Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Tv Series Scripting: Part Three: The First Draft

Earlier in this series: Part One. Part Two.

UNLIKE THE OUTLINE, the first draft is an “expansive” document. The first attempt to dramatize the beats in the outline through action and character voices frequently results in a script document that is talky, and missing some of the ‘visual’ storytelling tropes that will be important to board and get in the final shooting script. Though television is less visual a medium than film, (Most of the time, if you turned off the vis, and just followed the dialogue and music and sound fx, you could follow the story like a good radio play) it’s generally more visual than the first draft would suggest.

This is because in the first draft the writer really is figuring out and test-driving the story. He or she might figure out that two or three beats that were in the outline can be combined in the same scene; at the same time, you might find them going on a tangent to explore something interesting in the character dynamic.

First drafts can be rambling, they can be sloppy, they can be repetitive, poorly paced, any number of things. You may find in the writing of a draft that a subplot needs to be more or less prominent. You may find that the act outs that you thought were so perfect in the outline can’t work the way they do without giving you a four minute Second or Third Act. You may find that there is not enough story to sustain, or that there is another twist needed. You may also find that you have too much story and you’re on page 32 and still in Act One, in which case you need to go back and simplify the beats.

There’s a weird thing that happens when the characters start talking to you. Sometimes you need to follow it a little, see where it leads. That might mean going off the beam of the outline a bit; that’s why you have a good outline, so that you can always haul yourself back in if you go too far.

Writing a first draft is a negotiation with yourself. The more economy and clarity and succinctness you can bring to the beats and the story you’re trying to serve, the more fun stuff you can seed in. At this stage, you may have a vague, vague sense of in and out of studio but you might not have a clear sense of day/night, and how many story days are in your script. It’s at this stage you take a stab at figuring this out, but it may not be perfect.

All first drafts, no matter how accomplished the writer, or the draft, suck. They are not clear. There are things in them that will not quite line up. You may have a bit of a hangover from all that handwaving you did in the outline. Things that you need to hit once, you may find that you’ve hit three and four times. You may find that you’ve written the same scene twice. Or three times, with little progression. The only way you spot all this is to go into analysis mode, which is different from the mode that allows you to write the script.

Generally, first drafts are tabled to the Story Department first. They go through and make suggestions as to things that can be fixed quickly; clarity points, readability issues, things that just don’t work at all. Often the notes the story department gives will be tiered: ie, they will tell the writer, “here’s what you should fix now,” and “here’s some stuff to think about when we hear from Network and go to the 2nd draft.” It’s not uncommon to have “big picture” notes overall, that don’t point to specific things or lines of dialogue, but are general impressions that inform the writing of the 2nd draft. Most of the time, the dialogue notes you give at the first draft stage are surgical, and designed to make the draft read better: spell something out, offer a riff or a joke that will make the thing enjoyable. But if it's an emotional scene or something, I tend to want to hold some of that suggestion off till the 2nd draft -- the writer might need to sit with it awhile, too.

Once again, the focus at this stage is largely creative. The first blush of getting the story on its feet is not always pretty. There may be parts where character voice is off. There may be sections where the dialogue is a little on the nose. There may be other places where it’s a little too obtuse. The first draft also tends to run long. Sometimes as much as 5 pages longer than what will be the eventual script length. Again, the primary audience for this draft is not production: it’s the network, and the rest of the story department, to get them both thinking about ways to sharpen, refine, and figure out the story.

The danger of circulating the first draft too widely cannot be overstated. No writer wants their first naked attempts to wrestle the story to the ground to get out there. There will be scenes, and stagings, and approaches that will not survive to the 2nd draft in any way, shape, or form – so you don’t want to let Directors to get the draft because the next thing you know the first blush, imperfect idea is boarded and thought about; when really it’s not fully cooked yet. Obviously there comes a time when you're so behind that you have to break this rule -- but better to give the Director something better conceived so they, too, are suggesting things out of excitement -- not confusion or panic.

It’s also generally accepted that the first draft is the “writer’s draft.” The showrunner/head creative rarely rewrites a 1st draft too heavily unless it’s acknowledged that the draft is seriously in trouble, in which case the writer doesn’t proceed and it turns into a page one rewrite.

The reason for this is entirely practical – even a passed-first draft is still a first draft. It will need to be rewritten again. If the writer of record is not allowed to continue on and write their second draft, you’re either going to have a writer who’s afraid to try stuff in the first draft – and a cautious first draft is a problem in any show – or you are going to have a writer who’s intimidated to change anything that’s been added by the showrunner/head creative…which means that their flexibility and utility in turning out a better working story is seriously compromised.

At its best, the first draft is a big step forward in the creative. It should deliver on the best promises of the outline, while identifying problem areas that need to be massaged. It suggests its own streamlining, when careful reading and consideration identifies potential problems in pacing.

In an early, early, early way it can also suggest red flags about sequences that may be too ambitious, a too-generous complement of characters and/or locations. It’s also the document that sharpens both the story department and the network for where the real creative work begins, and largely concludes.

Next time: The Second Draft

1 comment:

Unknown said...

All three parts of this have been really interesting.

I also want to commend you for correctly using the word "tropes."