How do you approach a rewrite and incorporate notes?

[mariot]

Thanks.

[BattleDolphinZero]

It's tough.

Try not to overract to a note. You constantly get notes that sound huge but the note giver is talking about one or two scenes or a small shift in an overarcing note. Sometimes you've gotta say, "let me get this straight, you're saying the character doesn't work because of this. I was trying to do this this and that to show that the character IS conflicted but that doesn't come across?" When they reiterate, you'll often find that the note isn't that big.

But many notes are huge. Usually you know what you need to do anyways, so the big notes are just a different version of your own.

One important thing is to try to get past that feeling of "I hope I don't have to do a ton of work on this thing." I'm getting better at not hoping they won't have substantial notes. That leaves me open to embrace what's gonna happen on an organic level as opposed to sighing and approaching it with resignation.

[Hasil Adkins]

try to get past that feeling of "I hope I don't have to do a ton of work on this thing."

Very good advice, and I would add:

Don't be precious about your work. The "kill your darlings" thing. Sometimes after working so hard on a sequence or scene you feel like it's a terrible waste to get rid of it or change it. You feel as though you'll never get a scene or sequence as good again.

You will. You'll come up with something just as good, or better, that serves your story and addresses your notes. Sad as it may be to lose a really cool line or set-up or set piece, you'll feel much happier when you've improved your script.

[Gwai Lo]

Well there are two types of notes, really. There are the notes that are correct, as soon as you read them you flush with embarrassment and realize with horror that the note-giver has seen through your cheap tricks. Then there are notes that are incorrect, as soon as you read them you furrow your brow and wonder if the note-giver even bothered to read what you wrote, or if they mixed up your notes with some other screenplay.

There's no way around the first type of notes, and you shouldn't be looking for one. This is what notes are for, everyone should cross their fingers and hope for insightful criticism when they're at the "gathering notes for a rewrite" stage. If there's problems or weaknesses in your script, why wouldn't you want to be aware of them? Just digest what the person has to say, learn as much as possible from them, and execute changes based on what you agree with. As for the second type of notes, there are usually ways around them if you genuinely disagree. Just discard what you disagree with, as long as you can concisely and coherently explain why you're correct in your disagreement.

But what if you get the second type of notes, and you're forced to execute them? They come from the director, the producer, the studio, or something. Well, whenever I've been in this situation where I've been coerced into rewrites by notes I don't like, I usually end up rewriting something stronger than what I had anyway. That's the nature of rewrites. You'll find a way to make it work, and with a bit of objectivity you'll often find you've improved on the old version that you were so attached to. If you ignore these types of notes, you'll often find that the director/producer/studio will go ahead and execute them their way regardless, just without your involvement. Better to try to come up with a solution at a stage that you actually have some measure of control over: the script. You may find an alternative to whatever they're suggesting that they'll still be satisfied with, anyway.

Of course, there are still "script killer" notes one might be coerced into executing at the request of someone important. A lot of contemporary Hollywood movies look like the victims of "script killer" notes.

[Knaight]

When I get a set of notes, it goes into a word file created for that draft. I read through it once, thank the person sincerely for their time, then paste it into the document and kind of just let it stew in my head for a bit.

When I feel I'm ready to tackle the rewrite, I first do a read-through of the script, in PDF form so I can't edit it. I open up a NEW word file -- my rewrite document -- and take notes on everything I want to fix, from the nitpicks to the major plot holes.

Then I go through the notes I received from other people, and paste anything I want to execute into my rewrite document. Generally I'll have 50-80 different items. I then organize every note into a category -- minor, moderate, major. I color code each of the categories.

Then, I start my rewrite. I tackle notes as I please. Generally, the minor notes get executed first, as I'm a habitual procrastinator. But, as I execute the notes, I put a strikethrough line through each one of them. Psychologically, it's a big help to get me through the rewrite when I'm able to see what I've accomplished at a quick glance.

This method has been working really well for me.

[SoCalScribe]

I don't have a very involved process... I read the notes I receive, consider them all, decide which ones I agree with (or have to incorporate), and then read through my script again. With those "keeper" comments handy (usually on printed copies of the notes people have sent me), I transfer them to a clean copy of the script itself... and then refer to that script as I'm rewriting. The benefit to this process, at least for me, is that I'm not just transcribing notes onto the script... I'm also thinking about them and adding my own ideas about how to change what I've written.

As far as considering the notes themselves, I try to give myself time, whenever possible, to digest them and give them all some real thought, rather than just reacting with a knee-jerk "agree/disagree." Even if it's something I'm sure I won't directly incorporate, I try to push myself to understand why the note was made, and if there's a bigger picture issue I haven't considered.

[emily blake]

I generally either feel like "OMG that's a great idea" and immediately start running with it in my head, or I go "OMG you guys are totally right and I hate you." And start the long slog to fixing whatever it is.

These days it seems that I just know which ones will work and which ones won't. I consider them all, but it's pretty easy to see the good suggestions. It helps that I have good people giving me notes in the first place.

[Hamboogul]

Ed Solomon gave the best analogy. I'm paraphrasing because my memory is faulty.

Let's say your back hurts. So you go to a doctor/chiropractor/Oriental massage parlor, whatever...

The obvious or the short-term solution is to alleviate the pain on the back. But maybe that's not the root of the problem.

A great doctor (or the patient) will realize that the reason for the back pain is not because of the back itself but that you're wearing stylish shoes. And that's causing you to shift your weight when you walk. And that's what's causing the back pain.

So a great note-giver or the writer has to find the root of the pain.

Maybe everyone's saying that your characters need work. Or maybe act 2 sucks. Or the antagonist is weak... whatever. They could be pointing out the obvious back pain.

YOUR JOB is to find the root cause of that which might be the shoes.


To me, that's what rewriting is.

[Knaight]

Originally Posted by Hamboogul

Ed Solomon gave the best analogy. I'm paraphrasing because my memory is faulty.

Let's say your back hurts. So you go to a doctor/chiropractor/Oriental massage parlor, whatever...

The obvious or the short-term solution is to alleviate the pain on the back. But maybe that's not the root of the problem.

A great doctor (or the patient) will realize that the reason for the back pain is not because of the back itself but that you're wearing stylish shoes. And that's causing you to shift your weight when you walk. And that's what's causing the back pain.

So a great note-giver or the writer has to find the root of the pain.

Maybe everyone's saying that your characters need work. Or maybe act 2 sucks. Or the antagonist is weak... whatever. They could be pointing out the obvious back pain.

YOUR JOB is to find the root cause of that which might be the shoes.


To me, that's what rewriting is.

This is awesome. Thanks.

[Ronaldinho]

Originally Posted by Gwai Lo

Well there are two types of notes, really. There are the notes that are correct, as soon as you read them you flush with embarrassment and realize with horror that the note-giver has seen through your cheap tricks. Then there are notes that are incorrect, as soon as you read them you furrow your brow and wonder if the note-giver even bothered to read what you wrote, or if they mixed up your notes with some other screenplay.

There's a third kind of notes, and I think it's important to keep them in mind, because I think young writers do themselves a disservice when they think that every note that they don't agree with is fundamentally a bad note.

This third kind of note is simple:

Notes that reflect a differing vision of what the final film is supposed to be.

The second-worst development process I've gone through (and the most painful, because it was a spec) was so painful precisely because nobody - not us, not the development exec, not the producer - understood that the real problem was that, in order to make the movie, what the movie was had to change.

Things finally started to click into place when we realized that we were writing a action film, not a dramatic thriller.

Ultimately, I think this is one of the biggest classes of notes that writers run into, and it's important to recognize it when it's happening. Sometimes these notes will feel like, "What? Does he understand the script at all?" notes, but they're not.

A good producer will say, "So the problem is that I can't make this movie, but I can make /that/ movie, so how do we get there from here?" I've had that experience and it's very satisfying. A bad producer says, "Let's change that little thing, and this little thing, and this other little thing, and maybe remove that thing," and they all feel random. Maybe he's not even giving all the notes to you at once.

To borrow - and mangle - an analogy I saw on one of the screenwriting blogs, what you've got is a guy who doesn't want a Victorian mansion in the hills, he wants a sleek modern beachhouse. But instead of recognizing that, he's saying, "Those sofas are the wrong sofas. And we need fancier light fixtures. Also, how do we stop people from tracking sand in the house." while you're sitting there going, "Why would people track sand in the house? We're in the hills. There is no sand."

And those notes aren't wrong - but if you don't understand the real problem, they'll feel very wrong. So you need to find a way to get that 1000-yard view of the problem, to make sure you're all making the same movie.