HH

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                    • #11
                      Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                      It does seem that way, HH.

                      I read fanatic's script. It's fine, I'd send it out.

                      It's a monster movie, it is what it is. I don't think sitting on it or continuing to tweak it is going to make it any better. It's a very good example of how he writes, he should show it off.

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                      • #12
                        Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                        Originally posted by fanatic_about_film View Post
                        I feel it is as ready as it can be. That's my honest opinion.

                        So is it time or is it not?
                        Yes.

                        "Artificial Intelligence will never match the efficiency of Natural Stupidity"

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                        • #13
                          Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                          Originally posted by 12916studios View Post
                          The most important question is: is it your first script? If yes, shelve it. Lather, rinse, repeat until at least your fourth script to play it safe
                          That's a load of bull. Sorry. But it just is. Not everyone's first script sucks. Let alone their second, third, and so on. This is such bad advice, handed out so frequently by aspiring writers, to aspiring writers.
                          Last edited by scripto80; 01-26-2011, 01:39 PM.

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                          • #14
                            Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                            12916: Per Scripto80, your advice is garbage. My first script got optioned for $20,000 against a $100,000/WGA signatory sale price by a Producers Guild producer. I had the advantage of already having been a longtime professional writer (journalist/magazine writer/published author), but none of that experience had anything to do with the fact I learned to write scripts and wrote a good one the first time out.
                            And what anyone in Hollywood who knows what they're talking about will tell you is that it's all about the CONCEPT now. The idea itself has to be out of the park original and compelling BEFORE you ever start writing.
                            I'm now an every-issue contributor of feature articles to SCRIPT and I just finished a new article called "Work Habits of the Pros" for the March/April issue. I interviewed top screenwriters of hit movies -- and every single one made the point that a common mistake among newbies is to start writing BEFORE the great original concept has been refined into a scene-by-scene outline backed by extensive character notes, etc. THEN it's pretty easy to write a great script if you know the basic rules. But it can't be done before that, no matter how creative you are.
                            But for you to suggest that all new writers should shelve their first script just tells me you are either clueless or just negative in general, like so many posters here.
                            To answer the OP's question, a script is ready when you cannot think of a single thing that can be done to improve it -- down to line breaks and punctuation as creative techniques. I wrote 25 drafts of the script that got optioned before anyone ever saw it. Then I paid for coverage from three well-known script analysts before it went out.

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                            • #15
                              Re: When is a script ever truly finished? (I'm sending mine out).

                              Seth Lochhead told me that Hanna was his first script.
                              Quack.

                              Writer on a cable drama.

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