Screenwriting 101: Spenser Cohen

“One thing that I do when I first start writing is to put the outline aside and just start trying to find the character’s voice. I’ll give myself space to explore, and I just let the characters go. No one’s going to see it. No one’s going to read it. There’s no pressure. It’s their story, and I let whatever happens, happen. I’ll often make up a scene that’s not in the outline and might not even make sense for the story. Other times I end up writing the first ten pages over and over again. Once I feel good about the first ten pages it’s easy to keep going. But if your characters don’t work in the first ten pages, then they’re not going to work on page fifty, or a hundred. It’s almost like a rehearsal before you jump in and start doing the real work. Just exploring. Often in these rough passes the characters start to take shape. And sometimes just getting through the first draft, gives me a much clearer picture of the characters. So there’s really not one way that I do it. It’s always different. I’m constantly adapting.”

— Spenser Cohen

From Go Into The Story interview, May 2013

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