2025 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge!

One month. Fade In. Fade Out. Write an entire zero draft.

Have a story you want to write? Feature length movie screenplay? An original TV pilot? Web series pilot? A novel? Short story? An epic length limerick?

The 2025 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge is for you! And it all begins a month from today!

March 1: You type FADE IN / Once upon a time.

March 30: You type FADE OUT / And they all lived happily ever after.

Hold on. I’ve just heard from the proper authorities that our request for an additional day in March has been granted. So technically, you’ve got 31 days, but since we’ve already got all the invitations printed as Zero Draft Thirty, we’ll just keep it at that.

Here is some background on exactly what the Zero Draft Thirty Challenge is. On October 15, 2015, I posted this, inviting people to join me in November as I pounded out a draft of a comedy script. Hundreds of people responded.

I posted this a few days later. Hundreds more people enlisted in the cause. Then every day for 30 days in November, I did a Zero Draft Thirty post with inspirational writing quotes, videos, and handed out a daily Trumbo Award to the person who was deemed worthy for their efforts in supporting our collective cause.

A Facebook group emerged from the process, now with 5,000+ members. The Challenge was written up in Indiewire. Translated into Spanish. Got its own hashtag on Twitter: #ZD30SCRIPT.

Eventually over 1000 writers joined up. Via Facebook, Twitter, or email, nearly 200 writers let me know they had finished their Zero Drafts.

In processing all of this and noting how I had long promoted the idea that we should aim to write two scripts per year, I thought why not do a Zero Draft Thirty Challenge in March and September.

Hence, the 2025 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge, the first of two this year.

And YOU are cordially invited!

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 ZD30 primer:

Why did you start Zero Draft Thirty?

The folks at NaNoWriMo used to host a month-long screenwriting challenge called Script Frenzy, but they shut it down in 2012. With a tip of the hat to NNWM, I figured why not fill that void and provide a month-long structure for screenwriters.

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. Go Into The Story reader Orange Pop came up with a great title: Zero Draft Thirty.

Zero Draft = Get The Damn Thing Done Draft!
Thirty = 30 Days (or in March 31)

You can shorthand it: ZD30.

You mentioned Twitter. Does the Challenge have a hashtag?

Yes, I still call it Twitter and I’m still active there with 85k+ followers (@GoIntoTheStory). 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 ZD30 for any writing project.

So how do we interact?

Every day, I will do a ZD30 post here at Go Into The story. In it, I will include a writer-on-writing quote, a video, an inspirational post from a Challenge participant, and whatever comes my way which I feel can motivate writers.

Plus this: Each day, I will give out the Zero Draft Thirty Dalton Trumbo Award to some writer who provided an especially valuable comment, post, or reflection.

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.

The 2025 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?

LET’S DO THIS THING!