Words on the page

I just have a question (or a few questions) about drafts. How many drafts
do you normally do? How much do you change from one draft to the next? Is it
possible to be 100% happy with a first draft and leave it with that? Thanks.

–Simon A.

Depending on your definition of a "draft," which I’m going to define
as a revision that changes more than five percent of the script, I would say
most of my projects that have made it to screen went through at least twelve
drafts. Some of these went through massive overhauls, like throwing out
70+ pages, while others were much more focused, like changing a villain’s motivation or
clarifying a character’s backstory.

That said, my first drafts tend to feel very much like the final movie that
gets made. Even if a fair amount does end up getting changed before hitting
the cameras, I always make sure the first draft I show people could actually
be shot. Anything less than that – i.e. a rough draft – should be for your
eyes only.

Do you use the "index card" method when preparing
to write a script and if so do you find that your screenplay fleshes out
in the same order as
you wrote it in the index cards?

–Ruble

For those who don’t know about index cards, it’s a technique a lot of screenwriters
use. Each scene or sequence is given its own card. Then the cards are laid
out, pinned up or otherwise arranged to figure out the best structure for the
movie.

While I always outline scripts, for me it’s 50/50 whether I use index cards
or not. For the CHARLIE’S ANGELS sequel they were a big help in pitching the
movie, partly because each card had funny stick figures (e.g. "Car Wash
Angels get the evidence"). I also used different colors for different
types of sequences: action was always on purple cards, while narrative was
blue. When you looked at the whole movie layed out on the table, it was easy
to see the pacing. In discussing an individual
scene, you could point at it.

For a lot of scripts, particularly those without action sequences, index cards
might be a waste of time. A better bet would be to write up an outline or a
treatment that lets you get a sense of the feel of the movie, not just the
big beats. Whatever technique you use, remember that scripts develop their
own logic. Use the cards or the outline as a map, not a Bible.

If you’re editing your own work, how do you stop yourself
from over-editing? To me, it seems like there becomes a point where the editing
is noticible in a negative way on the
screenplay.

–Zack Adcock

Editing is a big part of any writing, but it’s uniquely important in screenwriting,
where so few words have to stand for so much. The most important thing to keep
asking as you edit every word, line and scene is, "Do I need this?" or
more to put it more fully, "How important is this to the story I’m telling?" Often
whole scenes and sequences are felled this way, and it’s better (and cheaper)
to do this kind of work before you’ve spent millions of dollars to film it.

Where editing can go too far is in sacrificing tone or flavor (especially
humor) in service of story efficiency. Good writing has bumps and curves, and
not everything should flow in the fastest possible way. Screenwriting is like
any art that way: deciding what is too much and what is too little, in order
to know what is just right.

How do you (roughly) calculate the ratio of script length to screen time?
Would you use a different calculation for different genres?

–Rebecca

The very general rule is that a page in the script should equal a minute of screen time, which is one reason the industry has standardized around 12-point Courier for the font. Since most screenplays are around 120 pages, the movie should work out to be 120 minutes, or two hours, assuming every scene in the script makes it into the movie.

Of course, a page full of action would likely take longer than a minute, just as a page of rapid-fire dialogue would be a lot faster. That’s why before a movie goes into production, the script is often “timed” to estimate how long the movie will be, so the director and producers can plan accordingly.

A “script timer” is a professional reader who estimates how long each scene will play, and thus, the length of the overall movie. Generally, the script timer will take into account the director’s vision and style when timing the scenes; the David Lynch version of a scene would tend to run longer than the Michael Bay version.

Many script timers are in fact the script supervisors, who will be set during the entire production helping the director, actors and editors maintain continuity and catch mistakes. From the screenwriter’s perspective, this is one of the most important people on the set, since he or she always has the director’s ear, and will be the person correcting actors who mangle their lines.