Golden Garbage Dump

Last year, I needed to crank out another original one-hour sample for a potential rep. Fast. I already had the show’s basic premise, characters, arcs, and theme in mind…but I knew I wouldn’t have as much polish time once I pounded out the first draft as I’m used to. And (as I’ve mentioned before) those rewrites are where I really find my scripts come alive.

So, once I hammered out that first draft, I opened up a special document where I’ve been stashing little pieces of awesome for close to a decade. Great stories I overheard, cool dialogue parted out from abandoned projects, unique characters I’d imagined but not utilized yet, etc. …it’s basically where I bury the babies I’m forced to kill – but plan on reanimating at the right moment.

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It Has To Be Bad To Get Good

I’m a serial rewriter – when I’m in the middle of a script, I can’t stop myself from reading back over what I’ve accomplished in prior sessions and doing a little polish work. Of course, this means I’m rewriting all of my scenes multiple times before finishing the first draft.

And it still sucks. Always.

This used to get me down because of all the work I’d put into that first draft. What I didn’t realize was that, despite it’s first drafty-ness, I’d done most of the heavy lifting. Which is to say I’d written everything down – front, middle, and end. Now, I can go about making it actually good.

Which is why I’m writing this post. Forget Hemingway, EVERY writer I’ve ever heard interviewed or spoken with directly has emphasized that the first draft is the first effort – and that it should never see the light of day. It’s quite simple to identify missteps when you have an entire story to contrast it against – not so much if you only have part of the whole and don’t know where you’re headed.

So I guess the long and short of this thought is: don’t be afraid to be bad. Because we all are. It’s how you work the rough shape that helps add a distinct voice and focus to the script you will show other folks.

Done Is The Engine Of More

I first came across this *brilliant* bit of inspiration on John Roger’s blog Kung Fu Monkey. It’s hanging in the writer’s room at “Leverage” and undoubtedly in many other places as well, but I’m not sure where it originally came from. (more…)

The Query Letter That Worked

Once you’re sure you’re ready, there are a number of ways to query an agent – the most powerful being The Referral (it’s so important, I’m capitalizing it!). There’s no better intro than having an established professional step up to the bat for you.

But that’s not the type of query I’m writing about today. I’m going to talk about a “blind” email query – which is to say an unsolicited request for a read.
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Only Buy One Book

I’m not sure how many screenwriting books I’ve purchased/been given in the past decade. Dozens would be a conservative estimate but only a couple actually left an impression. The best thing I found about having this large library was their resellability – listed as a lot on Ebay, they sold quite quickly two years ago.
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Unknowing Mentors

Oh, how I envy Drew Goddard. First he had Joss Whedon as a mentor and then he bounced under J.J. Abrams’ wing for a couple of years. You think this guy knows how to write yet?

Mentors are crucial in any business but they’re almost essential in a closed society like TV writing – the more experience, the better. Being able to ask basic questions and not worry about being judged is possibly the most important weapon you can have in your arsenal when assaulting Hollywood.
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