A Screenwriter's Journey #8: Farewell to Beware the Dortches

"Beware the Dortches" is done. It clocks in at a lean 84 pages. That's actually the shortest feature script I've written, BUT as it is an action-oriented movie, there's less dialogue and more action than my other scripts, so it being the shortest is fine. I was worried that it would come in under 80 pages, and that would be too short (although Mad Max Fury Road was apparently under 70 pages because it was so action-oriented).

Like I said before, finishing up the rest of the script once I had all the scenes set in place was easy. Just filling in details and dialogue at that point.

Once done, here's my process...

First up is spellcheck. I use the WriterDuet software for my screenplays and it has a pretty bad spellcheck. Everything else is great and it's free, but the spellcheck is really annoying. It wasn't until while writing Dortches that they added in-document spellcheck (the little red squiggly line under misspelled words). I found this out the hard way on one of my early screenplays. I thought it was auto spellchecked and it was not. The reader complained about the typos. She did not buy the script.

So, I run the spellcheck (which is slow and will take like an hour for an average screenplay). After that, I do a full read through and fix any typos that weren't caught, examine sentences for logic and clarity, try to remove as much passive voice as possible, and make sure that the whole story fits together. Most importantly, I follow up on all the setup/payoff combinations. If I set something up, did it pay off? If something happens, how did we get there? Does it all fit together, make sense and is it a coherent whole.

When I finished the first draft, it was like 81 pages. Going through that process got it up to 84. Clarity sometimes adds words. And I found a set-up that didn't pay off (I added the pay off in later). And I found a continuity error, a character that was killed alone was last seen in the company of other people, so I had to circle back and split them up so that scene worked.

And once that was done, one last spellcheck and export PDF.

And that's the end of "Beware the Dortches." For now.

I am not someone who goes back and tinkers endlessly on old scripts. I tend to leave them alone. Unless some good idea comes through that would make it better (this happens from time to time, where entire subplots are added in to make it better). Other people like to tinker, but I figure I'm better off leaving heavy revisions up to when someone is paying for those revisions. If not, I figure I'm better off working on something new and expanding my skillset and practice, practice, practice.

Now I'll try to sell it. I have a producer who has purchased three scripts previously and she said she'll read anything I write. So I've already sent it to her. If she's not interested, I'll start pitching on VirtualPitchFest, but that's a story for another day.