Screenwriting : Biggest mistake by Daniel Vargas

Not screenwriting wise, but industry wise as an independent film maker. I had one person not sign an injury waiver... that one person split her knee and required stitches!!! But thankfully she was a good sport!

Don't over trust machines et al, Yes software included. I just learned that recently and after a full novel edit I just came out of over a week, I even edited the KU version that after they converted it made tons of weird mistakes. Problem fixed, don't trust, check it again.

Trying force a story to end on the 90th page.

writing a setup because I heard that you needed X pages as a first act. I deleted 12 pages from the start and it made more sense.

Like Peter Roach said. Try to force a page count. I have a script that just ended at 45 pages. It just did. That is how long it wanted to be. Stories are what they need to be.

Not backing up often enough. Lost a 6-hour edit once, because I didn't have auto save turned on. :(

Rushing my writing... I had a problem early in the synopsis and I thought that working on the treatment will help to solve the problem but it get worst and worst...

My biggest mistake has been being afraid to show my work. I started writing screenplays at 19. I just posted a screenplay to Stage 32 a week ago. I'm 43. I've deleted so many scripts, thrown out so many ideas, all because I was afraid. Don't ever do that. Trust yourself. Trust your storytelling ability, your vision. And keep learning. Industry norms change, what is in vacillates all over the place, but good stories will always be in vogue.

Overwriting was my biggest mistake. Didn't have any luck until I started to write more economically like screenplays are supposed to be written.

Not focusing on character enough to drive plot and everything else.

Hi Daniel,

Ways I have improved over the years, in no particular order, include:

1. Making my narrative more visual.

2. Making my characters' paradoxes and contradictions, and my B-Story, more vital to the climax.

3. Using symbolism.

4. Making sure that each scene is moving and advances the story (and stakes).

5. Making sure the logic flow is natural and believable - and even if (and especially if) the story is a fantasy story that can't really happen.

6. Making the drama as strong as I can.

7. Making all of the conflicts (inner and external) as strong as I can.

8. Making all of the beats as natural and as believable in the story logic as I can.

9. Eliminating weak dialogue and unnecessary narrative.

10. Being able to create a large-board overview of a story; being able to break it down scene-by-scene; see the flow of the rising action; chart it out in an outline; and fulfill the outline in the story writing.

11. Not being scared to authentically portray characters in ways that I feel they would really be.

12. Addressing themes and outcomes that are controversial.

13. Writing deeper story lines, actions and consequences, and writing richer characters.

14. Improving the use of irony, reversals, and transformation.

15. Having a checklist of areas and elements in a scene, and taking my time when I check it.

That's just off the top of my head. On a scale of 1 - 100, I think it's safe to say I was maybe between a "10 - 20" when I wrote my first screenplay. I know I really have to be at least a "95" to be in that "Best of the Best of the Best" category.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Daniel, and stay safe!

Daniel, my biggest mistake was in thinking I was ready to pitch a screenplay of mine when, as things turned out, I clearly WASN'T.

I'm learning to get ALL of my ducks in a row first before I take my ideas to someone else.

All the VERY BEST to you, Daniel!

submitting before coverage

The biggest mistake I made was believing that one could earn a living as a screenwriter; I've learned otherwise.

My original background is theatrical and first I tended to write more dramaturgy with dialogue overkill and had to embrace that less is more. Also when I first started I wrote linear (one event happens, then another and another in straight time line) but now I mix and match some with time jumps and several stories interacted.

Thinking the first draft was ready. The first screenplay I ever sent out to be looked at was a first draft with some touch-ups done. The guy sent back what he thought of it. The first sentence read, and I quote, "This poorly written screenplay is an overblown exercise in absurdity."

Needless to say, I've learned to fine-tune my writing and not just send it out off my backfoot.

I used to often put cut to: in my screenplay... everywhere

Have confidence in yourself.

I wrote a screenplay back in '08 that I sat on for ten years. It had gone through eight major rewrites and endless amounts of polishing before I put i away and forgot about it. I've written four other scripts since then (and a few novels that went nowhere), but that screenplay has always been my favorite.

The reason I didn't do shit with it was because I just didn't think people would like it. The script was good in my eyes, but I honestly didn't think anyone else would dig it. The plot and setting are definitely "adult oriented."

I finally got around to entering it into a few festivals sometime in '18 and, to my surprise, it's done exceptionally well. I actually got offers from two different production companies, but COVID fucked that up. Still though, I look at that wasted time and kick myself. If I would have shopped it earlier, it might have been made into a film by now.

Long story short, when I learned that it actually was good, it kickstarted something inside of me. I've been on a mission since then and we'll see what happens in the coming year. Confidence, baby.

Thinking that the story you're working on is the last big one you've got in you. I thought that for years. There is NEVER an end to the stories. Don't be afraid to finish, and move on to the next, because there will always be a next.

Rushing scripts and many mistakes already posted in the comments.

Giving in to fear.

It sounds corny but it's fundamental and I see it everywhere at every level. Fear itself is rational but giving in to it is irrational.

I've gone through so much pain by giving in to fear. I took criticism of my work as proof I didn't have what it takes. I assumed that failure to align with industry members was evidence I had nothing to offer. I let the frustrations of time passing become evidence I would never improve.

I allowed myself to become invalidated by minimum wage readers, forum trolls, and low rent consultants. I bought into the fear of others and gave into that too. I even invested in fear by purchasing evaluations and competition entries that I hoped would help me but wasn't able to handle hurting my ego.

I held back on reading informative books. I decided against submitting my work. I turned my back on an industry I thought I couldn't survive within.

It generated a resentment toward myself, my work, and the world around me. None of that was helping me. I was just cocooning me from this raw vulnerability I was allowing to exist.

As my confidence waned, my unique voice faded. I stopped creating and started imitating in a desperate plea to please anyone I could.

And it made me inauthentic too because, god forbid, someone didn't like me or my views.

When I hit rock bottom, I ended up turning to a book my partner at the time had gifted me a decade prior, way before I had even contemplated trying to write movie scripts. The book was "Quentin Tarantino: Shooting from the Hip", a biography written by Wensley Clarkson in 1995. Re-reading that back about one of my heroes showed me how fearless they had acted. How that had gone with their gut in the scariest of situations. How they had unconditional self belief. I'd been told on so many forums that Tarantino had "paid his dues" and imitating him in anyway was guaranteed failure. Now I just couldn't argue with the facts I held in my hand.

After that, it was like everything went from black and white to colour. I started seeing fear as something I could rationalise and, the more it resolved back to insecurities, the less I felt it and, when I did feel it, I knew it was for good reasons because I was prepared to do something brave.

From then on, my artistic voice poured onto the page and my first drafts started getting me attention. I put all my thoughts out there in blogs and that started connecting with people. I started working and found collaborators admired my transparency.

It's not been plain sailing. I let the fear creep in occasionally and have to recalibrate as I face new challenges but it's fun and it's exciting even when I'm failing as opposed to that world of worry and resentment even when I was winning.

Well said@CJ We have nothing to fear but fear itself. So many artists succumb to wearing a claustrophobic straight jacket that limits organic spontaneous free flow, inhibiting curve ball ideas and originality. Writers need give birth to themselves, not obey the confines preached by so called “Norms from Experts.” Self consciousness and insecurity may kick in but get past that barrier and smell the roses. Great you yourself overcame this hurdle and found success, there aren’t many making green lighted films USA during pandemic but your one of them.

Success; decide if you want it more than you are afraid of it.

Don't worry about the film before you have the screenplay. Focus on crafting a great script first.