Just good enough to know I'm no good

[mikeb]

I'm at the stage where I can objectively look at my own work and know when it's sh*t, but I'm not capable enough to pull off a full-length screenplay that has any chance of selling.

Screenplay numero dos and screenplay numero tres have both turned out with great moments and good scenes in an overall story that needs work, leaving me with the awful task of substantial rewrites, which is probably the thing I like least about the process.

Can't wait to get over the hump. If I don't start improving (and I have improved, just not fast enough for my liking) I'm afraid I'll burn out before I have any chance of realizing the talent I (hope) know is there.

Anyone else get stuck in this stage for awhile? I'm not talking about the rookie, first-screenplay "feel your way around" stage... I'm talking two or three years later, when you KNOW a ton about the craft, but can't seem to execute it to your liking?

I realize that anything that's worth anything in life is hard work, but man is it depressing to go from that great story in your mind to that contrived pile of garbage on the page.

[roscoegino]

I've been at that stage. Reading screenplays galore helps alot.

[JakeJackson]

They say it takes about 10 screenplays to really crack it.

Don't focus on having to write the "great" screenplay right now, just focus on writing and taking what you learn with each into the next one. I was stuck at that stage for a long time, until I learned to embrace and love the process of rewriting. Fade Out is really only the beginning of a long process.

If you persevere and make it to the point where it all 'clicks', then you know you have the stamina necessary to be a writer. If you burn out before then, then you have your answer on that too.

[TheKeenGuy]

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/wp50.Targeting.html

[Telly]

For what it's worth, it took me 4 scripts to nail it on my 5th. But, my 6th was a piece of crap, so I stopped in the third-act and started number 7, which is exciting, but no number 5 You just never know man, I captured lighting once and I'm busting my hump to catch it again.

[mikeb]

Originally Posted by Telly

For what it's worth, it took me 4 scripts to nail it on my 5th. But, my 6th was a piece of crap, so I stopped in the third-act and started number 7, which is exciting, but no number 5 You just never know man, I captured lighting once and I'm busting my hump to catch it again.

I'm not as bad as I sound in my initial post, but there's a big difference between executing a flawless Act 1, and carrying that momentum through three acts.

I'm not giving up on #2 or #3 yet... I'm using the summer to rewrite both, but I was hoping to start the query process on them at the end of May. Probably why I'm so disappointed, you know?

To roscoe: Reading screenplays helps, but it's almost more of a shot to my ego than anything else. SNATCHED and PRISONERS are two scripts that are way out of my writing league, and neither have sold yet. (They've jumpstarted careers, I know, you don't have to tell me! ) My point being... These guys are the competition, and the competition is damn good.

The one thing I won't do is give up. For the past two years my entire focus has been screenwriting. Once it got inside my brain I knew I'd have to see it out, whatever it took.

Thanks for the column link, btw. I'd read it awhile back but it was a nice refresher. Even the "untouchables" start off at the bottom.

[Telly]

Originally Posted by mikeb

The one thing I won't do is give up.

And this is what separates an eventual sale from obscurity. Stick it out.

[wcmartell]

So, a guy with a violin case gets into a cab in New York City and asks the cabby, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" and the cabby replies, "practice, practice, practice."

That's the answer.

The rewrites are part of it. Writing a big stack of specs is part of it. Continuing to work at the top of you game... and reach higher with every new script... is part of it.

If you love it, you keep doing it - even when it seems foolish to continue.

- Bill

[snwrist]

If this is only your fourth script, as others have said, it's going to take more to "get it". Just keep cracking.

And as roscoe said, it really does help to read tons of scripts. I didn't start REALLY reading alot of scripts until maybe script No. 9...since then, my work has progressively improved with each project. It just takes time...lots of time and lots of practice.

[Charli]

I just finished reading this book, "Writing, The TV Drama Series" by Pamela Douglas and she did a thing where she brought her students back a few years after they took her class. The ones who truly made it in the industry - they stuck it out, they didn't give up, they didn't give in. They all had the same knowledge, about the same skill set, so, once you have the 'mindset' that this is what you really, really want to do, nothing will stop you, not even you.