Pitching your script

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FJ and G

I read somewhere that a very famous screenwriter always pitched the first draft of his screenplay in the trash. :eek

I personally could never pitch a script into the trash.

The first point the author was trying to make is to "kill your darlings" unless they are crucial to the story you are trying to tell.

The second point was to finish your first draft, with all of the flaws in it. Don't stop until you are done. Plenty of time later to clean it up.

Why?

Speaking from personal experience, I have been trying to collaborate with another aspiring screenwriter on a bodybuilding type script, sort of a mixture of Pi and Fight Club.

Well, he had grandiose ideas and went deep into research. We both attended bodybuilding meets. In fact, he became so overly engrossed in research that he eventually gave up on the script.

Of course I dumped him as a collaborator and the script idea is in storage for now.

3 step lesson learned:

1. Write the script and pitch your collaborator if you must.
2. Pitch your babies
3. Pitch your script to the agent, producer, or whomever you must.

Hmmmm. Would you say that "pitch" might be one of them thar oxymorons?
 

NikeeGoddess

I read somewhere that a very famous screenwriter always pitched the first draft of his screenplay in the trash.

and then you say

3. Pitch your script to the agent, producer, or whomever you must.

if you really want to be a writer then you need a firmer grasp of the english language. please consult your dictionary on these 2 different meanings of the word "pitch".

[[[the NikeeGoddess just shakes her head]]]
 

Hamboogul

FJ and G,

Can you repost to clarify your three observations.

If you mean pitch to mean "throw away" or "discard" say so. If you mean pitch to mean "to advertise", say that.
 

NikeeGoddess

if rhyming is your game them maybe you should write lymericks
 

Optimus Maximus

:lol

I love how someone who writes a sentence like, "if rhyming is your game them maybe you should write lymericks" indignantly suggests that someone else learn to use a dictionary.

Now THAT, folks, is comedy!
 

NikeeGoddess

hardly a comparison of the grammar crimes of misdemeaners
but i hope you blokes don't write comedy - that's weak!

write on!
 

shotgun mouth

pitching your script

maybe the point wasn't that you should kill your darlings. maybe the guy just throws out his first drafts because a first draft is his way of figuring out the story, same as some people outline, and once he's got the story figured out, he wants to start fresh with quality writing instead of diddling something that'll always be sub-par.
 
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