Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Some screenwriting books are full of Turning Points and Flex Points. Someone ought to mention the Sucky Point.

I find that around page 40, a rough draft screenplay always sucks. I'm bogged down in second-act-iness, the plot hits snags, everything slows down, the premise begins to feel preposterous -- no matter what it is -- and voilà. Suckage.

I'm a big believer in finishing what I start, so this has never stopped me from getting through a screenplay, and many of them have turned out fine. But around page 40, they always suck.

7:52 PM

3 Comments:

I sometimes suffer the same affliction. When my storyline bogs down, one remedy that frequently works is to think of the most unexpected direction I can to move the story forward (be it a twist, reveal, etc.). That usually gets me going again, often with renewed vigor. And, even if I ultimately remove the twist for something better (or more believable) later on, my goal will have been achieved.

Just an idea...

By  Anonymous, at 1:40 PM  

Marc, that's a good idea. Normally people think that a twist is to keep the audience interested (which is true), but to use it in order to keep yourself interested is a cool idea.

By  Jason Sanders, at 3:00 PM  

I have the same problem. It seems it's easy to get that far without putting much thought into things. I guess it takes 40 pages to get to the center of a gaping lack of story.

What are your tricks for moving on? I am getting snagged on pages 40-55 on nearly every script I've got right now, and I'm having a hard time getting any further. If I could hit page 70 on something new, I'd be singing in the streets.

By  Atkins Gal, at 10:03 PM  

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