Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

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  • Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

    There seems to be a spoken and unspoken "rule" that every professional and non-alike accept, which is that one's first few attempts at scripts are going to in all likelihood turn out in varying degrees of terrible.

    Is there anyone that actually at all disagrees with this or, at the very least, thinks there are times even if rare that one of one's early screenplays turns out to be quite decent or even better?

    Just was curious... .

  • #2
    Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

    Yes, unless they are good.

    Like every blanket statement in screenwriting, it applies to some people, but not to others.

    And if it is true, write your 4th script first.
    TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

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    • #3
      Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

      If you think your first screenplay is really really awesome, it isn't.

      If you think it's horrible but everyone else is like "WOW, this is amazing," then you are a screenwriter. And it's probably amazing.

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      • #4
        Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

        Damn - hscope even used the words I was going to use!

        You can't make a blanket statement about anything - some first scripts are good. But most are not - they are learning experiences. Everything in life takes practice. Novelist John D. MacDonald said something along the lines of your first four novels are going to be crap, so write them quickly and get rid of them so that you can write something good that'll sell.

        Everyone thinks their first script is great... and it's a huge accomplishment and you should always reward yourself. But a few scripts later you look back on that first script and it's easy to see how much you have learned. Also, easy to see how many problems that script has.

        Screenwriting is complicated - you have to do a whole bunch of things right at the same time. If you do manage to get all of that stuff right in your first script, that's great - congratulations. If not - don't get discouraged. You get better with practice.

        - Bill (can now get *both* shoes off before...)
        Free Script Tips:
        http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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        • #5
          Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

          I've heard that in America, some schools offer screenwriting classes.

          That said, it only makes sense then that one who has learned the craft will make less mistakes than a total n00b. So if the plot's thought out properly, I don't see why a first script cannot be competent, if not good even.

          But for those of us who never studied, never understood the format or even read more than one or two screenplays, YES, our first attempts are downright awful.
          Cufk, Tish, Sips.

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          • #6
            Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

            First attempts are often the worse simply because you're still learning. Screenwriting and writing in general has to be learned by actual writing. No matter how many books you read or seminars you go to, it means nothing until you put your butt to the seat and write.

            It's like reading a book on riding bikes before getting on one for the first time.
            what the head makes cloudy the heart makes very clear

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            • #7
              Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

              I'll distinguish "screenplays" from "stories".

              The telling of "stories" is why I am interested in screenwriting. The latter is simply the medium for me to do the former.

              I still love my first "story", but so far I've not been able to sell/option that "screenplay". It hasn't happened yet for my latest, either, but I can see the many ways that my latest is more "commercially marketable", as a screenplay, than the first.

              It's also why I keep going back and polishing up my earlier "stories" so as to improve their screenplay-ness, and keeping my fingers crossed that someday they'll be good enough for me to see them in the movie theater or on T.V.

              If this "business" begins with "story" and ends with "$", and in between is a great screenplay/acting/directing and on and on up the scale, then it's up to us to do our part, that's all.

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              • #8
                Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                every professional and non-alike accept,
                this applies to nearly all professions. practice and experience makes you better.
                you want brain surgery from a doctor's first, second, or third time or you want brain surgery from a doctor who has proven themselves and successfully performed one hundred surgeries? the diff bet is this example and screenwriting is a collaborative effort. so even if your first script is great there are many, many people who will have their hands in the production.

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                • #9
                  Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                  Everybody's experience is different of course, but it would suprise me to see someone win a marathon the very first time they try to run 26.2 miles.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                    The second script my writing partner ever wrote was quite good and got made with a budget over 10mil. I'd say it's certainly possible to do a decent job within your first three scripts. I'd be pretty depressed if I were still crap by my third script.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                      Your next script is always better than you last. That's the only blanket statement that cannot be argued with.

                      And while you're first script may be completely unprofessional there was an idea in that first script that made you passionate enough to write it and I think that that idea is always worth revisiting...after you've written a few OTHER scripts.
                      "All of us trying to be the camera behind the camera behind the camera. The last story in line. The Truth" Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted

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                      • #12
                        Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                        The second script I ever wrote is still my best. This is still true after about a decade of writing.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                          Originally posted by Hamboogul View Post
                          The second script I ever wrote is still my best. This is still true after about a decade of writing.
                          Don't you think you should've finished that third script by now?
                          "All of us trying to be the camera behind the camera behind the camera. The last story in line. The Truth" Chuck Palahniuk - Haunted

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                          • #14
                            Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                            Originally posted by Kermet Key View Post
                            Your next script is always better than you last.
                            God I wish this were true.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Are First, Second, Third Screenplays Always Bad?

                              Originally posted by Kermet Key View Post
                              Your next script is always better than you last. That's the only blanket statement that cannot be argued with.
                              If that was true shouldn't every single writer be churning out better films through their career? By that reckoning Inland Empire is better than Blue Velvet, not buying that theory.

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