2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge!

In March, write a draft of an original movie or TV script.

Writers continue to step up to the 2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge. Some are jumping in to rewrite a screenplay. Others to generate story ideas.

Whatever you choose to do, the point is to use the period of March 1-March 31 as a concentrated creative effort a la NANOWRIMO.

As motivation, check out this cool calendar created by Steven Dudley:

You may download a PDF of the calendar here.

Success stories from previous Zero Draft Thirty Challenge writers:

13th day of the challenge and I’m at 94 pages and the story goes from start to finish. Spending the next few days cleaning up some scenes that were just shelled out as a bridge to get me further along. Feeling great! This has been such a fun and rewarding experience. Thanks Scott Myers for organizing it and everyone else for opening up and showing us all how the sausage is made. Terrific group!

— Jason Richardson

DONE WITH ZERO DRAFT! Page Count: 86 pages. So stoked! It is completely different than what I had thought it would be. Yay for not being attached to results and just allowing things to organically flow. I made it a point not to go back and revised at all so I’m anxious to read through it and see how bad it is. Haha. But I do know that I surprised myself with big turns / twists in the story that felt very organic and powerful as “MOMENTS” not just “MOVES”. Thank you again Scott for inspiring this. Let us continue to CREATE in this world, despite those few terrorists in the world that seek to destroy. Sending my best wishes to everyone!

— Chris Folkens

Well, I finished my first draft of my first script ever. This is just the beginning. Prepare yourself, Brother printer.

André: *draws the pen with sword form* Here. (beat) I (beat) Come.

— André Hollstein

WOW!!! Simply wow. Through illness, traveling, moving and my five year old’s birthday, I have just typed FADE OUT: I have no idea how it was so easy, yes easy, but I think it’s largely in part to this group. After all, I get up every morning and type out something to inspire my fellow writers and thus I find myself inspired. You guys ROCK!!! So now I will continue with my Zero Draft and start making it a first draft. I honestly cannot believe I am finished. That said, the title, THE EXIT INTERVIEW (tagline) “What happens when the one that got away, comes back?” (The you see Timmy) “Sometimes you have to know when to exit and sometimes you need to know when to stay.” Again, I honestly could not have done this without this group and Scott Myers guiding us.

— R.m. Elliott

Here is a ZDT primer:

Why did you start Zero Draft Thirty?

NaNoWriMo, the write a novel in a month outfit, used to run Script Frenzy, but stopped it in 2012. So why not fill that space here to coincide with our writerly cohorts as they plow through their novels?

Why the name Zero Draft Thirty?

When I posted the initial announcement, I made a point that this is not about writing perfect pages, rather this is about pounding out a first draft. I noted how some writers call that initial iteration of a script a vomit draft. Some a muscle draft. And some a zero draft. GITS reader Orange Pop came up with a great title: Zero Draft Thirty.

Zero Draft = Get The Damn Thing Done Draft!
Thirty = November 1-November 30

You can shorthand it: ZDT or ZD30.

You mentioned Twitter. Does the Challenge have a hashtag?

Indeed it does. As you may know, I am all over Twitter, currently with 49,000 followers (@GoIntoTheStory). So whenever you Tweet anything to do with ZDT, use this hashtag:

#ZD30SCRIPT

What if we want to write a TV pilot or rewrite a script?

Absolutely you can use ZDT for any scripted project. In fact, I’m going to be rewriting — again — the script I wrote in November.

So how do we interact?

Every day, I will do a ZD30 post here. In it, I will include an inspirational quote, perhaps some reflections on the quote, add a motivational video, I don’t have that all figured out, I’m just going to feel my way through it. I’m sure you folks will have some ideas or comments which will inspire me to feature something in the daily posts.

The daily posts are cool, but again where’s the interaction part?

As you know, my posts have a RESPONSE section. That means you can click Response and write something on any/all of the ZD30 daily posts. Then I will read your comments. Other writers will read your comments. I’ll post comments on your comments. Other writers will post comments on your comments. It will be comments, comments, comments all day, all night. That’s interaction. Of course, we could all choose a resort location, fly there, and interact, but all those mixed drinks with little umbrellas get in the way of writing, so we best stick with comments.

What sort of comments should we make?

Anything you want, but since the whole point of the ZD30 Challenge is to motivate each of us to pound out pages and get from FADE IN to FADE OUT, at the very least, I would hope you drop in often — ideally on a daily basis — and let us know how many pages you wrote in the previous 24 hours. But feel free to share your joy… or your pain. If you need a boost, ask for it. If you feel inspired, share your insights.

So the comments are really about creating a supportive environment, right?

You took the words right out of my mouth… fingers… keyboard.

I heard you would do ‘writing scampers’. What’s that about?

Several pro writers including Jane Espenson and John August from time to time invite people via Twitter to join them in 1 hour writing sprints. We came up with writing scampers as a way of embracing the Zero Draft spirit. I’d do them most every day during the Challenge as would others. It’s a great way to feel the support of other writers knowing while you’re in a writing scamper, other Scamperers are with you.

So I post script pages here?

NO!!! YOU DO NOT POST SCRIPT PAGES!!! THEY ARE YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY!!! YOU WANT TO PROTECT YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT!!! AGAIN… DO NOT POST SCRIPT PAGES HERE!!!

WAIT. SORRY. THE VOLUME LEVEL GOT STUCK ON 11. LET ME DIAL… IT… DOWN…

Ah, got it. Just to underscore this point, the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge is all about one thing: Motivating each of us to write a script draft. That’s the focus. Not reviewing script pages. Not networking. Use the Challenge to get from FADE IN to FADE OUT.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please post in comments.

The 2019 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge.

March 1: Type FADE IN / In the Beginning.
March 31: Type FADE OUT / The End.

One month: A first draft of an original story.

It’s cool! It’s crazy! It’s free!

Don’t forget the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group. A terrific collection of folks who post things every day, even when we’re not in a challenge.

So calling all Zeronauts, Outlaws, Scamperers, and Word Warriors. Who’s up for pounding out a Zero Draft in March?

T-minus 11 days!

LET’S DO THIS THING