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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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