ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

12 years, 9 months ago - Jan Caston

Hey Dave:

One thing you didn't mention in your blog is the difference between the re-write for a spec script, when you can never be really sure about anything but you are still in full control, and a commissioned script when (hopefully) you're working with a great script editor who has to get your work to a place Producers can get funded.

A spec script re-write is ****** scary because you're still in the dark on your own. A commissioned script re-write has an end goal and that wonderful/awful bare-knuckle ride "if you want the money, you get on and do it" impetus.

Call me a masochist, but I know which I prefer.

Re-writes aren't really onerous. It's the uncertainty going on in our heads that is.

Happy re-writing.

12 years, 9 months ago - Dan Selakovich

Rewrite phobia? Writing IS re-writing. The sooner one accepts that, the better off they'll be.

Often I've read scripts that didn't deserve a second draft, much less a 3rd or 14th (including my own). In that case, better to stick it in a drawer for 5 years and write something new. Then, on an especially shitty day, read that old thing that's been in the drawer for years and realize how far you've come. You'll never dodge a re-write again.

Dan

12 years, 9 months ago - Stuart Wright

Time is a great healer they say ... it's also a great separater of you and your first draft... you can see how bad it is/what can be improved when you've had enough time away from it ... it's always handy to leave it at least a week ... three weeks preferably ... in that time you can outline something fresh