Rewriting

So you’ve gotten some notes and you have to rewrite your script. Your stomach drops, confusion sets in and the thought of where to begin brings about a generalized sense of morbid anxiety only rivaled by the Sadie Hawkins dance in 1978.

You’ve had six sets of notes and know something has to change – but what? Ask yourself: is this a page one rewrite? That’s industry parlance for wow you have a lot of work to do. Or do you simply need to get in there and do some surgery? Which one is it – chainsaw or scalpel?

First, seriously, take a week or two off from thinking about the script. If you have the luxury – do it. Ruminate on the rewrite, gain some distance, do something else. Then, come up with a Rewrite Plan.

What is a rewrite plan? Well, gather your notes all in one place and categorize them:

Soft, unoriginal or confusing premise
Faulty main character arc
Missing or lame antagonist
Not enough conflict; linear narrative
Missing stakes
No ticking clock
Action lines need work
Logic or world issues
Missing theme
Scenes are too long
Structure in trouble

…and so forth. Now, if you have that kind of all-encompassing list – you are looking at a page one rewrite. Do not waver; writing is not for the faint of heart. Put on your Saint George coat of armor, unsheathe that sword and prepare to kill your darlings.

What most writers do is start to rewrite without a plan. That is to say, they change as they go. We’ve all done it. You make a change on page three and then you have to page forward to page sixteen, then page forty-six, page seventy-nine and again on - oops! – page twelve and nineteen too. The change(s) ripple forth in a wave of destruction. It is a living nightmare, impossible keep track of and what you will generally wind up with is a heap of sticks on the beach a thousand times worse than the draft pre-rewrite. Stop. List your notes. Make a plan. Focus and set goals.

If your biggest note was a soft, unoriginal or confusing premise, you have a big decision to make (cue the Clash): Should I stay or should I go? If most of the feedback you got was centered on that premise, and if you perceive that ever so nicely, your peers or friends are giving you the kindly hint that the script is really DOA – ask yourself this: how much passion do I have for this material? Was this perhaps an exercise? Or are you absolutely positive that this material is worth reviving?

If you don’t want to give up on the script then your premise is where you need to get out the chainsaw. If it’s not original – how can you dig deeper and make it so? Is there a new twist or way in to this story you hadn’t thought of before? Can you come up with a more conceitful main character with conflict and stakes attendant to that completely original, one-of-a-kind, eccentric personality? Perhaps the premise might be recast in a different genre; try swapping genres to see if the premise perks up. Maybe your main character is really your antagonist and vice versa. Walk or rewrite – which is it gonna be? If you are willing to do a page one write on a soft premise, then by all means go for it.

Say your premise is fine but some other elements are problematic. Start from the top of your priority list: don’t mess with action lines, scene descriptions and the like until you’ve worked out the larger problems. It’s up to you to decide in which order you will approach this rewrite but generally, I’d recommend starting with character. What is the note, exactly? Your character feels two-dimensional? If this note strikes a chord, then take a step back and do some character work on ol’ Felicity or Ferdinand. Write a backstory, answer some character questions, imagine the actor you’d like to see in the role. Now open your pages and add, delete or otherwise imbue your character what more dimension. Now when you do this, you will be tempted to write a whole new, hiliarious set piece! Don’t do it. Stay very focused.

This is not to say that if you are doing a rewrite pass on character work and you get sidetracked with a fantastic description of the forest through which Felicity is streaking that you can’t do it. Just remember to set focused goals for yourself.

Today I will:
Work out
Get jumbo latté
Kill time on internet, reading The Rouge Wave
Work on rewrite: Do character work on Felicity; first act only
Therapy
Make cocktail
Catch Oprah
Etc.

Don’t jump into the script, in other words, and go all Rambo on it. Your script will turn into a bombed out mess and you’ll find yourself with the worst imaginable problem: a whole new set of problems. Which you will hear about in your notes. A whole new set of notes. Like an Alaskan sled dog running the Iditarod, you will run out of notes, readers, friends and the will to live in short order. You will come to in a darkened igloo. Alone and afraid.

It pays to make a plan. Get notes from someone you really trust. Make a list of priorities for the rewrite. Stay focused, make a plan and above all, don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. When you review scenes, before you hit that delete key ask yourself whether the scene might be better combined with another scene or whether it might work better in a different spot. Can two characters be combined to make one super character? Maybe your midpoint is really your page ten. Avoid the temptation to write or add new material, but rather pluck out of the ruins what is really working or has the potential to work. Truss up the foundation first, think about adding on that new den/family room later - if ever. Don’t slash and burn. Stay calm. Use what you have.

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