Screenwriting : Systems for early drafts? by Eddie Fenton Jones

Being in my early days of writing, I have a quite mechanical system to keep me on track. I start with a lot of notes which I break down into different sections such as Story, Characters, Scenes, Moments, etc. I have a bunch of tools I use to make me think about aspects I may miss, tools like a Character Alignment Matrix. Then I work on a scriptment, one document, broken down into 5 acts, each of which are broken down into 3 chapters, with scene headings and a list of beats. It's then a case of revising the beats and filling in the detail until I have a screenplay. I then go into revision mode and go through everything over and over in different colours until I get a draft I'm happy to share. With a lot of time and practice I'm hoping to refine this down to File > New > Write > Save

Hi Eddie. I tend to work things out in my head, then jot things down on paper, then begin typing out a beat sheet, then begin writing a rough draft. I like to leave some things open or loose to see what comes to mind while writing. When I begin the rewrite process I get more serious and focused on structure and plot, really break it down. After that, I now have something that resembles a screenplay. From there, I go over it and over it and over it and over it again, polishing. I read somewhere that Diablo Cody describes her constant rewriting, her script "grooming," to that of a cat with OCD. Yup, that sounds about right. :)

My metaphor is sculpting. My first draft is a dripping, misshapen lump of clay that I plunk on my writing desk. Rewrites will shape that into a screenplay that may or may not be what I envisioned when I started the process. I fancy myself a structured writer who believes in outlining, but in reality I don't think I've ever fully outlined a story before getting overeager and plunging into the first draft. But that works for me. I discover tons about my story and characters through the detail work of actually writing... stuff I could never learn at the outline phase.

I find intoxicants helpful for free writing. They're not nearly as helpful for editing.

Someone said, I forget who: "never drink while you write. But by all means write while you drink."

I build the story with index cards first. I have the entire movie in 20 sequences on the bulletin board before I write a word of the script.

I like to keep things as simple as I possibly can. I'm not one for writing up copious notes accompanied by even more copious 'story structure' index cards scattered all over the computer and on the walls throughout my house. That system does not work for me; that to me just complicates the process. I have an idea in my head and I go with it. I open up the page and then begin to write. I don't write and write and write and then come back and realise what a diabolical shambles I've just created - I write line by line, scene by scene, act by act so in effect I'm writing, editing, writing, editing, writing, editing as I go along. If a scene heading or a set of dialogue needs to be re-written I do it there and then as I go which leaves me free to either stay on track with the theme I want to create or, it can lead me into a different direction. I find that this system is particularly useful in the middle of the story where the plot can often times become weak ( you know, that spot in the movie where it appears to be dragging) before act three. Doing this can sometimes open up a further sub-plot that I did not envisage when I began the initial write. The advantage of this is that a further (unexpected) sub-plot can not only add interest to the middle of the story, but can also play a definitive role in the end of the story; a role I had not envisaged when I began to write. A good example of this is a story I currently have in my head; it is the story of three people in their mid-twenties that have known each other since early high school; one is a lawyer, one is a red-neck bogan who works in a factory and the other is a part time actoress who is an activist and leads a gothic ligestyle. It has the potential to be a comedy, a serious drama - a movie or a series, but where it will go will depend entirely upon the direction I take in act two.

I've been writing for a long time (wrote my first stage play when I was 9 yrs old) and every project begins the same way: a detailed outline. Also I often have a final image / sentence / phrase in mind -- and I swim towards that lifeboat.