I Wrote A Screenplay In 48 Hours

I wrote a screenplay in 48 hours I started with absolutely no idea what I was going to do and went all the way to a full draft and in this video I'm gonna show you everything I'm gonna show you my initial ideas my outlines the problems I faced and even the full script you'll get to see it all let's begin I know we couldn't just sit down open up final draft and start typing that would end in disaster I needed a plan I split my process into three phases finding an idea outlining and writing I felt that finding an idea and outlining would likely be the more important parts but actually writing the script would take the most time my plan was to spend the first few hours finding an idea then moving to the outline I likely needed a detailed outline the more detailed the outline the easier it would be to keep moving through the pages of the script once I finished the outline I would spend the rest of my time writing the script I needed to choose a concept that would work with my time constraint I couldn't write anything that required a ton of research this meant no historical fiction nothing based on a true story and preferably in a setting I could create from scratch I figured something simple and focused was the way to go my first idea was to write some sort of contained thriller I've written thrillers in the past so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect writing a contained thriller would mean that the script could revolve around a few central characters in one general location I wouldn't have to constantly be thinking about new settings this would be helpful constantly stopping to add new characters and settings would likely make finishing the script impossible given the time constraint next I listed out a few different ideas for the setting whatever came to mind I wrote down after a couple minutes of letting my mind run here's what I had from this little list I was interested mainly in writing something on an island or maybe in space I decided to go with space and continue to brainstorm my first thought was an ensemble of characters who find a monster loose on a spaceship but I immediately thought of alien and wanted to do something different I also decided I wanted to stay away from a monster based thriller while these can be great stories it just wasn't as interesting to me a human versus human story sounded more compelling also instead of a spaceship I decided the story should take place on the moon at some sort of moon base here's a picture of my initial brainstorms please ignore my doodling it helps me think as you can see I went from thriller all the way down to a sci-fi thriller that takes place on the moon at this point I added in a science vs. military element I thought maybe some sort of struggle could occur between the scientist and the military personnel who were packed together on this moon base I also jotted down some notes at the bottom about how the characters might change over the course of the story at this point I had my ideas my story was going to be a sci-fi thriller that took place on a futuristic moon base I started thinking about why the space would exist what would the scientists be researching how would it be valuable maybe something was found under the moon's surface I thought like some sort of lunar bacteria and maybe it had major healing properties and medical applications back on earth then I started thinking about where the conflict could start maybe different nations all work together at the space maybe one of the nations tries to take the harvested bacteria for themselves or for their country this gave me some loose ideas for the initial setup and structure of the story [Music] at this point I felt like it was time to head to the whiteboard and brainstorm some of the structural beats of the story if you've been following this channel you may have heard me talking about Dan Harmon's story circle I found that it's been very helpful in building the initial building blocks and momentum of my stories Harmons story circle is a fantastic tool to help break down the initial idea of your story and give it some hooks to hang ideas on in a way that fits in a dramatic narrative using this I could create a rough idea of where the story would go and what kind of turning points would make it dramatically compelling if you want to know more about Dan Harmon's story circle I'll link to it in the description my main character would be one of the scientists working at the base he or she would be working hard to make a major discovery at this point I wasn't sure what the discovery would be they would then enter an unfamiliar situation when more military personnel were inexplicably brought to the base I used numbers five and six on the story circle to give the story a strong midpoint the main character would find what they were looking for but this would result in a major catastrophe so a major discovery would be made at the midpoint followed by the antagonist taking control of the moon base this would set up the second half of the story where the main character would have to find a way to regain control so what I'm making here is super super general I'm using terms like bad guys and good guys I don't want the character to be that simple but for this it helps me to get an idea just to like throw something down because for this a lot of this is about throwing something down getting a decent idea and then perfecting that ideas go once I had this general idea I used the story circle to get some structure to each section of the story act 1 act 2 part 1 act 2 part 2 and act 3 I focused on what the main character would want in each section and what they are trying to get I also focused on what it costs to get what they want what reaction does the environment or the antagonist have to the main character as they go after what they want here's what I wrote down in act 1 the scientist is focusing on making a major discovery the unfamiliar situation comes when a major breakthrough is made as they get close to a major discovery unexpected military personnel come to the base act 2 part 1 mainly dealt with the making of the major discovery in act 2 part 2 the main characters want changes rather than trying to make a major discovery they are trying to regain control of the base I wanted the first half of act 2 to propel us to the midpoint and create a major obstacle for the second half of the story act 3 was simply about the main character regaining control of the base and defeating the story's antagonist all of this was very vague but it helped me get some ideas on how I might build out the structure of this story for this project I prefer to nail down some ideas on how the story would evolve and change first doing this would prevent me from writing a story that was way too long or way too short I didn't have the luxury of adding or subtracting massive portions of the story if I was going to finish the draft in two days okay so at this point I feel like I need to work on my characters because I haven't done them at all so using this story circle that gives me a very very rough outline of what my story's going to look like now I need to think more about my characters and they think more about you know the details of this [Music] remember that I decided that multiple nations would be sharing the space and working together for a common goal which was to make this major medical discovery that would help people back on earth my characters became an ensemble of different scientists and soldiers from different nations I gave the characters different motivations and beliefs that could conflict and change over the course of the story one thing that was especially helpful is that for a few of the characters I gave them a story arc through the events of the story I could create change in the beliefs of the characters which would create a much more compelling story this would give meaning to the major turning points of the story they wouldn't just create more obstacles for my characters they would force the characters to confront their own beliefs and ideas about the world if you would like to stop and read about some of the characters I created you can pause the video now so now I have some characters some general ideas and what they're going to be now I'm going to do some backstory in some world building and then I start writing this story after writing out a general story structure building out my characters and doing a bit of world-building it was finally time to write the outline I needed to have an outline that worked too much pausing to fix story problems and this thing would never get done if I could get an outline that worked in theory it wouldn't take me too long to get through the first draft I combined my characters with the general story structure I had made earlier and was able to create an outline that summarized the major events that would occur in each section of the story just like on the whiteboard I split the story into the four major sections and focused on writing out the major scenes and turning points that would take place while I didn't have a scene-by-scene outline what I had focused on the major turning points that would need to happen as well as establishing and evolving the different relationships between the characters once I finished the outline I was finally ready to write the first draft now at this point rather than sitting down and beginning to write the first draft I went on a walk I'd like to tell you that I did this to feel inspired would it generate new ideas but the reality is I was worried that this was going to be bad I was worried I was about to put out an absolute piece of garbage to thousands of people who had subscribed to my youtube channel I was worried that I wouldn't even be able to finish so I procrastinated but luckily I had a deadline love him or hate him deadlines force us to get things done so after about a half hour or so of procrastination I began the first draft getting pages out can be tough but the key is focus I didn't have my phone on my desk I wasn't letting anyone walk in and out of the room I didn't check emails I didn't open Twitter and I left Facebook alone occasionally my camera stopped recording but I wouldn't get up to restart them it wasn't about forcing myself to focus as much as it was not making distractions easily accessible when you can find that groove and actually get yourself to focus and you don't allow yourself to be distracted you'd be surprised at how much you can write after writing for a while I took a break got a coffee thank you came back and went right back to writing I continued pushing through pages I took another break grab some dinner yes thank you and came right back these occasional intentional breaks allowed my mind to breathe for a minute my subconscious was given the chance to get ahead of me in the story while I was grabbing coffee or eating dinner my mind was given the time to get a few pages in front of me [Music] it was 1:00 a.m. and I was exhausted I had gone from having no idea to 35 pages written of a first draft I was pretty happy with what I'd done and I headed to bed day two I got up and started writing again I was feeling good and ready to finish out this first draft all right day two it's 9:02 a.m. I don't know if you can hear to my voice but I woke up feeling kind of sick today but that's okay I'm feeling energized and I'm gonna pound this out get it done and I'll be great but only a couple hours into writing I got stuck I kept hitting roadblocks I had the story beats I wanted to write but the story wasn't flowing it was nearing noon and I felt like I was running out of time I decided to create a scene-by-scene outline this would allow me to flow between scenes more easily while writing and hopefully create less stopping and starting but this didn't seem to help I kept getting stuck every time I sat down to write I saw everything that I hated in the story I was barely getting pages out I was completely self conscious and unable to write anything without judging it I honestly thought it was over I wasn't going to be able to do it I was only 40 pages in and I absolutely hated it I questioned the entire story and even this entire challenge of writing the script in 48 hours I kept rewriting the first act which I knew I shouldn't be doing but I kept doing it anyway I kept wanting this first draft to be perfect I was about to share it to thousands of people on YouTube I felt like I had to give you this perfect oscar-winning screenplay then I remembered what the purpose of this was it wasn't to write the perfect screenplay it wasn't about getting you all to think I'm some great writer the purpose of this challenge was to show you that it's possible to get your first draft out onto the page if you allow yourself the time to focus and get it done I wanted to show you that you didn't need years months or even weeks to get that first draft out onto the page and so I kept writing knowing I was going to be showing you something that wasn't my best work knowing there were things I wasn't going to be proud of but I continued because I want you to keep pushing - I deleted some pages that weren't working and kept pushing forward this time I was going to push to the end no more rewriting to get perfect pages I was able to start really getting pages out when I stopped worrying about every single piece being good I just focused on telling the story it's not good to be super self-conscious while you're writing that first draft focus on telling the story focus on writing a scene that feels like something you'd want to see focus on who your characters are the goal is to be so immersed in the actual writing that you don't have the time to constantly judge every single line you write [Music] you it was late I was seventy three pages in with a few hours left before I hit the 48-hour deadline I decided to grab a few hours of sleep before I got up at 6 a.m. to finish out the script [Music] I had done it a full first draft in 48 hours there were a few points along the way where I wasn't sure if I would get it done but I forced myself to stick with it and finish this is still a first draft it's far from perfect and it definitely needs rewriting but it's a first draft I wrote in 48 hours while battling a cold so I'll take it now if I wanted to I could actually rewrite not a scene here or there not a single act a full screenplay you can write that first draft in as little as a few days when you get that story out it gives you something to rewrite it gives you something to fix as long as the story stays in your head or in your outline it's not real when you get it out onto the page you can actually see all of its holes and problems and then you can face them head-on and find ways to solve them speed through your first draft then rewrite slowly it can be difficult and you will get in your own head about your writing but you just have to push through and get that first draft out onto the page you can't edit something that isn't written you need to know where the holes in your story are and the best way to find them is to finish your draft if you're interested in improving your focus and want more tools to help you get your first draft out onto the page then I recommend checking out the practical screenwriting course this course is made up of online videos packed with information that is guaranteed to help you build long-term focus and consistency so you can be procrastination and writer's block and get your story out on paper and once you finish that first draft the course shows you how to rewrite your draft so that you can easily find and fix your story's problems at 7 hours long this course is more than double the length of the average masterclass course if you join the course comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee which is 100% for any reason at all I want to make sure that every single member truly feels that they're getting a ton of you from the course so if you want to check the course out go ahead and click the link on screen now or below in the description I've had more than a hundred members join this course and get a ton out of it and I'd love for you to do the same either way I hope this video inspired you to get your screenplay out of your head and onto the page I'll see you next time [Music]

Channel: Tyler Mowery

Views: 506,301

Rating: 4.9195151 out of 5

Keywords: film analysis, movie review, tyler mowery, nerdwriter, lessons from the screenplay, every frame a painting, screenwriting, script breakdown, writing, workshop, writing course, teach screenwriting, oscar best screenplay, film school, first draft, screenplay, focus, habits, consistency, practical screenwriting course

Id: xoUUdjyM9Oo

Length: 18min 51sec (1131 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 18 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/VegasFiend]

Just for fun, I wrote what I thought was a completely ridiculous horror comedy in three days last year. It was optioned two weeks later. Meanwhile the stuff I spent six months on is still sitting on the shelf....

[u/KiritoAsunaYui2022]

Make a video on producing it

[u/Scroon]

This is sort of like building a car in 48 hours. I mean you can do it, but...

[u/buttyoucancallmedick]

I can't believe all the comments deriding this process. He's not saying he wrote an award winning script in forty eight hours. He's just saying he wrote a script and finished it in a short period of time and sharing his process. An endeavour more successful than what happens 99% of the time when a person starts a creative project. Completing small projects with firm deadlines is something helpful in almost every single creative medium. Look at NaNoWriMo. Yahtzee's Dev Diaries. Folding Ideas did a video on it, too. Being able to take something from conception to completion, no matter how small is an incredibly valuable process and will help refine your craft.

[u/totallymorgan]

I just wanted to chime in to defend this guy. I'm by no means a gigantic hollywood screenwriter, but I am a working writer in hollywood and this process is really not a bad idea at all. If you're trying to be a WORKING writer in this business it is immensely helpful to be able vomit out a draft and spend time fixing it. Not sure what all the hate is about.

[u/jett11]

Inspiring video, thanks! You make a very good case that it is much easier to rewrite a shitty but nevertheless complete first draft than continue staring at a blank word document.

[u/mdubz88]

As a writer/producer I guess there is a step by step process but honestly step 1 to ten trillion is just figuring shit out and making it work as you go. lol

[u/MrRabbit7]

This is probably how Max Landis writes his scripts.

[u/JustOneMoreTake]

Reminds me of the 'Will it blend?' infomercials. I'm a big fan of those.