First Draft: Step Up Your Game With These Seven New Year’s Resolutions For Screenwriters

4.  Cut 10 Pages From Every Script You Have

If you have a script that’s 120 pages, cut it down to 110. If you have 110 pages, cut it down to 100 — and certainly, if you have 130-140 pages, get it down to at least 120 pages and then try to cut some more.

The immediate novice screenwriter’s defense to this is, “Well, it shouldn’t matter what the page count is as long as the story, concept, and characters are great.”

It does matter. It does. Most screenplays that go into the market from unknown screenwriters are drastically overwritten. What most screenwriters can’t comprehend is that their main goal should be to offer a script that is an excellent read for the powers that be. The main goal is to have their script read like a movie is playing in the mind’s eye of whoever is reading it, with no interruptions (long scene descriptions, too much dialogue, unnecessary scenes, etc.).

Revisit each and every one of your scripts and try to cut out 10 pages. Do whatever it takes but have that be your goal and don’t quit until you’ve accomplished it. This will force you to consider each and every line of your script. It will force you to consider each and every scene, line of dialogue, line of scene description, etc. Embrace the Less is More Mantra and make your script a streamlined dream for any script reader out there.

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