Incomplete Specs

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  • Incomplete Specs

    I am trying to get back into my writing, so what I do is look over my ideas (again and again) and then also see what else I may have actually started writing in Final Draft...

    So I found these. All these were written w/o an outline (see how that can backfire first hand) and were mostly me just writing Act One to express the concept and get feedback on it...

    1. 35 pages of unfinished project that I loved concept, but not sure it was right take. Got so many opinions on it and have too many ideas, but I told myself just write one and see what happens. It's pretty good, but I may have written a movie that they don't make anymore. A funny comedy. Just kidding, but it may accidentally be a 90s vibe, when I was going for action-comedy.

    2. 14 pages on an idea I've loved for 20 plus years but somehow never wrote any version of it until I did last year. I had to update it for 2023 as most comedy ideas don't always age well...

    3. 36 pages on a college comedy idea I was working on that has a flawed premise, yet I think would get reads due to the premise so who gives a **** if they never make it.

    So obvious answer on what to write next is to finish these. I always used to complete every spec I wrote... got into some bad habits in my old age.

    Anyway , does anyone have a folder of unfinished work? I know the answer is yes. Share. Purge. Write. Finish.

    The real question is -- how do we finish these specs?
    Last edited by Bono; 01-22-2023, 08:02 PM.

  • #2
    Oh, I've got a-plenty of these. I do the same thing -- no outline, just get really excited about a premise or an opening scene or whatever, and then it's off to the races. Some I have 20 pages, some more like 50. And then I sort of get bored, or maybe it's not holding up well enough to sustain a whole movie, or I lose my way.

    I am not sure if the answer if how do we finish these, but rather should we really finish these? Most of mine I think I will just leave to die because if I didn't finish them back then, they probably weren't meant to be. I dunno.

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    • #3
      Last two specs I wrote. Rewrote outline until it was ready to go to spec. So there is a lesson in there kids. But I have written specs w/o an outline when I started, but eventually I have to sit down and figure it out. So I'm at that stage except this time I do wonder if it's worth it to finish them.

      I will admit producer/manager guy working with me read 2 of them and didn't give me "love this" or "hate this" feedback, so his mixed response didn't set my world on fire. If he was like, this is really good finish it, I would have. That's how dangerous getting feedback can be at the wrong stage and from the wrong person. Not real danger, but can zap your energy. A writer friend can do the same. Hell this board can do the same. Even after all this time, I think we all write better when we know someone out there likes it. Blank page sucks. Every time.

      My concern with these 3 ideas above are, I seem to be drawn to ideas that are more magic or absurd or for a better term "movie logic" ideas. And I think Hollywood really likes -- especially with comedy -- ideas that "could" happen in real life. It's almost like I'm rejecting my own work before Hollywood can.

      Maybe I need to finish these just to get them out of my head...

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      • #4
        I get the desire to get writing, but starting a spec without an outline that excites you - even a quick beat sheet! - feels like it's easy to get in this situation. I'm sure there's some geniuses who can just start writing and end up with great scripts, but I'm not one.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by JeffLowell View Post
          I get the desire to get writing, but starting a spec without an outline that excites you - even a quick beat sheet! - feels like it's easy to get in this situation. I'm sure there's some geniuses who can just start writing and end up with great scripts, but I'm not one.
          It was a very bad idea! But I have in the past done the write Act One quickly, show people, get feedback, then outline movie -- and it worked. But at some point yes got to lay it all out.

          So Jeff, you don't have a file of unfinished work. But do you have a folder of unwritten outlines of specs that you didn't break ?

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          • #6
            I’ve got a lot of ideas where I liked the logline but couldn’t wrestle it into an outline. And literally hundreds of loglines that never made the top of the list when I was deciding what to write next.

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            • #7
              I've got plenty of stalled, incomplete scripts. I always meant to go back and finish them. Never happened, the idea fairy dinged me with her sparkly wand and I skipped off to the next one. Several did get completed! They all had an outline or were based on a prose story. So long ago... decades have passed.

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              • #8
                😞
                Yeah, me too.

                "The fact that you have seen professionals write poorly is no reason for you to imitate them." - ComicBent.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Bono View Post
                  I am trying to get back into my writing, so what I do is look over my ideas (again and again) and then also see what else I may have actually started writing in Final Draft...

                  So I found these. All these were written w/o an outline (see how that can backfire first hand) and were mostly me just writing Act One to express the concept and get feedback on it...

                  1. 35 pages of unfinished project that I loved concept, but not sure it was right take. Got so many opinions on it and have too many ideas, but I told myself just write one and see what happens. It's pretty good, but I may have written a movie that they don't make anymore. A funny comedy. Just kidding, but it may accidentally be a 90s vibe, when I was going for action-comedy.

                  2. 14 pages on an idea I've loved for 20 plus years but somehow never wrote any version of it until I did last year. I had to update it for 2023 as most comedy ideas don't always age well...

                  3. 36 pages on a college comedy idea I was working on that has a flawed premise, yet I think would get reads due to the premise so who gives a **** if they never make it.

                  So obvious answer on what to write next is to finish these. I always used to complete every spec I wrote... got into some bad habits in my old age.

                  Anyway , does anyone have a folder of unfinished work? I know the answer is yes. Share. Purge. Write. Finish.

                  The real question is -- how do we finish these specs?
                  Your worries are over, bono. I'm writing everybody's script from now on. Yours will be first, since you suggested I write people's scripts as well as read them, and you're going to love the script I'm writing for you. I can't go into great detail yet but it's a biopic about when you bought a farm using the money you won from hitting it big with the lottery. You party a lot and have lots of farm animal sex which gets you into a little trouble with your wife and of course the county agent.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    160 Views. 6 posts. Why are writers on a writing board who never post just lurk???? It's not Instagram, there are no pictures. I don't get it.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I would guess that web crawlers are responsible for a fair percentage of views. Plus, there are 7 writers posting on this thread. If they read it every time someone replies...

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                      • #12
                        I didn't want a real answer, Jeff! I wanted the 20 people lurking to post they hate me at least!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Bono View Post
                          The real question is -- how do we finish these specs?
                          Just write shorts. Always finished in one setting and you don't have to worry about coming back to unfinished scripts. You also don't have to worry about marketing them. And you'll never have to worry about how badly a director butchered them. Win - win - win.

                          A little more seriously... If you've got something else you would rather be working on don't worry about the unfinished scripts. There's probably a reason you stalled on them in the first place. I used to try to finish every book I started reading, no matter how boring or awful. As I got older I figured my time was worth more than reading a book I didn't like.

                          Good luck.
                          STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I'm a wannabe, take whatever I write with a huge grain of salt.

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