I have just begun my How To Rewrite Your Screenplay in 8 Weeks summer class, which I have taught for over 10 years. Each student will be able to complete a new draft of his or her current script. There are many reasons why my writing system is able to help students achieve a full rewrite in such a short time, and here are three ways to augment your own personal process.
The basic principle of my writing system is to accept that what you think you should do is not necessarily what you need to do. Albert Einstein wrote “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” The following exercises are ways of changing your thinking so you can get your script finished efficiently.
1. TAKE A REST
Before you tackle a revision, you must accept the fact that you need time away from a project. Even with a hard deadline, you must find a way to mentally forget what your script is supposed to be about. My colleague, Brian, a well-known artist teaches outdoor painting at The Bethesda Fountain in Central Park for New York University. At the end of each class, he often finds that his some of his students who had begun enthusiastically end up in despair and want to destroy their work. He insists that they wait a week before beginning the bonfire.
When the students return to class, they are always surprised that their work is not as bad as they had thought. When they ask why, Brian always smiles and says, “ You just had to wait until you forgot the idea you had about what you wanted to paint, so that you could appreciate what you actually did paint.” So, by putting the screenplay aside however briefly, you will change the way you are thinking about the script because you will be able to see what you actually wrote, not whether it matches your idea of what you were planning to write.
Here’s the exercise:
Step 1: Force yourself to put the script aside for 24 hours.
Step 2: During that time, do anything necessary (as long as it’s legal!) to avoid thinking about your story.
Step 3: Set your alarm 2 hours earlier than normal, and begin rereading as soon as you wake up without stopping to make notes. You will be able to appreciate what you wrote and think of the revision as an improvement rather than as surgery.
2. READ A SHORT STORY THAT WAS ADAPTED INTO A FILM
Reading fiction after you have spent a long time writing in screenplay mode will help you change your thinking because the forms are so different. Looking at the source material for a successful film such as The Shawshank Redemption or Brokeback Mountain and then writing about your own story as if it were fiction will stimulate your brain to retell your story in a different way.
Here’s the exercise:
Step 1: Read a short story that was made into a film.
Step 2: Set a timer for 15 minutes
Step 3: Have your main character tell the story in the first person tense as if it were fiction. The first line of the exercise is, “Well, what happened was…”
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE OF A PRODUCED MOVIE SCRIPT
This is a powerful exercise. By outlining another writer’s work, you will stimulate yourself to think differently about structure. Getting the structure of a script right is a fundamental step in completing a project, but is perhaps the hardest thing to self-critique. I recommend outlining a produced screenplay similar to the story of the script you are writing.
Here’s a Bonus Tip: Try to read as a fan, because it’s the appreciation of a fellow writer’s craft that somehow magically allows you to correct your own mistakes with ease.
Here’s the exercise:
Step 1: Read and outline a script similar to your own.
Step 2: Outline your own screenplay the same way.
Step 3: Compare the outlines and improve your own by watching the film that was made. Ask what scenes did or did not make it onto the screen and figure out why.
While there are many more exercises that I use to teach effective rewriting, these three techniques are fun, time efficient, and easy to use. I hope you will give these exercises a trial, and let me know how they worked for you.
Good luck and happy writing!
About Marilyn Horowitz
Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning New York University professor, author, producer, and Manhattan-based writing consultant, who works with successful novelists, produced screenwriters, and award-winning filmmakers. She has a passion for helping novices get started. Since 1998 she has taught thousands of aspiring screenwriters to complete a feature length screenplay using her method. She is also a judge for the Fulbright Scholarship Program for film and media students. In 2004 she received the coveted New York University Award for Teaching Excellence.
Professor Horowitz has created a revolutionary system that yields a new, more effective way of writing. She is the author of six books that help the writer learn her trademarked writing system, including editions for college, high school, and middle school. The college version is a required text at New York University and the University of California, Long Beach.
Professor Horowitz has written several feature-length screenplays. Her production credits include the feature films And Then Came Love (2007). Her new novel, The Book of Zev is available on Amazon.
