2025 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.

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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 Daily Dialogue Inspiration

I have dedicated the 2025 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge to memorable movie dialogue. Today: Gone With the Wind.

Allow me to extrapolate two pieces of writing advice from this final scene in Gone With the Wind.

First, we can get lost in the writing process. The struggle … the daily grind … all the narrative choices we must make … the constant uncertainty if the story is working or not … all of it can leave us feeling lost and bewildered.

That’s where we need to go back to what first inspired us to write this story. Like all those voices echoing in Scarlett’s mind — “Tara … Tara … Tara” — reminding her of a purpose in life, so, too, can we remember that first creative impulse which excited us to write our current story.

Second, consider Scarlett’s last line of dialogue: “After all, tomorrow is another day.” As writers, we can embrace that same spirit. We may have been stumbling and stymied in our writing, but the fact is tomorrow is another day. Another opportunity to connect with our story and our characters. For they can lead us through the morass toward the clarity that comes with Fade Out … The End.

For your chance to win the Dalton Trumbo Award, post something inspiring, here on the blog or the Facebook group.

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 …

Tomorrow is another day.

But so is today!

Before the clock strikes midnight …

You still have time to put fingers to keyboard …

And pound out a page or two.