2025 Zero Draft Thirty March 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!

As for me, I will spend the month rewriting a feature film comedy spec script. I’m spending most of the month working out my revision plan, then heading off for an extended writer’s retreat to knock out this draft.

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!

Use this hashtag: #ZD30SCRIPT.

Join the Zero Draft Thirty Facebook Group: Here. 5,000+ 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 Daily Dialogue Video

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

I hear you. “Hey, Scott. Why is this a motivational speech? It just doesn’t matter? I mean, what’s the point then?”

Hey, y’all, listen up.

This is about the zero draft approach to writing.

Do you care about what you write in a zero draft?

Sure.

But you know going in …

YOU’RE GOING TO REWRITE THE SCRIPT!

You’re not expecting perfection. You’re not even expecting good.

What you are expecting is to get to Fade Out.

So for this draft … all of the higher function critiques you typically bring to your writing …

It just doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you pound out pages. You write day after day. It’s productivity meets creativity.

At some point, it does matter. And that point is during your rewrites … and especially that final draft.

But not now. Not writing a zero draft. Now …

It just doesn’t matter.

Today’s Dalton Trumbo Award winner: Jason Killpack.

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

That’s the spirit. 5 pages per day. Hell, even 3 pages per day gets you to 90.

Note: Jason started on Page 37, so he’s knocked out 15 pages so far.

For that inspiration, Jason is 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

Now Zeronauts …

It’s a ZERO draft which means …

IT JUST DOESN’T MATTER!

Go pound out some flawed, imperfect pages!

Fade Our, here we come!