Step 19: To Draft!
LESSON
It’s time for the vomit draft. Charming.
That’s what most writers like to call the first draft, and for good reason. There’s no way your first draft will be your last—not if you want to write an insanely great screenplay. The key is to get this first draft out as quickly as possible. You’re probably averaging no less than forty, closer to sixty, and no more than seventy scenes in your outline (that would be a lot). At this point, you don’t need the scenes you write to be perfect. You just want to get your ideas down on paper. Whether you elect to write one scene a day, ten pages a week, or settle on some other goal, it’s time to sit down with your calendar and block out a realistic timeline. Whatever you do, I recommend taking no longer than twelve weeks. Otherwise, you may never get through with the first draft. Deadlines are good. You don’t have to write scenes in order, although I prefer to do that. For me, there’s something about following the story in the order in which my readers and viewers will encounter it that fuels my creativity. Here’s my typical schedule for pushing through the draft:
Day 1: Fade In to page five
Day 2: Finish the setup and complete the Inciting Incident
Days 3-4: Write through the Dilemma, up to the end of Act One
Days 5-6: Push through the first half of Act Two
Days 7-8: Push through the second half of Act Two
Days 9-10: Complete Act Three
Adjust your schedule as necessary, but whatever you do, keep pushing forward. If your day job makes it impossible for you to sit down and write so much at one time, commit to writing one scene a day, or pick twelve days that correspond to days off that you can dedicate more fully to your writing. They don’t have to be consecutive. Do what works best for you. You can do this—one step at a time, one scene at a time.
Click the button below to view/download a form to outline your schedule. Then, you can get started on your Day 1 goals!
© SJ Murray, 2018
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