2024 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 16

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

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 16.

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!

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.

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Today’s Writing Quote

“Don’t write about a character. Become that character, and then write your story.”

— Ethan Canin

Today’s Inspirational Video

If you’re not familiar with the musical group OK Go, they are known for doing elaborate videos. Like really elaborate. Check out this Rube Goldberg inspired take for their song “This Too Shall Pass”.

Today’s Anita Loos Award winner: Alex Vaz.

Over at the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group page, Alex posted this.

My response:

Alex’s response:

A few things.

First, vomit draft or zero draft, it’s the same thing. Just get the damn thing done … because then you have something tangible. It will be flawed, but now you can review and revise it.

Second, the value of having a “good outline” cannot be overstated. I recently concluded the latest iteration of my Prep: From Concept to Outline workshops and at the end of my one-on-one teleconference to review his outline, this writer said:

“I’ll never not do an outline again. I used to get lost in the middle of my scripts, then quit. Now that I’ve typed Fade In, I find the writing actually fun. I don’t need to worry about if the scenes work or not. I’ve already figured that out beforehand. It’s such a pleasure to focus on each scene — writing the characters, dialogue, action —knowing where I’m headed.”

I told the writer that I’m not surprised at his reaction as I’ve heard it many times before. I’ve taught that Prep workshop with over 1,000 writers and included that “breaking story” process as Part III in my book The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling. I know it works because I’ve seen it work time and again.

Third, and most important … Alex got to Fade Out! To celebrate, I hereby bequeath today’s Anita Loos Award to Alex Vaz!

Congratulations, Alex! Feel to print this award and post it at your writing desk for inspiration.

To learn more about Anita Loos and her illustrious career as a screenwriter, playwright, director, and journalist, go here.

For your chance to win the Anita Loos 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 to be 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
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 15

Now Zeronauts…

SCAMPER ON!

Onward!