Screenwriting Tips, You Hack

Chapter | fourteen

Rewriting: Now the Real Work Begins

You'll hear people say “writing is rewriting,” but you won't quite understand or believe it until you do it yourself. If you thought writing that scene was hard, try staring at it for hours trying to diagnose why it doesn't work.

Sometimes rewriting is teeth-grittingly unfun – you feel like you're playing Jenga with something that took you months of hard work to assemble. Other times, though – when a single tiny change or cut brings an entire scene into sudden clarity, like pulling focus on a camera – rewriting can make you feel like a genius at play.

Screenwriting Tip #125:

Don't change a few lines of dialog and pretend it's a whole new draft. When you half-ass the rewrite, you're screwing ...