It's Time to Start Romanticizing Your Rewrite Process

For many people’s scripts, the rewriting process can feel like Hell on Earth. Writer John Vorhaus recently sat down with Film Courage to talk about why he actually likes the rewriting process more than the initial draft.

Let’s talk about the tricks he does to feel this way, and a couple I’ve got up my sleeve as well.

Speedrun Your First Draft
This was actually something that took me a long time to get used to doing. I had heard this piece of advice a lot when I was writing my very first scripts, and despite all of the heroes of mine I was hearing say it, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was always an edit-as-I-go writer. It made me feel better about my work in the moment, but by the time I was actually done with a draft, my “final edits” from months ago were outdated already, and I had to start over anyway. This is super duper draining, and you should avoid doing it as much as possible.

No matter what, the first draft that you finish won’t be your last, so try your absolute hardest to just vomit all of your thoughts onto the page just to get something done with a through line. If there are any editors out there, think of it like an assembly cut for a film. Everything is on the table, and all you have to do now is cut it down and make it pretty.

To read the full article on nofilmschool.com, click here