Film Courage: Wendy we had this comment come in a couple days ago on YouTube and the
viewer asked 'What should writers be concerned with when revising their
second or third draft of something?' Wendy Kram, Owner of Wendy's LA4Hire: A really good question because I know like
we all talked about a first draft but invariably the biggest part of writing
your script is the rewrite in the rewrite and the rewrite I think the
biggest danger is well put it this way the purpose and the benefit is that it's
going to get clearer and crisper and better and tighter so the danger is when
you lose sight of what your core vision is now there are two ways this could
happen first if you've never haven't had a strong core vision to begin with then
each draft the goal should be to refine what that is and maybe the writer needs
to do an outline first and be really clear and I do recommend I think Blake
Snyder has a very effective beat sheet that's a useful tool and again I tell
writers that use it as a general guide and a general map but don't feel that
you have to adhere to like oh I've got to insert this moment at exactly this
page or try to contrive things you must be organic to your follow your own
organic process the another thing just with like about rules and following
formulas I'd like to use as an example when you see a great prima ballerina
like I saw many years ago Makarova who was one of the preeminent
ballerinas when I was growing up and she you know that she practiced her bars and
she knew her craft but when she got on stage you then abandon it it becomes
second nature that you should know your craft but that you can be free enough to
let the muse flow through you if you're so manufactured where you're trying to
hit every plot point and you're writing from
that place you're not going to have the magic and the kind of flow that a writer
needs to have to really create magical characters and dialogue and story so but
it's helpful to have this map so this is for a writer who might not have core
vision to begin with for most writers they do have a core vision of their
piece and the danger becomes when you lose your Center and you start listening
to you're like a weed in the wind that you keep swaying so this person said I
should do this so I'm going to do that this person said you keep going just in
too many different directions it is an art to be able arter a balance to be
able to take advice feedback suggestions from other people let it go through a
sieve earth-like filter and something that occurs to me is to maybe approach
the advice the way they make recommendations with meditation when
you're when thoughts come to you it's not that you're so rigid about I can't
think any thoughts I can't think any thoughts so the same way you're not
being richer than that I'm not going to take anyone suggestions and you're not
saying I'm gonna take everyone's suggestions you okay let's see this was
a good idea I'm gonna let that percolate this idea I don't think it really fits
in with the vision so I'm gonna put that one aside
I'll reexamine it just in case there's something there I need to look at and
there are others that you may go oh this person they don't get it at all
maybe I'm doing something that's not making it clear enough but I don't I
don't think they're the right person to give me advice for this you cannot a you
can't be a pleaser where you're trying to please everybody but generally
speaking if there is valuable feedback then to take it in and put it through
your own filter and prod Sisson see how you can address so the
biggest danger is losing sense of self and trying to please everybody and then
you wind up with mush and that's nothing it's neither here and are there there's
no vision so can we just define coalition here would be a really good
example I had a client who had a one-hour drama that was inspired by his
life experiences and he had a really really interesting story based on his
profession and he sent me the draft he had told me the log line and what he had
done and then I read the draft and I was like this doesn't sound at all like your
story and he had changed the protagonist to a woman which can be fine but there
were it felt so manufactured and contrived and so I just said a very
innocent question I said I'm really curious because what you would pitch to
me based on your life experience was so fascinating and riveting and I felt like
and that's what really interested me about the idea for this pilot and I
didn't see what I know of you I didn't see any of you in this pilot whether it
was a male or female character and he told me that he had taken a number of
writing the workshops were or script coverage services and certainly there
are good ones out there but one they said you should change it to a female
you should make the protagonist a woman not a man someone else said oh you
should give her this backstory and you should give her such and such kind of
relationship with her mother and with an abusive boyfriend and it became so far
removed from what I thought was really the core vision or essence of the story
that he wanted to tell and he let go of that and came up with something that and
I he said I didn't even want to write this but I thought I should you know
that these were people who were telling me that I that I should so that's what I
think you need to stick with your core vision that would be an example it's a
great place to start on we talked about being able to take constructive
criticism and not being defensive and being open to the notes what if people
are giving you super nice feedback about things and it feels disingenuous and
you're not sure is this just a person that's trying to please me mm-hmm it
doesn't even have to be a family member or friend and how do we see through that
good question I think one is to say when you're seeking constructive criticism
because it is coming from a I mean I this is how I'd like to give notes and
if I'm asking someone to evaluate something for me I may say I need you to
be gentle this is my style I don't respond well to
someone who's going to shred everything but I do want honest feedback so if
someone a lot of writers will say to me and I usually say before I do consulting
I say I want to make sure that you want honest feedback certainly everyone has
an opinion what you will get from me is an informed opinion being that I am I do
feel it as one of my strengths as we get older I think we come to know what some
of our strengths are my affinity for literature from a young age to you know
working in the business and working for a long time with writers and loving the
process and that when you as a writer when you ask an opinion that you a lot
of regulars will say to me I want an honest I will don't be afraid you can be
brutal etc it's not my desire or style to be brutal because I don't like my
teachers I did not feel that's constructive but I do feel that I also
say to my clients I'm not doing you a favor
if I don't provide an honest assessment based on my experiences in the business
stun my knowledge of how other industry executives respond to material it's not
the only opinion certainly but it will be an informed opinion so I think that
when writers are asking for a feedback that they if someone's really like oh I
loved everything I loved everything that they you say I don't want you to just
say this to be nice if you have something that you think is constructive
and I can improve I would really appreciate that I would really value
that
you