2025 Zero Draft Thirty March Challenge: Day 17

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

Zero Draft Thirty: Day 17.

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

“A movie is about an emotional struggle. The physical struggle is a manifestation of that.”

— John Gary

Today’s Inspirational Video

Ryan Gosling’s brilliant performance of the song “Just Ken” from the movie Barbie. It was a highlight of last year’s Academy Awards show. I still play it every so often because … it’s so much fun!

Today’s Daily Dialogue Inspiration

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

Inspiration. You want inspiration? Let’s do a quick screenwriter rewrite.

I do know who you are. A literary manager. Agent. Producer. Studio executive. I do know what you want. An awesome spec script. I have a particular set of skills acquired over a very long career in the shadows. Well, not a career precisely … just reading a lot of scripts, watching a bunch of movies, and writing a ton of pages … but for sure, in the shadows. My spec script will look for you, it will find you. And it will make a killing for you … at the box office.

How’s THAT for inspiration?!

Today’s Dalton Trumbo Award winner: Emelie Svensson.

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

And there you go! One zero draft down. Many rewrites and polishes to come. But now Emelie has SOMETHING. It’s no longer a mere idea … an ephemeral vision floating in one’s imagination.

No. It’s a SCRIPT. Embodying a STORY.

And just like Emelie is going to do, you can print it out … feel the warmth of the pages as they emerge from your printer … smell the paper with YOUR WORDS printed on them.

You’ve done it. You’ve reached FADE OUT.

Congratulations, Emelie! You are today’s recipient of the Dalton Trumbo Award!

To learn more about Dalton Trumbo and his fascinating career as a screenwriter, go here.

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
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 15
Zero Draft Thirty: Day 16

Now Zeronauts …

Emelie did it. So can you. Can’t you hear your printer whirring away as it churns out your zero draft? Let that image inspire you all the way to …

Fade Out.

By the way, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!