How to Rewrite Your Screenplay is brought to you by Final Draft Software. www.naldraft.

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How to Rewrite Your Screenplay

by Ray Morton for Final Draft, Inc.

How to Rewrite Your Screenplay is brought to you by Final Draft Software. www.naldraft.com

Writing is rewriting the old adage goes and all experienced writers know this to be true. Amateurs look at a rst draft as the end of their efforts, while veterans know that it is simply the beginning the creation of the ball of clay that now must be shaped into a work of art. Here are some tips to help you make the most of this crucial part of the creative process: Put it away: One of the most important things required to do a good rewrite is perspective you need to be able to see your work clearly for what it is, rather than for what you were hoping it would be, and that is almost impossible to do when you are caught up in the creative process. So, once you have nished your rst draft, walk away from it for a bit a week, a fortnight, a month. This break will allow you to review the piece with fresh, objective eyes. As you review your draft, ask yourself the following questions: Is the premise of the piece clear and established early on? The premise is the seed from which the rest of the narrative grows and must be clearly set up in the opening pages of the script. If you have reached page 15 or 20 and you are still not sure what the story is about, then you have some work to do. Does the narrative ow smoothly and logically? Is the story easy to comprehend? In other words: can you tell whats going on? If you cant, then its time to revise with an eye toward clarity and comprehensible cause-and-effect. Does the script tell the story that you intended to tell? During the actual writing process, its easy for a writer to get carried away by subplots; go off on tangents; become enamored by one segment at the expense of the whole. If that happens, use the rewrite to get your tale back on track. Is the theme of the piece clearly expressed by the events of the narrative? If your theme is friendship is forever and your story chronicles the ups and downs of two buddies from the day they meet in kindergarten to the day they become roomies at an old-age home, then youre in good shape. If your theme is friendship is forever and your story is about a werewolf seeking to revenge himself on the Gypsy who bit him, then you have some realigning to do. Are there any extraneous elements in the script that do not directly support the central theme or narrative? If they dont, then they need to be removed. Is the protagonists primary goal clear and does his pursuit of that goal drive the narrative? In dramatic storytelling, the protagonist has a strong goal that he/she sets out to achieve. All of the choices the character makes, the actions he takes, and the obstacles he encounters and overcomes should bring him closer to accomplishing that goal. If your character isnt constantly working toward something or is behaving in a willy-nilly manner, then its time to rethink.

by Ray Morton for Final Draft, Inc.

How to Rewrite Your Screenplay is brought to you by Final Draft Software. www.naldraft.com

Is the protagonists arc logically brought about by the events of the story? If your story is about a liar who learns to tell the truth, then the events of the story should show how lying initially benets the protagonist, eventually causes him big trouble, and how he eventually comes to see the error of his ways. If, however, the narrative has him showing courage in the face of overwhelming odds but the lesson he learns is not to lie, then a visit to the narrative chiropractor is in order. Is your antagonist too dominant? Especially when writing action lms or horror movies, it is easy to give too much attention to a colorful bad guy. Its okay to do this in a rst draft, but it is crucial that you rein in these rogue baddies in subsequent editions lest they steal the lm from your hero. Have I failed to dramatize all of my story elements? Beginning writers are notorious for inserting important story points (a characters thoughts and feelings, vital backstory, info vital to the understanding of a scene or setting) into a scripts descriptive passages, but failing to properly dramatize those elements in ways (through action, images, and/or dialogue) that will communicate that information to the audience. Does my story fulll its genre expectations? In other words, if its a comedy, is it funny? If its a horror lm, is it scary? And so on.

Once you have addressed matters of substance, you then need to address matters of form, so keep an eye out for the following: Big blocks of type: the presence of large blocks of description usually indicates that you have gotten bogged down writing way too much minute detail. Remember, scripts are not novels you dont have to describe every little aspect of every little thing. The descriptive passages in screenplays should be brisk and evocative, using as few words as possible to effectively describe an action, a character, or a place before moving on as fast as possible to the next bit. Endless pages of dialogue: this usually means that you are telling your story through dialogue, as is done on the stage, rather through the combination of images, action, and dialogue that is the hallmark of effective cinematic storytelling. An overabundance of shots, camera movements, sets, costumes, or music and editing cues: As a screenwriter, your job is to structure and tell a story, not to direct the lm, design the sets and costumes, or cut and score the picture. Stick to what youre supposed to do and let the directors, designers, and cutters do what theyre supposed to do. An overabundance of storytelling gimmicks: If your script is lled with ashbacks, narration, and dream sequences, it probably means that the central nar-

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rative isnt strong enough to stand on its own, in which case, you need to beef it up. Scenes or sequences that go on and on: in movies, pacing is paramount. Ideally, you should begin all of your scenes as close to the dramatic heart of the scene as possible and you should end them as soon as its dramatic point has been made. Any excess should be trimmed away. A high page count: a script should never be longer than 120 pages. Ever.

Get Feedback. Once you have completed a draft to your satisfaction, give it to people to read and comment on. Choose folks who can read and analyze your piece with an objective eye and who will give you honest and constructive criticism. For this reason, I recommend that you seek out fellow writers and industry colleagues rather than friends and family members folks who probably dont have a solid grasp of the three-act structure, character arcs, or visual expository techniques and wont tell you if there are things they dont like in your work because they dont want to hurt your feelings. Another good option is to submit your piece to a professional script analyst or coverage service to get an industry-level assessment of your piece. Once your analysts have responded, analyze their analysis. If one person has a problem with some aspect of your script, then it could just be that persons individual issue. However, if a number of people have the same problem, then its likely that the fault lies with the script and will need to be addressed. Proofread. Its important to make a good and professional rst impression so before submitting your work to the marketplace, go over it with a ne tooth comb and correct all mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, screenplay formatting, and screenplay terminology. Dont be afraid to use professional proofreading and formatting services if you need to.

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How to Use Final Draft to Rewrite Your Screenplay

SCRIPT NOTES After youve written your rst draft, and gained that recommended perspective, its time to go back through it and start making improvements. One great tool is ScriptNotes. With ScriptNotes, you can write notes on any scene element such as an action line or dialogue. Or you can write a note that covers your entire scene. Just place your cursor where you want the note to appear and click the ScriptNotes button in your tool bar. You can also drop down from the Documents menu or use a keyboard shortcut.

In this example above, weve made a note to change the name of a bar in a line of dialogue. To save your notes, just click the red button in the left corner of your note. A symbol appears in your script showing you where the note is saved. Click the symbol to re-open the note. To delete a note, just click the same symbol and press the Delete key.

How to Rewrite Your Screenplay is brought to you by Final Draft Software. www.naldraft.com

If you go to Documents > ScriptNotes, you can change the symbols and colors of each note. This is helpful to organize your notes. You can also create different categories of notes by level of importance, scene element, or even categorize different ScriptNotes per character. Please Note that ScriptNotes are not printed as part of your script. They are only visible within your Final Draft le. If you want to print out your ScriptNotes, you can do so from our Reports menu. Go to Tools > Reports and choose ScriptNote report. You can choose to print out all ScriptNotes or just print certain categories. Below is an example of a ctional ScriptNote report for the screenplay Casablanca.

If you send any other Final Draft user your le, they can add their own notes using ScriptNotes and return the le to you. This is extremely helpful if you need to get feedback from a producer, agent, or a co-writer.

How to Rewrite Your Screenplay is brought to you by Final Draft Software. www.naldraft.com

PANELS VIEW The Panels View makes it very easy to start rewriting your script. You can view your rst draft on the left, while rewriting your new draft on the right. To activate the Panels View, just view your script normally. Then click the icon in your toolbar. You can also go View > Split Vertically in the top menu. When you activate the Panels View, you see your script in two panels. An example is below.

Notice the script in the left panel has a light blue border. That means that side is active. When you write in the active side, you update the entire script. You can toggle the active side between right and left by just clicking on either script. Please note that when you make a change in either panel, you are updating the entire script. Therefore, we recommend that you save each new revision of your script with a new lename such as Script_A, Script_B, Script_C, etc. This ensures you dont accidentally overwrite any existing scripts. You can also mark all changes and revisions to your script with different text colors and highlights such as underlining or striking through changes. You can do so in Revision

How to Rewrite Your Screenplay is brought to you by Final Draft Software. www.naldraft.com

Mode which is fully explained in the Final Draft Users Guide. Click Help in the top menu in Final Draft to access the Users Guide. About Ray Morton RAY MORTON is a writer and script consultant. His new book Music on Film: Amadeus is now available online and in bookstores. Morton analyzes screenplays for production companies, producers, and individual writers. He is available for private consultation and can be reached at ray@raymorton.com. About Final Draft Software Final Draft software is the #1-selling scriptwriting software program in the world. Final Draft is used by Oscar-winning screenwriters, Tonywinning playwrights, and many of the best writers for TV and new media. It is easy to learn and easy to use, yet powerful enough for the biggest lm, stage play, and TV productions. Download your copy at www.naldraft.com.