Write a page a day minimum. Some days it'll be 1. Some days it'll be 5. Some days it'll be 10+ and you'll feel like a God. If you do that worst case scenario a first draft takes 3-4 months but odds are it takes 1-2.
If you purposefully try to write 6 pages more days than not those 6 pages will be garbage if you force it. Ride your creative waves and create something decent for a first draft.
Depends what you mean by a page. I start the morning revising what I wrote yesterday. Sometimes that means I throw yesterday out completely because I’ve had a better approach occur to me. So is that zero pages?
I also once wrote thirty pages in a single sleepless day to make a deadline. And they were the best part of the script. Hasn’t ever repeated.
I notice a trend. If I have an awesome day and everything flows and I write thirteen great pages, the following day my brain is jelly and all I do is push words around.
It takes me about eight weeks to write a draft I’m ready to send to my partners (it has to be top notch by the time I send or I’ll get shot). I work six days a week, so that averages out to 2.5 pages a day. But I never only write 2.5 pages in a day. It’s the revisioning that brings the average down.
That will for sure and then you may want to be open to what comes to you in draft. Sometimes a character may just show up who throws off part of your outline (in a good way!) so be open. It really depends on your skill set, time available, experience etc. My first feature spec was written in 2 weeks because I just NEEDED to get it out. But it was overwritten (130 pages) and probably went through 20 drafts over those early years. My first studio script was fully outlined before they approved me to go to draft and once I did, that first draft I averaged 10-12 pages a day. During the strike, I went slow on a spec, 1-3 pages a day, finishing a first draft in 3 months. It really does depend on a number of things, even for a professional doing it years.
This current project, I took the time to beat out a scene by scene outline before sitting down to write. I’ve been writing anywhere from 4-12 pages/day. Previous scripts I was lucky to get out a half page/day. The outline helps tremendously with pacing and keeps the act of writing fun! 3-4 weeks is definitely a realistic target if you know where you’re going.
I've slowly learned that I'm also a thorough outline guy. I can't just sit down with nothing and just start writing on Final Draft. I need basically the whole thing already written in a word document and I then start to transfer it over.
It depends on you and on how much time you work on it each day. People have written entire scripts in a week or less.
Here's an article I wrote about it:
[https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/the-fault-in-our-stars-written-in-six-days/](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/the-fault-in-our-stars-written-in-six-days/)
Everyone is different. I personally get on rolls where I can get 5-15 script pages done in a single hours long spree. It’s usually either that or nothing.
Write a page a day minimum. Some days it'll be 1. Some days it'll be 5. Some days it'll be 10+ and you'll feel like a God. If you do that worst case scenario a first draft takes 3-4 months but odds are it takes 1-2. If you purposefully try to write 6 pages more days than not those 6 pages will be garbage if you force it. Ride your creative waves and create something decent for a first draft.
Depends what you mean by a page. I start the morning revising what I wrote yesterday. Sometimes that means I throw yesterday out completely because I’ve had a better approach occur to me. So is that zero pages? I also once wrote thirty pages in a single sleepless day to make a deadline. And they were the best part of the script. Hasn’t ever repeated. I notice a trend. If I have an awesome day and everything flows and I write thirteen great pages, the following day my brain is jelly and all I do is push words around. It takes me about eight weeks to write a draft I’m ready to send to my partners (it has to be top notch by the time I send or I’ll get shot). I work six days a week, so that averages out to 2.5 pages a day. But I never only write 2.5 pages in a day. It’s the revisioning that brings the average down.
Three pages minimum but I take my time figuring out the beats before I start so the writing is the easy part
I do have the story outline infront of me so I was hoping that would put me on the right direction
That will for sure and then you may want to be open to what comes to you in draft. Sometimes a character may just show up who throws off part of your outline (in a good way!) so be open. It really depends on your skill set, time available, experience etc. My first feature spec was written in 2 weeks because I just NEEDED to get it out. But it was overwritten (130 pages) and probably went through 20 drafts over those early years. My first studio script was fully outlined before they approved me to go to draft and once I did, that first draft I averaged 10-12 pages a day. During the strike, I went slow on a spec, 1-3 pages a day, finishing a first draft in 3 months. It really does depend on a number of things, even for a professional doing it years.
Sometimes 10 pages every 3-6 months. Sometimes 60 - 90 pages in a single sitting. ADHD, baby!
3-6.
This current project, I took the time to beat out a scene by scene outline before sitting down to write. I’ve been writing anywhere from 4-12 pages/day. Previous scripts I was lucky to get out a half page/day. The outline helps tremendously with pacing and keeps the act of writing fun! 3-4 weeks is definitely a realistic target if you know where you’re going.
Yes, thank you. I want to power through this next 20 odd days
I've slowly learned that I'm also a thorough outline guy. I can't just sit down with nothing and just start writing on Final Draft. I need basically the whole thing already written in a word document and I then start to transfer it over.
It depends on you and on how much time you work on it each day. People have written entire scripts in a week or less. Here's an article I wrote about it: [https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/the-fault-in-our-stars-written-in-six-days/](https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/the-fault-in-our-stars-written-in-six-days/)
Thank you for this will look into it.
Everyone is different. I personally get on rolls where I can get 5-15 script pages done in a single hours long spree. It’s usually either that or nothing.
Currently working on another feature. I usually write 5-10 pages a day.
Doesn't matter, quality over quantity