Drafted

I'm still trying to figure out how many drafts work best for me, but it's really specific to each project I work on. In Creative Screenwriting Magazine, the last question a writer is asked during an interview usually involves their writing processes and how many drafts they employ. Their answers vary from ten drafts to one hundred. Always different.

I think character sketches, step outlines and treatments help cut down the amount of drafts considerably. On PAPER AIRPLANES, I didn't use any of these techniques, even though in school you're taught to wield them in your utility belt like a finely-tuned arsenal of tools. I sort of flew by the seat of my pants, and it took me two years to finish. That's a lifetime. Story elements, characters and motivations shifted like little pawns across a chess board. It was really tough, and I ended up with something like five drafts.

I don't think I could tell you how many drafts it takes to complete a screenplay. Because a "draft" could be anything. The difference between Draft Two and Draft Three could be something as simple as a tweaked line of dialogue, or something major like an added scene. Using this theory, I can see how people end up with hundreds of drafts. I just finished WARLAND, and it took me three solid, concrete drafts. Almost a year of finessing to get something I'm happy with. A draft is a draft after it's polished and ready to show someone. When you get a healthy portion of feedback, THEN it's time to start Draft Two.