2024 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 15

One month. FADE IN to FADE OUT. Creativity meets Productivity.

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 15.

Write an entire draft of a script in September — 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. It’s based on a story concept I came up with late last year and it may be the strongest comedy idea I’ve ever worked on. Now to take it to the next level.

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. 5,100+ members strong.

Today’s Writing Quote

“It’s the words, it always gets back to the words…”

— Julius Epstein

Today’s Inspirational Video

There has never been a late night talk show host who could match the comic timing and sensibilities of Johnny Carson. Witness this classic exchange with Burt Reynolds. This is only a snippet. It went on for several more minutes. But notice how Carson tops the gag at the end of the clip. It’s also a good object lesson about the power of visual storytelling. No dialogue between the pair, yet tons of laughs. I find that inspiring!

Today’s Motown Music Video

I have dedicated the 2024 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge as Motown 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 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: The Temptations, “Get Ready” (1966).

Today’s Dalton Trumbo Award winner: Sandy Chukhadarian!

Over at the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group, this conversation.

To which I responded with this.

This conversation is where two of my writing mantras bump up against each other:

• There’s no right way to write. Each writer is different. Each story is different.
• Begin with character. End with character. Find the story in between.

Yes, writers should feel free to develop their own story-crafting process. That may or may not include breaking story down to a scene-by-scene outline. But it’s essential to writers to immerse themselves in the lives of their characters up front and throughout the process.

For sparking this discussion, the recipient of today’s Dalton Trumbo Award is Sandy Chukhadarian!

Congrats, Sandy!

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.

For background on how the Zero Draft Challenge came into being and what it is, go here, here, and here.

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 1
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 2
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 3
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 4
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 5
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 6
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 7
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 8
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 9
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 10
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 11
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 12
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 13
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 14

Now Zeronauts …

SPREAD THE WORD!

GO WRITE!

SCAMPER ON!