Hi all, its been a while and i hope you are all doing well.
So i finally received my Screenwriters Bible (yay), and what a great read it is. However, once again i find myself hitting a wall and seek you're collective knowledge.
My current project is 84 pages long. Im just 6 away from the recommended minimum for a drama. My problem is that ive gone through it several times now and have hit the 90 pages every time but i just dont like what im adding as the "filler" as it feels forced and, well, filler. So i end up removing the additional stuff.
If i extend dialogue i find that it takes away some of the impact.
If i extend any actions, they feel unecessarily long.
I have backstory for all the main characters, i have foreshadowing etc etc etc and have followed all the bible steps and guidelines.
How do you combat this? I want to hit the page minimum to make sure its not rejected just because of that but i dont want to just throw in fluff bits.
Its driving me nuts.
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Hi Anthony. Hope your day is well, friend. I can understand your frustration. I hope I can offer something that may be of help. Before I describe it, a few things. My opinion is to try to free yourself from the page count monster right now and focus on simplifying things a bit if you know that there’s a problem. I understand that there are standards out there, but you may find it a very tedious experience trying to hit the mark. For example, you could come out on the other side and have to cut. Different measures to deal with the issue, but in one way- same predicament. Here's something that may help- a scene outline. One of the major issues with not having enough material is the lack of events, or the lack of development in events. So, what I would do in your case is to open a fresh doc and make a scene outline. You have to limit yourself to one sentence per scene. After you've listed out every scene, read through it and then start dividing the scenes up into groups. I wouldn't worry about acts right now. Feel it out. When you feel that a certain group ends, put a space in between the groups. Before you know it, you can "watch" your entire film in a quick read through. I would put some money down- even after one pass of it, you will likely have found some answers, have identified gaps, or even where you may need to cut. Don't be afraid to cut. Cutting may actually turn the story in such a way as to give it new life. Be honest with yourself and cut what needs to go. Now, I would start thinking in terms of events. A few things that may help: 1) Look at your one sentence scene description for one scene. What would happen immediately before and after it? You can go right down the line, working each scene, examining if changes need to made. 2) Any scene that you've seen before in a film, and if you've presented it in a similar way- I would question it. I just wrote an article on the value of perspective in our writing. I'll link it below for you. Giving that a read could help. If you start to think about how you can show a scene or an event in a different way, it may spark a different view of your story. This could give you an entire rewrite. 3) Don't be afraid to spend a few weeks working through your scene outline and doing passes on that before you head back to the screenplay. Give yourself time to work through new events, hack ones that need to go, explore new character choices, develop perspective, enhance setting, cultivate tone... My advice is, do this on the outline first, if you haven’t. I've found that most people come up short because they don't spend enough time soaking in outline land. You may have, but it can’t hurt to go back the basics, break it down, and see what bones you have. This will likely save you a lot of time in rewriting as well. One more thing- making the scene outline may help you to get a better grasp on the emotional rhythm of your story. Sometimes, we can be victims of plotting. Instead of story, we write happenings and moments that may be void of any emotional arc or don’t necessarily have purpose in our story or moving it forward. The simplicity of the one sentence scene outline helps us to engage with the essential parts of the story. May be the medicine for the ailment. Hope this helps. These things work for me. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Also, the IOS App "Untitled" is a great screenwriting app for outlines. They have a drag and drop tool that helps you to quickly rearrange lines. I find it to be extremely helpful. Enjoy your evening. Here's the link to my post on perspective. Happy writing. https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/A-Comment-on-Narration-The-...
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Anthony - write to the end of your story, don't worry about page count
Try an emotion filled prequel scene at the beginning or a satisfying epilogue at the end.
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Hey Anthony, what Doug said. You're at 84 pages, don't worry about it.
Anthony, 84 pages is roughly 1 hour and 24 minutes of screen time as is. There are a lot of successful movies with under 90 minute run times (https://www.imdb.com/list/ls057425270/https://www.imdb.com/list/ls057425...). Don't worry about it.
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don't second guess a director and producer...sell the idea if they want more or less they will ask :)
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Eloquence is within brevity.
Paragraph more often (I'm not kidding).
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Thats awesome Eric thanks mate i'll take a look. It looks like im getting caught up in the standards and not the story itself. I'll give a couple more run throughs and start prepearing it for the next stage. Thanks again everyone, you really do help me move forward.
You worry too much. There is a great small movie "Good for Nothing." Sparse dialogue, taught me not to expand dialogue for dialogue sake.
Yeah i guess im trying to over egg the pudding to make sure it fits all the standard formats and lengths. I'll press on with it as it is, im satisfied its finished and we'll see what we'll see. Thanks for the advice mate