People who do 6 to 15 rewrites....

[GonnaBeFamous]

I've seen people claim to do 8 or 10 or 12 rewrites.

I'm curiou about this. Are you ever taking a breather from your work. Like say 3 weeks to 6 weeks to give yourself an objective view? I honestly think either these people have become obsessive compulsive over their work, or are not giving themselves a breather from it to allow some objectivity and relearn their material when they go back to it. I'm not talking aobut dialogue fixing. Ive changed a person's lines many many times to try and get it right.

Or are there truly scripts that are so tough they need to be done 6 to 10 times to get perfect and not the result of a badly written first draft?

[icerose]

HEHE, I'm not that dedicated. I would have burned my stories by now if I had to rewrite them that many times.

[GonnaBeFamous]

HEHE, I'm not that dedicated. I would have burned my stories by now if I had to rewrite them that many times.

Yeah, my first drafts on 2 of my scripts were complete trash(ok trash is harsh, but nowhere near quality) and my 3rd is very mediocre, but on all 3 it looks like they only need one REALLY good rewrite, then after that it's just upcoming tweaks here and their and dialogue fixing.

[preyer]

i can only comment on fiction writing, but three drafts for me tends to be my limit, though it's sometimes hard to draw a line when one draft ends and another begins. i'd say three drafts is my average, but you'll find a few professionals who do five to ten as were they trying to write the best story ever. i honestly don't know what can be improved upon by the ninth draft even when you're aiming for literary quality that scripts don't necessarily demand.

[dpaterso]

Gonna, you sure do worry about what people say or claim. Who are these mysterious people anyway? Are they quoted in industry publications or do they frequent another message board, or what?

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[GonnaBeFamous]

Gonna, you sure do worry about what people say or claim. Who are these mysterious people anyway? Are they quoted in industry publications or do they frequent another message board, or what?

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

LOL, I saw people on this messagboard, even Joe said occasionally he did a dozen rewrites.

[sspunisher]

People. Someone. My friend's mother's father's mistress. The AOL Mail Demon Guy. I think they all frequent the same country club, spreading these nasty viscious rules and rumors and expect us all to obey.

"They" are probably the same people who created Sweetest Day, disguised under the tickly cuddly-cute name of "Hallmark." That's all the husbands and boyfriends of the world need, yet another "important" occassion we might forget.

Well I spit on your Sweetest Day. And your 120 pages. And the 30 minute swim/eat rule. For I am a rebel. Hear me roar.

Check please.

[dpaterso]

LOL, I saw people on this messagboard, even Joe said occasionally he did a dozen rewrites.There's a big difference between occasionally tinkering with a screenplay to improve it, and doing a rewrite. And an even bigger difference between doing a rewrite off your own back, and doing a rewrite because your agent or a producer requests changes.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[PsychoticWriter]

I do no more than three drafts of a screenplay and if i'm still not happy with it then I just file it away and work on something else.

[JustinoXXV]

Rewrite implies just that, that you've rewritten the entire script from scratch. If all you need is minor editing and tweaking done, that's called a polish. They're two different things.

[Enigma]

People. Someone. My friend's mother's father's mistress. The AOL Mail Demon Guy. I think they all frequent the same country club, spreading these nasty viscious rules and rumors and expect us all to obey.

"They" are probably the same people who created Sweetest Day, disguised under the tickly cuddly-cute name of "Hallmark." That's all the husbands and boyfriends of the world need, yet another "important" occassion we might forget.

Well I spit on your Sweetest Day. And your 120 pages. And the 30 minute swim/eat rule. For I am a rebel. Hear me roar.

Check please.

Man, whatever you're smokin', can I have some? http://absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Joe Calabrese]

For the record. A dozen was a figure of speech and refered mostly to polishes.

The most rewrites I have done on a project would be maybe 4 and the most polishes I have ever done was perhaps 6 or 7 and that was many years ago.

When starting out, we all tend to obsess over our work more than needed, getting everything just right, if there is such an animal.

Of course we all have our own speed and ways of doing things, but try and shoot for no more than 3 rewrites and 3 polishes, which would be the same deal a producer would expect from you once hired/script sold. From the start of draft 2 till finished should take around 10 weeks. In the business world a rewrite would take a month or less and polishes in days or a week at most. If you want to make it in the industry, you need to think and write quick on your feet. A year for a rewrite or even six weeks inbetween rewrites is unexceptable, considering once greenlit (preproduction start and not date of script option or sale) a project is usually filmed within two to three months, not years.

[Enigma]

Put another way; "Work due yesterday may or may not be requested by noon tomorrow." :o

[NikeeGoddess]

i'm sure these rewriting/polishing techniques that you're referring to are for spec scripts. after the script is sold there will be several more. you can count on it. what you cannot count on is whether YOU will be hired to rewrite your own script or whether they'll hired a better and/or seasoned writer to do it.

i believe Total Recall makes the record with 42 fully paid rewrites (post sale/pre production) with different writers (and some the same, of course). it started with richard dreyfuss playing the lead a few in between to arnold schwartzenegger. so you can see how and why rewrites were needed. different actors. different directors. new producers. they all want their say. and they all want rewrites.

[Joe Calabrese]

Another thing you can be sure of.

If it takes you weeks or months to do a rewrite or a polish, you will be replaced for certain.

Working fast doesn't guarantee anything either.

A rewrite I was hired to do last year, the producer wanted the full rewrite in 30 days, which I did in 20. He then sat on it for months without giving me any feedback, just giving me the "trying to secure the funds to go into preproduction." I called him periodically to remind him I was still alive. I later found out that all the while he rewrote the thing himself, not because I was or wasn't quick or my writing wasn't good, just not what he envisioned.

Producers know one thing-- what they like and it is usually changes day by day.

BTW, the project has died and I doubt will ever get made. But such is the business. Very few films get made, even fewer make it to the screen.

Hey, I still got paid, so I can't complain.

[Joe Calabrese]

BTW Enigma.
That icon you keep trying to insert, just type a ":" and a "o" together.
No need for the img tag.

Like this

:o

[Enigma]

BTW Enigma.
That icon you keep trying to insert, just type a ":" and a "o" together.
No need for the img tag.

Like this

:o

It works when I'm on IE, but not Firefox for some reason. God, I hate computers!http://absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon8.gif

[Boo_Radley]

Gonna - don't confuse a rewrite with a polish. A rewrite is something which adds, subtracts or otherwise alters elements of a screenplay which affect the characters, story or plot. After a rewrite, a script about a pair of guys robbing a bank could end up being a script about a bank teller who goes on vacation to Jamaica.

A polish is tightening things up; streamlining dialogue, clearing up your action/descriptions, making sure you don't have any glaring mistakes, things of that nature - making things pretty.

[Enigma]

A rewrite I was hired to do last year, the producer wanted the full rewrite in 30 days, which I did in 20.

When we get an assignment, there's always a deadline attached. But, we've been around long enough to know that if it's, say, the 1st, that means the AE needs to get it to re-write by the 15th and to his boss by the 30th, who will send it up the ladder by the 30th - OF THE NEXT MONTH!

We have two "rules": 1. Never, but never have an intern call us, unless they need killin'! 2. Don't lie about the deadline (which they ignore, which we ignore, generally). A 3rd, unspoken one is: even if we have it done with 10 days to spare, sit on it and NEVER send it until 10 minutes before deadline. It works. Why send it in early when you can give 'em ulcers? http://absolutewrite.com/forums/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Joe Calabrese]

To quote the great, late James Doohan (God rest his liver) in the role that made him an engineering legend.

(paraphrasing)

SCOTTY
Now son, why did ya tell the captain it would take
an hour to fix that blasted thing?

GEORDI
Because, that's how long it will take.

SCOTTY
Ah Laddy. Always pad your repair estimates by a factor of four.

GEORDI
Why?

SCOTTY
How else do you think I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?.

[Enigma]

To quote the great, late James Doohan (God rest his liver) in the role that made him an engineering legend.

(paraphrasing)

SCOTTY
Now son, why did ya tell the captain it would take
an hour to fix that blasted thing?

GEORDI
Because, that's how long it will take.

SCOTTY
Ah Laddy. Always pad your repair estimates by a factor of four.

GEORDI
Why?

SCOTTY
How else do you think I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?.

True! Funny. And we figured that out years ago!

[GonnaBeFamous]

I guess I was confusing rewrites then. I've been doing more then a 6 week polish because the story is essentially the same. :)

[sspunisher]

Whoa for a sec I thought Geordi died??

I grew up watching Reading Rainbow man.

Sorry but I have to do this....AHEM...

Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high!
Take a look, it’s in a book - Reading Rainbow!

I can go anywhere!
Friends to know and ways to grow - Reading Rainbow!

I can be anything!
Take a look, it’s in a book - Reading Rainbow!

Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow, Reading Rainbow!

[Joe Calabrese]

ss.

I hope you were joking.

Scotty's dead, Jim.

[sspunisher]

Actually Joe, I wasn't...but I think I have all the Star Trek character's confused.

Uh oh, here comes the swarm of angry Trekkies.

:box:

[Mac H.]

To quote the great, late James Doohan (God rest his liver) in the role that made him an engineering legend.

(paraphrasing)

SCOTTY
Now son, why did ya tell the captain it would take
an hour to fix that blasted thing?

GEORDI
Because, that's how long it will take.

SCOTTY
Ah Laddy. Always pad your repair estimates by a factor of four.

GEORDI
Why?

SCOTTY
How else do you think I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?.

That episode was one of the finest examples of 'star-from-the-old-series-in-a-cameo-in-the-new-series' plot device. I always thought that it was a plot device to be avoided until I saw that episode.

Mac