2024 Zero Draft Thirty September Challenge: Day 5

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

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 5.

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.

Join the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group, 5,100+ members strong.

Today’s Writing Quote

“First you have nothing, and then, astonishingly, after ripping out your brain and your heart, you have something.”

— T.C. Boyle

Today’s Inspirational Video

If THAT didn’t get your creative juices going, I don’t know what will!

Today’s Anita Loos Award winner: Victoria Freyre Adler!

Over at the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group page, Victoria posted this:

This is a simple, but effective reminder: As writers, we need to create a sense of narrative drive in our stories. The best way to do that is think in terms of causality between each scene. But … because … until … Each of those words suggests movement from one moment to the next, one scene to the next.

This “Pixar story spine” reminds me of that video I’m sure most of you have seen featuring Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park, Team America: World Police) which recently sprang back to life on social media.

A story is not a series of “and then” scenes. Rather, it’s a series of “but” and “therefore” scenes. Here’s the quote from the video:

Again … causality.

Having provided us with that Pixar story spine tip, I am happy to bequeath today’s Anita Loos Award to Victoria Freyre Adler!

Congratulations, Victoria! I trust you’ll print the award and post in a primes spot at your writer’s desk.

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

Now Zeronauts …

EMBRACE YOUR BECAUSES!

TRUST YOUR THEREFORES!

GRAB YOUR BUTS!

Wait. That last one doesn’t sound right.

Anyway …

SCAMPER ON!

The Challenge is free and if you feel like it, check out the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook group page. It’s a private group, but it’s easy to join, just answer a few questions.