Reginée

Ahhhh yes. The first draft. Much is made about the first draft. It's the very necessary first step in perfecting a screenplay. And as we all know, getting to the point of even having a first draft is a task within itself.

Take a look around social media and other sites about writing and you find writers lamenting about how terrible the first draft is. Now can it be annoying as hell to get through the first draft as you make your way through the story in your head (or storyboard or index cards or the random pile of sticky notes around your computer) while a million more bright ideas pop up? Yes. Absolutely. In that, you truly have a friend in me.

However, I do not believe in creating a terrible first draft.

I know, I know. "Blasphemy!" you say. "But everybody else says--" Let me stop you right there and gently remind you to click the button below and so you can read my excellent reasoning for this controversial (maybe?) stance.



The first draft is your first stab at putting your story to paper so to speak. If you're a complete psychopath like myself, you don't even bother outlining your thoughts and just jump straight into writing the script letting it unfold as you go. Of course, the first draft isn't perfect and needs a lot of refining but within it are a lot of ideas and nuances that shouldn't be thrown out. In other words, your first draft is a treasure trove of excellence waiting to be mined and made malleable to fit within your story. Sometimes, an idea or two won't work for a particular script but can be spun off for the premise of another script.

What is terrible or not is subjective but I'm telling you, love your first draft. Hold onto her and treasure her dearly. In other words, it's not possible to have a "terrible" first draft once you understand the possibilities of where it can and will take your script.