The Art of the Rewrite: Be Your Script's Guardian, Not Its Mommy!

The Art of the Rewrite:
Be Your Script’s Guardian, Not It’s Mommy!

By Danny Manus

I have a writer client who started with a confused plot, unclear genre, superficial characters, and repetitive dialogue. We went through her script in-depth and when she went back to rewrite, she let it all go. She took in the advice and notes and really let it sink in. She was then able to look at her script from someone else’s point of view – not as the script’s Mother, but as its Guardian – and there is a difference. 

Mommies (and Daddies) love their kids unconditionally just the way they are; Guardians help children in ways that are best for their development. I’m convinced the best way to rewrite is by acting as your script’s Guardian – not its Mother! 

The rewriting process is often harder than the actual initial writing process. It’s not just spewing ideas on a page in some sort of formulaic order - it’s changing and perfecting something you have poured your heart and soul into – something you have probably carried around with you for months or years (like a baby). 

It requires a different mindset, different type of discipline, different set of skills, and a different type of personality than simply writing requires. You need to be collaborative, malleable, open, ego-less, and willing to admit wrongdoing. Writers often resent executives and consultants because no one likes to take “parenting” advice, right? Especially from people without “kids” of their own. But rewriting is a crucial process that could be the key to your screenwriting career. 

Not all writers are able to rewrite, especially their own work. Writers always ask how they can ensure that if their project is bought and developed, they will be able to stay attached and continue to work on it. It’s by learning how to be a re-writer. 

Your first draft is done and you’ve already done your preliminary self-edit and gone through it all, getting it down to the right page count, etc., and it seems to work. Great….time to change everything. There are tons of teachers and books out there that focus on actual structure and the art of rewriting. And it is an art form. But for me, there are 4 basic steps for new writers when it comes to rewriting. 

I think the first step is to go through your characters. Make sure each one is necessary.  Make sure that you have introduced each in the best and most visual or compelling way possible. Making a character’s initial description pop is the easiest way to make a character likable. Make sure each major character has not only a distinct personality, but also an arc and specific motivations (physical, emotional, etc) for their actions. And make sure that each one has achieved their purpose and their arcs are realized in the end.

Easiest way to do this is to literally plot out (like an outline) where each character starts from, where they end up, and the major beats in between and make sure those beats are plotted well and work logically. This is exceptionally helpful for TV Pilots, where you are creating a character bible.

Make sure your characters feel original and cast-able. Being their Guardian will stop you from falling victim to Ugly Baby Syndrome – where you love them because you’re so close to it, even though everyone else thinks they just “take their breath away.”

The second step is to go through your actual story.  Do you have enough conflict – internal and external - and is that conflict satisfying and interesting enough to keep us reading? Do you have a strong climax and a strong build leading up to it? Do you have a clear inciting incident? Do you have a clear turning point in the second act that raises the stakes? Do you have a third act twist? Do you have a satisfying resolution? Does it feel visual and commercial? Basically - does your story feel like a movie or does it feel like a book, or a short film that has been stretched 100 pages?

The third step is to go through and self-edit your descriptions and dialogue. Look for lines that feel awkward, lines that don’t have anything to do with or progress the story, and obviously grammar, typos, etc. C    heck to see that your scenes don’t end 2 lines too late. Look for overly verbose or novelistic description that isn’t something we can see on screen. Yes, I know Quentin Tarantino does it. When you win an Oscar, you can do it too! Look for extra scene headings or unnecessary format (including camera direction) which will take up extra space and take the reader out of the story. Look for and try to get rid of danglers (lines with one word on them), and make sure your voice shines. 

The last step…Give it to a professional and get constructive feedback, criticism, notes, analysis, etc. Sure you can give it to your mom, your roommate, and even your writers group. But unless you’re getting notes from someone who knows what they are talking about, it’s basically the blind leading the blind.  If you’re going to spend thousands of dollars pitching your script, going to conferences, entering contests, sending query letters, etc., isn’t it worth spending a few hundred getting real professional feedback so you know where your project stands? 

There is such a thing as re-writing too much. Somewhere around draft 8 or so, writers often hit a crest – where they have made great strides from their first draft but now all the rethinking and doubt take over and they begin to take the story in bad directions. If you fear this is happening, it’s time to take a step back and put it aside for 2-3 weeks. Don’t force it - you will only be defeating yourself. It’s like spanking a child – if you do it once or twice, the kid might get the point. But if you spank it constantly over every little thing, then the punishment loses its meaning.

If you are on your 4^th draft and you’re wondering how much more rewriting it’s going to take, stop wondering. There’s no answer. But I can promise you, it won’t be perfect on the 4^th draft! If it’s your first script ever, it probably won’t be the 10^th draft. Patience, grasshopper. Don’t get discouraged! Just know that the skills you are learning while rewriting are what’s going to help you stay in the Hollywood game and attached to your projects longer because you will have an advantage over writers who can’t deal with this process. 

You’ve heard the terms “Don’t be precious” and “Kill your babies.” Well, all the more reason not to think of your script as your own children, but rather as someone else’s kids that you are entrusted with to raise for a while. And hopefully you turn them into contributing members of Hollywood society and not juvenile delinquents. 

-- Danny Manus