Reader Question: Do I continue with a 5th draft or start writing a new script?
Open forum question from Jerry:
First time question asker, long time blog reader; What is your approach for rewriting scripts? Do you go from draft to draft immediately or do you take time between each draft? I ask because I’m in the middle of a 5th draft, but I have another idea trying to push its way out and I’m torn as to whether to rewrite my script or start on a new idea, giving the old idea a small break.
Jerry, the fact you’re voluntarily writing a 5th draft of your script suggests that if/when you work as a writer in Hwood, you’ll already have the appropriate mindset in place as producers and studios routinely ask writers to do multiple drafts before turning in their ‘official’ version.
It could also suggest that your story has structural problems that you’ve tried to solve in any number of ways, but have yet to sort out.
And playing armchair psychologist for the moment, I wonder how much of this “new idea” pushing “its way out” is an appeal from your Inner Self saying, “Ah! Enough with the old story! I’m sick and tired of the old story! Let’s do something new!”
Now that isn’t a knock on the quality of either your old or new story. Both of them may be top shelf projects. But I — and I’m guessing basically everyone else who visits this blog — know what it’s like to work on a script for months and months, draft after draft. It can be a brutal experience, wearing down even the heartiest of souls.
If I was in your position, I would step back. Stop writing for 10–14 days. You may not be able to stop ideas popping to mind about your new story, so if you have them, add them to your master brainstorming file. But in order to give your old story a fair shake, you should try to avoid allowing yourself to become enamored of your new story.
Assuming you manage to hold both stories at bay for 1–2 weeks, then read the latest version of your script — as far as it goes — with your set of ‘fresh eyes.’ Now ask yourself: “Is this script as good a story idea as my new story?” Certainly you want to listen to your gut / instincts here, but you might benefit from taking a really rational approach, too. For instance, create a list: Story Concept, Genre, Main Characters, Structure, Plot Twists, Budget, Marketplace. And fill in per each story, both old and new. Basically you’re trying to estimate the commercial viability of the respective projects. Admittedly this is an inexact process because no one really knows. However if your old story is a low-concept period piece that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and can only star Arnold Schwarzenegger versus a high-concept thriller in a tried-and-true sub-genre (e.g., “The [Blank] From Hell”) that has starring roles which could be played by multiple actors, then the process could be pretty instructive in tipping you toward one project or the other.
Re instinct: I’m an advocate of writers choosing projects they’re truly passionate about. That passion not only makes it more likely that the writer will actually finish the project, more importantly the writer’s emotional resonance with the material should infuse the story and its characters with a special layer of vitality. So perhaps another thing to do is to ‘sit’ with each story, literally close the door to a room, be quiet, and contemplate both stories. If you find yourself being drawn to one over the other, ideas and images popping to mind re one story, then it’s probably a good bet that’s the story you should write.
Now if you’re on your 5th draft of the current story and the rest of the way is all laid out, that’s another thing entirely: Knock out the draft. But if you’re in the middle of your 5th draft and you’re still not sure you’ve nailed it, you may very well have some big story structure problems that need to be resolved. Setting aside the new story for the moment, it’s almost always smart to go back to the beginning and ask yourself some fundamental questions:
* Who is my Protagonist?
* What do they want (External World goal)?
* What do they need (Internal World goal)?
* Who is keeping them from their goal (Nemesis)?
* Who is most connected with their emotional development (Attractor)?
* Who is most connected with their intellectual development (Mentor)?
* Who tests the Protagonist by some times being their ally, some times their enemy (Trickster)?
* What is the Protagonist’s Disunity state (the disconnect between their want and need)?
* What is the Protagonist’s Unity state (what winning the Final Struggle means to the P)?
* In their transformation from Disunity to Unity, what is the core of their Deconstruction and what is the core of their Reconstruction?
Bear in mind, these questions don’t pertain to all stories, but I believe they are directly relevant to a majority of mainstream commercial Hollywood movies where a Protagonist goes on what can be called a transformation-journey, the interweaving of the Plotline (External World) and Themeline (Internal World).
So where does all this leave you, Jerry? To recap the key points:
* Take a break (for 10–14 days)
* Read your old script and see how you feel about it with your ‘fresh eyes’
* Sit with your stories to determine which one you’re most passionate about
Finally ask yourself if the old script you’re working on has significant story structure issues or whether you’ve got a clear path to FADE OUT. If the latter, probably best to finish your 5th draft. If not, you’ll have to determine if you go back and rework the old story or move onto the new one. Because you can always come back to the old story at a later date. Indeed, by the time you do, you may very well see the old story in a new light and the structural issues, if any, could resolve themselves.
How about the rest of you? Have you faced a situation like Jerry? What did you do? How did you decide what to write?
[Originally posted December 16, 2009]