2023 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 11
One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.
One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.
Write an entire draft of a script in March — FADE IN. FADE OUT. Or any sort of creative goal you have in front of you.
Write an entire draft of a script in March — FADE IN. FADE OUT. Or any sort of creative goal you have in front of you.
Feature length movie screenplay. Original TV pilot. Rewrite a current project. Break a story in prep. Generate a month’s worth of story concepts.
Whatever you feel will ratchet your creative ambitions into overdrive…
DO THAT!
As for me, I will spend the month rewriting a feature film spec script.
If you join the Challenge, I will be right there with you writing each and every day in March! Let’s do this together!
Download your very own Zero Draft Thirty calendar — designed and created by Steven Dudley — and track your daily progress!
On Twitter, use this hashtag: #ZD30SCRIPT.
Join the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group: Here. 4,800+ members strong.
Today’s Writing Quote
“I don’t believe in rules for writing screenplays. What that gives you is formula, and the result will be formulaic.”
— Christopher Hampton
Today’s Inspirational Video
Some instant art on the sidewalks of NYC.
I can’t draw worth a lick let alone paint, so I’m always amazed by visual artists. Fortunately, I can write!
Today’s Stax Music Video
I have dedicated the 2023 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge as Stax Music Month. Part of that decision is to honor one of the greatest record companies of all time (check out their history here). But mostly, it’s an excuse to feature awesome R&B and soul music to get you out of your chair, dance around the room for 5 minutes, churn up your creative juices, then sit right back down and write your ass off.
Today’s featured song: “Soul Finger” by The Bar-Kays.
Today’s Dalton Trumbo Award winner: Joni Trumpold Brainerd!
Over in the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group, Joni wrote this:
I’ve bottomed out during so many of these ZD30 months, I’ve lost count. But somehow — and I realize it’s only/already March 10 — this one feels different. I’m inspired by a dynamic duo of women who, in our little Braintrust, have helped me imagine this story from seed, to sprout, to seedling… and this month’s collective creative soil feels rich with promise and fruition.
I’ve been reading some Billy Wilder for added juju… one thing that got me: “[Writing] is blood, sweat, and tears, believe me. It is a drag. It is hard work. And it is not one of those kinds of things like people imagine where the muses come and they kiss your brow and there you are kind of the poet in the clouds.”
As I bang away drafting bits that aspire to become a whole, I find this one a fantastic reminder….
Three things. First, anytime anyone quotes Billy Wilder, they get my attention. Wilder is my all-time favorite filmmaker, so there’s that.
Second, I love that Joni has her own Braintrust (like Pixar!) in the form of a “dynamic duo of women” who support each other in their writing.
And third, Joni included another Wilder quote:
That concept — writers supporting other writers — goes to the heart of why the Zero Draft Thirty community exists.
For that inspiration and to provide some creative wind at Joni’s back on the project she’s tackling in this Zero Draft Thirty Challenge, the recipient of today’s Dalton Trumbo Award is Joni Trumpold Brainerd!
To learn more about Dalton Trumbo and his fascinating career as a screenwriter, go here.
For your chance to win the Dalton Trumbo Award, one given away each day during the Challenge, post something inspiring, here on the blog, via Twitter, or the Facebook group.
Congratulations, Joni!
For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into being and what it is, go here, here, and here.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Now Zeronauts, Scamperers, Word Warriors, and Outlaws…
BANG AWAY!
POUND OUT PAGES!
SCAMPER ON!