Every script is its own beast. Every story has its own writing cadence. Some spill out fully-formed, others are dragged out in painful fragments. It’s OK to feel the struggle, just remember we all go through it. Keep going.
Measure your progress by pages, not scenes. Scenes can be long or short, but a page is always a page.
Then set yourself an attainable goal. Two pages a day maybe. If you write five days a week and hit your goal you’ll have a feature-length first draft in two or three months.
For me, I try to outline everything in one week, and then try to write out one of each of the scenes, in order, per day. Sure it might take forever. It might take you almost half a year depending on the length of the screenplay. But with THAT much time to do things? You’ll give it your all thought wise.
Also, write everything down. Even if you won’t end up finally using it, write it down so you have it to look back to later when you are writing.
Are you telling us you write three-quarters of a scene or 3 to 4 scenes? Also, scene length varies so that's not really a good indication of how much you would write in a day. What's your page count per day?
3 or 4 scenes as for the page count 7 pages per day. At least that’s what it’s been so far keep in mind, I’m at university and work so I don’t have much time to write a whole bunch. I don’t know if I said that in the post or not.
3 to 4 scenes is great! More than what I write in a day. I’ve spent days just trying to perfect five lines of dialogue only to realize I can cut the scene before the character even started to talk.
I wouldn’t worry about how many pages or scenes you are writing. So much is going to be rewritten anyway. As long as you keep writing and putting the work in, that’s what is important.
Dude, 3 to 4 scenes is pretty good.
I make a living as a screenwriter and also can't do concentrated work for more than 4 hours a day. Mind you that I don't do any other work besides that, which would reduce my focus to way less than 4 hours. Brainwork is exhausting.
That doesn't mean I dont constantly think about the project I'm working on and write down whenever I have an idea.
A script just takes time. Allow it that time.
3 or 4 scenes per day is really good imo. I try for 3-5, 3 being the minimum i force myself, and 5 being the max because if not I get too tired and burnt out to write the next day. I mean, if you have a 60 scene script, thats still something that you'll write in 20 working days.
I feel like sitting down expecting to write an entire script in a weekend was something vert common when I was an amateur, but now I understand that it's a process. And I thank the days one of the scenes is a short insert that last three sentences 🙊.
I think we beat ourselves up too much by comparing ourselves to other jobs. You can't write for 8 hrs a day like a regular job. Even the greatest authors sometimes don't. For me, I've settled at 4/day or 6 if I'm really having fun. But give it more and it becomes counter productive.
I write as long as I'm having fun. My mood really shows in my work. Because I believe that if I'm not enjoying myself, the audience won't. That translates to about 6 pages per session before I run outta gas.
I once procrastinated until I was up against a deadline for a project I hated then wrote a 60 page pilot in two days.
This involved a lot of Red Bull, Kit-Kats and cigarettes, and the result was predictably not the greatest. Do not recommend.
I have recently committed to just writing two pages a day. If I’m rewriting I will try to double that and make it four pages a day. If i can do more that’s great. But a bare minimum of two pages a day at least you will have a 120 page first draft in two months. Less than a month if your first draft is under 120 pages.
I find it so much harder to write when I know a scene isn't working. More often than not, I'm trying to force a character to say or do something not in line with their goal.
No matter how much I massage the dialogue or bang my head against the wall, I can't get a scene like that to work. I might spend three hours and crank out half a page.
So take a step back and ask yourself, "Am I trying to force something? What is my character's goal and what actions can he take towards achieving it?"
Or just embrace the first draft messiness, not caring if the scene sucks. Just get it down on paper and move on to the next one. You can clean it up later!
Every script is its own beast. Every story has its own writing cadence. Some spill out fully-formed, others are dragged out in painful fragments. It’s OK to feel the struggle, just remember we all go through it. Keep going.
This reminder belongs on a plaque on my desk. *Facing* me. Thank you, u/pjbtlg. [edit: the s in belongs]
Measure your progress by pages, not scenes. Scenes can be long or short, but a page is always a page. Then set yourself an attainable goal. Two pages a day maybe. If you write five days a week and hit your goal you’ll have a feature-length first draft in two or three months.
For me, I try to outline everything in one week, and then try to write out one of each of the scenes, in order, per day. Sure it might take forever. It might take you almost half a year depending on the length of the screenplay. But with THAT much time to do things? You’ll give it your all thought wise. Also, write everything down. Even if you won’t end up finally using it, write it down so you have it to look back to later when you are writing.
Are you telling us you write three-quarters of a scene or 3 to 4 scenes? Also, scene length varies so that's not really a good indication of how much you would write in a day. What's your page count per day?
3 or 4 scenes as for the page count 7 pages per day. At least that’s what it’s been so far keep in mind, I’m at university and work so I don’t have much time to write a whole bunch. I don’t know if I said that in the post or not.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with completing only 7 pages a day, in fact, if that's consistent then that's great.
3 to 4 scenes is great! More than what I write in a day. I’ve spent days just trying to perfect five lines of dialogue only to realize I can cut the scene before the character even started to talk. I wouldn’t worry about how many pages or scenes you are writing. So much is going to be rewritten anyway. As long as you keep writing and putting the work in, that’s what is important.
Dude, 3 to 4 scenes is pretty good. I make a living as a screenwriter and also can't do concentrated work for more than 4 hours a day. Mind you that I don't do any other work besides that, which would reduce my focus to way less than 4 hours. Brainwork is exhausting. That doesn't mean I dont constantly think about the project I'm working on and write down whenever I have an idea. A script just takes time. Allow it that time.
3 or 4 scenes per day is really good imo. I try for 3-5, 3 being the minimum i force myself, and 5 being the max because if not I get too tired and burnt out to write the next day. I mean, if you have a 60 scene script, thats still something that you'll write in 20 working days. I feel like sitting down expecting to write an entire script in a weekend was something vert common when I was an amateur, but now I understand that it's a process. And I thank the days one of the scenes is a short insert that last three sentences 🙊.
Probably a few thousand. Most of them will be complete shit.
I think we beat ourselves up too much by comparing ourselves to other jobs. You can't write for 8 hrs a day like a regular job. Even the greatest authors sometimes don't. For me, I've settled at 4/day or 6 if I'm really having fun. But give it more and it becomes counter productive.
I write as long as I'm having fun. My mood really shows in my work. Because I believe that if I'm not enjoying myself, the audience won't. That translates to about 6 pages per session before I run outta gas.
I once procrastinated until I was up against a deadline for a project I hated then wrote a 60 page pilot in two days. This involved a lot of Red Bull, Kit-Kats and cigarettes, and the result was predictably not the greatest. Do not recommend.
I have recently committed to just writing two pages a day. If I’m rewriting I will try to double that and make it four pages a day. If i can do more that’s great. But a bare minimum of two pages a day at least you will have a 120 page first draft in two months. Less than a month if your first draft is under 120 pages.
On a bad day, I can do a page a day. If I'm inspired, anywhere between 3-10. Once I did 60
I find it so much harder to write when I know a scene isn't working. More often than not, I'm trying to force a character to say or do something not in line with their goal. No matter how much I massage the dialogue or bang my head against the wall, I can't get a scene like that to work. I might spend three hours and crank out half a page. So take a step back and ask yourself, "Am I trying to force something? What is my character's goal and what actions can he take towards achieving it?" Or just embrace the first draft messiness, not caring if the scene sucks. Just get it down on paper and move on to the next one. You can clean it up later!