Screenwriting : Those stories that just don't... by Emi Sano

There is a script I finished last November. It was hard to finish. Have yet to go back and look at it. O know I should to see if there is anything that could be done with it. The concept has potential but I was just not happy with my product. Eventually, I will go back to it. It is a judgement call per individual. Sock it away, forget about it, then come back with fresh eyes to see if there is anything to be done with it.

I tend to find them after a few years and I'm like "Oh! This has potential" and then I work on it. But there are some that just doesn't work, no matter how hard I try. I always think, "What was I thinking when I wrote this?"

Then you need to move on. Leave it as a learning experience. Either that or look at the characters, story arcs, etc. Anything you might be able to save for another idea. Not every idea will be a winner.

I've written stuff I thought was shite, come back to it later, and it was still shite! But I've either managed to figure out what the story actually is and do a rewrite or merge it with another half-baked idea and form a new story. Nothing is wasted. You'll always have that script at the back of your mind and be thinking of ways to improve it or take from it. A script I'm working on now, I've taken about half the scenes from a previous script that, no matter how much I brainstormed the story, something was missing. If the horse is dead, send it to the cryogenics lab. Maybe in the future technology can bring it back to life. Good luck.

For me it depends on how drawn I feel to it. If it seems like a chore to return to it I get quiet and do some story reflection. Is it Resistance and fear keeping me from returning to it, or have I genuinely lost interest in the story? Sometimes I think we mature past an idea and it's time to move on. Other times we just need to dig in and get on with making the script better, especially if we still feel the pull of the story.

I have a vault. Sometimes "that scene" comes back. Sometimes it's dismissed as a youthful mistake. Like an ex-girlfriend who looked good at the time, hey, open the drawer you see why she's in there.

It depends on why I hate it. I put aside a family film I was working on because my third act was nowhere near as family friendly as I wanted it to be but the solution came to me out of the blue the other day so I dusted it off.

When I don't have any inspiration for a new screenplay, I'll go dust off an old one and totally rewrite it. Take it in a new direction or give it a new perspective that I hadn't thought of previously. Like my last screenplay, I rewrote it from the perspective of the antagonist and found that he wasn't really bad, he was just a victim of circumstances beyond his control with limited options staring him in the face. The real bad guy was his boss who believed he could make the world a better place by killing off people with a low IQ.

Twice now I've been lead into thinking a script is rubbish and dumped it on a feedback site. In both cases the scripts ended up getting featured and championed. Sometimes you have to rediscover your own love for your work. In some cases I've turned them into shorts. In others I've stripped out good scenes and characters and recycled them.

I always tend to leave them for a while. Usually, I've discovered that the script is a no go throughout the outlining process, but I do have one or two I completed and keep meaning to go back over.

I put them down, finish another script, then go back and rewrite! Don't give up until the fat lady sings!!!

I invite them to an annual tour of the old gold rush buildings in Placerville, CA. After that, I give them the keys to a rental car and tell them to meet me in Lake Tahoe. Unbeknownst to them, I've cut the brake lines. If the hairpin turns on U.S. 50 don't get them, the drop in altitude completes the job. A good planner always has a backup plan.

I take the learning and leave the dross. Once you've been doing it long enough, you're always eager to crank out something new and fresh. Refurbishing old work seems like running into an ex-friend at a party.

Before bringing Supernatural to television, creator Eric Kripke had been developing the series for nearly ten years, having been fascinated with urban legends since he was a child. Although he had envisioned Supernatural as a movie, he spent years unsuccessfully pitching it as a series. The concept went through several phases before becoming the eventual product, shifting from the original idea of an anthology series to one of tabloid reporters driving around the country in a van "fighting the demons in search of the truth. Never discount old work if you believe in the concept strong enough. It may not come through in your first vision but keep working if you believe it in strong enough. It took him ten years to sell and it has run for 10 seasons.

I think the put away and come back comments are great, which is really what I do most often. I believe that looking through different lenses at old work is good practice. Can you see your drama as a horror? Can your horror take place elsewhere? Is there a door you can open for the script/story?

I have a stack of screenplays that just don't work on my shelf, waiting for me to figure out how to make them work. And it happens every once in a while.

I'm with Erick. I try putting all my screenplay away, then come back with fresh eyes. It doesn't all the time, but there is some improvements.