I am back

Hello and welcome back! First of all, I’m sorry for being gone so long. Honestly, I never meant to be away for so many weeks. But I got caught up between schoolwork, looking for internships, and writing the feature. However, I didn’t want to leave you guys hanging. So, this one is going to be a longer newsletter than usual, just because I want to explain all that I have been going through and the challenges I’ve been facing.

What have I been up to?

Writing Act 1

The whole month of March was spent in a mix of trying to get a somewhat decent outline and attempting to write, but failing to do so. Starting is the hardest part of it all, so the faster you can start putting words on the page, the better. Literally anything. The reason I say this is because it gets the momentum going. So, during this two-week period, I tried to get a firm grasp on the first act. I did a little step-by-step outline, trying to get clarity on where scenes go. To me, the key in all of this is to try to get a big picture so that when I’m writing, I don’t have to be thinking of the plot itself, and I can focus more on the details and characters.

Now, that being said, I spent most of that time not writing at all. To give you an idea, I started brainstorming for a new idea around March 11, ended up making a very rough outline a week later, and spent the rest of the month outlining and trying to get started on the first act. For most of those days, I didn’t write or outline. But then, I had to deliver the entire first act, and with the deadline getting closer and closer, I finally sat down and wrote the entire first act in about three days. I don’t really recommend you do this, as it is highly tiring, and it literally was the only thing that I did for those three days. But I wanted to share it so that you know my writing ended up being in a very unusual big chunks at a time kind of fashion.

The takeaway from this is, first of all, try to distribute your writing a little more (although you will see me not following my own advice, just wait). But secondly, and most importantly, I would say, just accept that you are not going to be all that happy with the first draft, and embrace it. Embrace a more loose attitude towards your work; remember, you can always rewrite, but you can’t rewrite a blank page.

So, I wrote about 26 pages in the span of a weeken and handed them in. The result? My professor didn’t really like it. Listen, it’s going to happen, and it’s okay. I received notes, upon notes, ranging from dialogue changes to problems with how I managed and delivered key info, etc. It was to be expected, but I’d be lying if I told you my ego wasn’t a little hurt.

I got through the notes little by little. I implemented the ones that I saw fit and discarded the ones I didn’t.

I think this is really important as creators. I know my professor didn’t really like the story, genre, and tone I was writing. But in the end, that is really subjective. That being said, I think our work as creators has a lot to do with being able to take the good and separate it from the bad. The way I see it, it is somewhat similar to finding little gold nuggets in the mud. Depending on the person, you will get more or less gold. But I can assure you, most of the time, you will get at least something that you can take to improve your screenplay. That being said, be careful how you decide to listen and always prioritize your own instincts as a creator, but don’t be afraid to show your work and get notes.

Writing from Act 1 to the Midpoint

Again, in a mix of mental exhaustion from writing so many pages in three days, plus a little hurt ego from the bad first notes, I didn’t write anything for almost two and a half weeks. Once more, the deadline was closing in, so I got to work. The process was kind of the same; I took a little time to first do some rewrites on Act 1 and then I did a little scene-by-scene breakdown from Act 1 all the way through the midpoint. This time around, I did rewrites plus a little more outlining for about three days, which once again left me with another three days to write and deliver the pages. I ended up writing about 20 some new pages (accounting also for rewrites).

Now, a few things that I think are important to note. First of all, I wasn’t really worried about dialogue at this point. I used it, but I know a lot of the dialogue I write is probably going to get rewritten; in fact, a lot of the notes I got from my professor had to do with dialogue. But what I tried to focus on in the rewrites was analyzing the overall structure, comprehension of the story, tweaking some character presentations, plus putting in place some elements to foreshadow certain moments or character arcs. It is also worth noting that during my writing of the first act, as well as this one, I am also discovering the characters. This will depend a lot on what your own writing style is, but for me, I don’t usually start with characters; rather, I start with themes and story structure. So, a big part of this was simply discovering the characters, how they talked, acted, and functioned.

The way I see it, I am mostly focused on finding the story and characters. If I’m honest, I think I would rather find these things ahead of time, maybe with a more in-depth outline or even a treatment.

But due to the nature of the timeframe that I had to work in, this was the result. The upside is that it has allowed me to get the story down on paper extremely quickly, but the downside is that it takes longer to write each page because you don’t really have an entire map of the plot. Plus, you will find that you have to make little tweaks here and there as you write because you will get new ideas as you go on, but to properly introduce them, you’ll need to establish them. For example, in one scene, my characters are being chased by the antagonists, and they come up with a plan to evade them. So, I made the plan, and once that was written, I went back to the first act and foreshadowed it by making sure those elements didn’t come out of nowhere.

Where am I now?

Well, I just got my new notes. In general, they are a little more positive, but still, the sentiment is that I have to take advantage of the situations that I have to create more conflict and comedy (I’m writing a comedy). I have already implemented some of the more surface-level notes about my dialogue and some scene descriptions, but I still have to do some rewrites. Now, I have half a film left to write, and I am going to attempt to get it done by Monday. I know this sounds like I’m crazy, and yes, you are correct.

Once again, this is mostly a result of my own circumstances and timeline. I wouldn’t really recommend you copy my strategy. But the reason why I’m doing it also has to do with the fact that I am trying to spend as little time as I possibly can doing this first draft. Because when I have it all, I will be able to take a step back and really analyze what works and what doesn’t. I don’t have any classes or anything to do for the next few days, so that means I would have to write an average of about 12 pages per day, and I’ll make a little revision on Monday. I don’t know if I will be able to pull this off because I still don’t have that detailed of an outline for what is to come next. But hey, I’ll do my best.

What have I learned so far?

Honestly, my biggest takeaway is that it is not as hard or intimidating as people make it look. Now, don’t get me wrong; the movie I am writing, especially at this step, is not anything special. But I’m already halfway through the process, and if everything goes to plan, I will have gone from 0 to a completed screenplay in less than two months.

As I said before, I know this screenplay is probably not going to be that good, in fact, it probably will never see the light of day. But for me, the most important lesson or takeaway has been the fact that I can do it. And it doesn’t have to take years. And now, regardless of the quality of it, I will regain all the knowledge and, most importantly, the confidence to go and write the next one.

I think at the end of the day, the most important thing is to not take yourself too seriously,specially when you are just starting. accept that it will be bad, and embrace it. It will liberate you. Plus, it is a first draft; believe me, it is going to change A LOT. But most people get caught up in trying to hit the bullseye the first time around. And as you see, I still struggle with this. You’ve seen it. Three-fourths of my time has been spent procrastinating. So, don’t think it will be easy, but it most definitely can be done. Remember, a bad screenplay that is written is far superior to a great screenplay in your imagination.

I’ll keep you posted.

I won’t be posting this Friday, but I’ll come back with more on Monday. And hopefully, with a fully finished first draft. I’m sorry if this was a lot and really chaotic, but I felt like I owed you a rundown of how things have been progressing. If you’d like me to go more in-depth on a specific aspect that I mentioned here, please respond to this email or let me know via Twitter. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next week.