From Betty:
I have a lot of people brag to me that they’ve written X number of screenplays, when in all reality, they’ve only started X number of screenplays. You are not allowed to say you’ve written a screenplay that is unfinished. You can say, “I’m almost done,” but don’t say it’s written when it’s not.
I once heard one of the writers of the 2nd Hangover movie speaking to a crowd and he said that the saddest thing he’d ever seen was when he went to his screenwriting professor’s house and the professor opened a drawer filled with screenplays he had started but hadn’t finished. That screenwriter said he promised himself right then and there that he would never not finish a screenplay he’d started. So he’s written over one hundred. He says when he realizes it’s not going to work out he still finishes, but just does it quickly so he doesn’t waste time on trying to save it; yet, he refuses to leave anything unfinished and still perfects the ability of answering the premise.
I’m not wired like that. While I have completed more than I’ve started, I am sad to admit that I’m currently stuck on page 65 of 6 different screenplays. Sad, but true. But I don’t add them to my list of “finished” screenplays because that’s fibbing.
One way to avoid this happening to you is to make sure you’ve completed your prewrite process INCLUDING the second half of your movie. Sure it’s fun to think, “What if a human baby gets adopted by Santa and raised as an elf?” The fun and games are easy-peasy…fish out of water story…but how do we wrap this whole thing up? THINK BIG! As Blake Snyder used to say, yes, the hero may need to succeed at his job…but doing so means he’ll also save the entire world. In the example of the human baby adopted by Santa…sure his goal is to find his father…but in turn, he saves Christmas for everyone.
Don’t write a single word until you’ve examined both the fun and games portion of your movie AND the bad guys close in portion. When you get to that midpoint, you need to have us thinking, “Well, that was easy. Why did I even come to this movie?” Then on the next page, disaster strikes and we wonder how our hero will decide to fix the unforeseen problems and save the day. The harder you make it to save the day, the easier it is to get past page 65 and put another FINISHED screenplay on the stack of future Oscar winners.