SCREENWRITING
The 14-Day Script
A case for (screen)writing your way through quarantine
Maybe the government-issued orders arrived a day or two ago. Maybe you’ve still got a little time to fight the Hordes of Whole Foods for a carton of eggs and a loaf of bread. Maybe your life is business as usual, minus the pervasive sense of unease and lurking chaos. Quarantine, lock-down, self-isolation: the details differ, but either way, it’s looking like millions of people are going to be housebound through the end of the month. How will you pass the time?
If you’ve ever had the slightest interest in writing (even in the form of an embarrassing middle school ‘diary’ that you insisted was actually a ‘journal’), I suggest you spend the next two weeks writing a screenplay. You’ll have the chance to creatively craft a narrative, translate visuals into language, and really give your captive brain a workout. You might even have a little fun.
Of course, the odds of churning out something Sorkian in two weeks are low. This exercise requires that you leave your perfectionist tendencies at the door (pretend it’s an exercise in social distancing, if you like). Your mantra for the next two weeks must be: anything worth doing is worth doing half-assed.
Day 1: On your mark
We’re all motivated by different metrics. Some will prefer to approach this project with a daily page quota (I suggest 7–8 pages per day; that’s an average 100-page screenplay spread out over two weeks). Others will want to work around an Act structure (3–5 Acts per feature screenplay is common) or separate sections out as Exposition, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action, and Denouement. Then, they will assign a certain number of days to each section. Choose whichever method tickles your fancy and run with it. There’s little risk of making the wrong choice so early in the writing process.
Hopefully, you’ve got some sense of a story you want to tell, and if not an entire story, then at least a character or even a place. For the purposes of this project, pick a few kernels, and start popping. Feel free to even start in the realm of fan fiction if completely starting from scratch overwhelms you. It’s all about getting words on paper, for now.
Days 2–5: Get in the groove
These will be either the hardest or easiest writing days for you. If you started out with a fairly clear sense of story or character, the first 40 or so pages will breeze by. On the other hand, if you went in blind, you might find new challenges with every plot twist. Take heart in the probability that the process will smooth out as you continue to ease into it.
This is also an excellent time to make sure you have an Inciting Incident or the moment when the plot of your script is fully set in motion. Think of the difference between a large gathering of people and a riotous mob; some event has to incite the group to riot, whether it’s police action, fighting protestors, or a blazing Molotov cocktail flung forth from a dark alley. Find that moment in your script, and use it to coalesce a piecemeal narrative into a driven plot with a mob mentality.
Now stop thinking about large groups of people. You’ve still got a week and a half left of housesitting your own place; don’t get ahead of yourself.
Days 6–8: We’re halfway there
As you approach the midpoint of your script, I suggest you set time aside to review what you’ve written for two critical mistakes new screenwriters make. The first mistake is having duplicative or redundant characters. This tends to occur when writers are cruising their way through a scene and think something along the lines of, Hmmm, I need my protagonist to find out a critical piece of information… I guess ‘Henchman #3’ will be the one to tell her! Make sure your characters are individuated and merge any characters that are very similar in either personality or narrative function.
The second mistake (and really, I’m burying the lead here, because this is the hill that you cannot let your script die on) is ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing.’ Scripts are entirely visual. There’s very little room for phrasing such as: Kevin feels suspicious of Amanda. What does that look like on screen? Does he narrow his eyes? Does he follow her to her supposed hair appointment? Figure out what actions and visuals best convey your characters’ states of mind and stick with those. Additionally, as a general rule, avoid passive ‘to be’ verbs (e.g., Ysenia is hurt).
Days 9–13: Playing catch-up
By now, you might be wholly convinced this was a terrible idea. Perhaps you’re having difficulty ramping up to a compelling climax; maybe you dropped an entire subplot and can’t find a streamlined way to weave it together with your main narrative. Even if you got sucked into Mindhunter (everyone has been telling you to watch it, after all!), you can make up for lost time. You’re only shooting for 7–8 pages a day, and depending on your typing speed and quality standards, you can definitely get that done in an hour. Jonathan Groff can wait.
Day 14: Final pages, first revisions
Congratulate yourself! Not only did you complete a screenplay (or the first draft, at least), you managed to survive through two weeks of social upheaval, economic distress, public health crises, and listening to your neighbor watch blaring reruns of Judge Judy. You done good.
With any luck, your world has attained some kind of new normal or at least an even keel that quells the nausea of constant newsbreaks. Set your screenplay aside for a week (or even a month) before reading it again — but pinky swear to me, right here and now, that you will actually read it again. Don’t let it languish in a desktop folder. And don’t submit it to half a dozen screenplay competitions yet, either (yes, I can tell when people submit unrevised screenplays to competitions, especially when a central character’s name changes mid-scene). Consider submitting your precious creation to a professional coverage writer for feedback and guidance on next steps; another set of eyes, especially experienced ones, is invaluable at this stage in the game.
Above all else, be safe, keep your distance from others, and wash your hands. Oh, and maybe save your really cool post-pandemic/apocalyptic film idea for another, healthier time.
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