I just taught an 8-week class on how to write a screenplay. Here's what I'm doing differently this quarter.

37% of my students actually finished their script during my 8-week challenge. My goal is to get that number even higher.

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On February 8th of this year, I embarked on a journey with 81 other screenwriters.

Our goal?

Finish the first draft of a brand-new screenplay in eight weeks.

Well, technically it was ten weeks. I taught eight live classes, but there were two holiday weekends that the students had off, which gave them a little extra time to work on their scripts.

April 19th was the final deadline.

Students turned in a survey of how much of their project they were able to finish.

The results?

Thirty students completed the first draft of their screenplay.

I am incredibly proud of these results! 99% of people who say they want to be a screenwriter haven’t actually started their script. And of the people who have started a script, 99% of them won’t get past Act Two, all the way to FADE TO BLACK.

Compared to this 0.01% success rate, I think 37% is pretty damn awesome.

But I’m not satisfied with it.

That was the inaugural quarter of Screenwriter Brunch Club, a community-based quarterly class designed to turn people into professional screenwriters. And the first step to becoming a professional screenwriter is to actually finish your script.

So that is what we’re focusing on for Q2.

Based on the work that I watched my students do, the struggles that they voiced, the challenges that they celebrated, and the feedback they have given me, I am making small but meaningful changes in the curriculum I teach and the recommendations I make moving forward.

If your goal is to write a new draft of a screenplay by the end of summer, these insights can help you refine your own process and approach.

Photo by Andrijana Bozic on Unsplash

First, let’s talk about what worked.

I had no idea what the reception to my unique combination of mindset + structure lessons was going to be.

I was confident that they would be helpful to my students, but you never can be sure until you actually see it in action.

And the feedback was incredible.

“Audrey Knox and Screenwriter Brunch Club will change the way you write! This informative and actionable class will improve your writing process and help you reach your career goals. You will engage with amazing guest speakers and find new friends in Book Club. I highly recommend this class to new and experienced writers alike, there is something for everyone!”

- Aaron Kuper

“Audrey breaks down the craft of screenwriting to its simplest form so that even a complete novice can understand. If you're overwhelmed and intimidated by the idea of writing a feature, then I highly recommend checking out Audrey's class where you'll be guided on how to deal with the psychology, as well as technique, of screenwriting.”

- Semien Abay

“Audrey and the Screenwriter Brunch Club has been an invaluable resource in my development as a writer. The work we have done has helped me create a solid writing routine and has increased my understanding of story structure and the mechanics of screenwriting. I'm looking forward to remaining in the Club each quarter!”

- Joe Amstater

So first, I want to take a moment to talk about what practices my students found the most helpful for actually getting across the finish line.

The 10 Tactics That Help Screenwriters Actually Finish Their Script

These are the elements I am keeping and leaning even more into this next quarter.

Tactic #1: Keep Moving Forward

This was my least popular piece of advice.

It was also the advice that screenwriters found the most groundbreaking in actually getting them to the end of their script.

Do not go back and read prior pages.

Do not go back and edit or tweak anything that you previously wrote.

Revising your script before you have finished it is a form of productive procrastination. Your perfectionist tendencies are nothing more than an excuse to put off doing the hard (but ultimately rewarding) work that is generating new material and soldiering forth into the next part of your screenplay.

You will eventually go back and revise your previous pages.

But not until you are completely finished writing this draft.

Tactic #2: The Hemingway Bridge

This is a tool I adopted from Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte.

The Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway was known for a particular writing strategy, which Forte refers to as, “The Hemingway Bridge.”

“He would always end a writing session only when he knew what came next in the story. Instead of exhausting every last idea and bit of energy, he would stop when the next plot point became clear. This meant that the next time he sat down to work on his story, he knew exactly where to start. He built himself a bridge to the next day, using today’s energy and momentum to fuel tomorrow’s writing.” (p 186)

This is a groundbreaking strategy for your writing routine.

I encourage my students to figure out the time of day where they have the most energy and the fewest distractions. This is your Magic Time, the time of day that you dedicate to the most important thing in the world to you right now (for students in the class, it’s finishing their screenplay).

Your Magic Time should be used to do the most productive, difficult writing you have to accomplish that day.

You don’t want to waste a minute of it trying to figure out what to write.

Instead, today’s session with a very specific plan about what scene, moment, or conflict comes next in your story.

That what, when you jump back in tomorrow, it’ll take very little effort to find your groove again.

Photo by Manasvita S on Unsplash

Tactic #3: Deadlines

The beauty of a class is the accountability that comes from having weekly homework.

Regular in-person or Zoom sessions require that you show up and keep your project top of mind. Paying money for a program reinforces the motivation you have to stick to the work and make the most out of what you have already invested your hard-earned dollars into.

But classes aren’t the only way to give yourself deadlines.

I have previously talked about the misconceptions screenwriters have around the efficacy of fellowships and competitions when it comes to breaking into this industry.

But competitions are a great opportunity to give yourself deadlines worth sticking to.

In fact, Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor, two of the guest speakers in my Screenwriter Brunch Club last quarter, relayed that they broke in by applying to as many fellowships as they could by writing a brand new feature script for each deadline.

This allowed them the iterations they needed to improve their craft, helped them build a portfolio, and got them to turbocharge their output for the sake of external deadlines that they imposed upon themselves.

However you choose to do it, the pressure that comes from needing to finish your draft by a certain date is essential for actually making sure you progress at a productive pace.

Plus, if your goal is to become a professional screenwriter, you will be expected to adhere to producer and executive deadlines as laid out in the terms of your employment contract.

So you might as well practice delivering your work in a timely manner without making excuses now.

Tactic #4: Artist Walks

If you’re one of those writers who has a copy of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron on your shelf but have not read it yet, consider this your sign to crack it open today.

The tools and exercises she advocates will lead to a breakthrough in your creative process.

But the best, most underrated piece of advice you can incorporate into your writing routine is an Artist Walk.

It’s simple, and it’s free: Go on a walk for 30 minutes, twice a week.

Don’t bring headphones.

Don’t listen to a podcast. Don’t bring a friend or a family member or a dog. It should just be you, your feet, and the sights. You can bring a notebook or a phone (on airplane mode) to jot down ideas as you think of them.

Writers from Stephen King to Eve Babitz to Ernest Hemingway have all touted the revelatory process that is going on a walk until you find a solution to your story problem.

There’s something about giving your brain the space to think that allows it to finally stumble on the solutions that you need. But that requires being willing to walk away from your work, listen to your surroundings, and be bored without putting in constant stimulus.

BONUS: This is not a substitute for the Artist Walk, but if you have a road trip or a long commute, consider listening to music instead of a podcast. Rather than pumping someone else’s ideas and stories into your brain for hours, use the quiet, monotonous driving time to allow your own brain to wander.

Thank you, Dylano of Essayful

Tactic #5: Study and learn from examples.

You can’t expect to master the art of screenwriting if you don’t practice breaking down movies that you love.

Watching a movie gives you the opportunity to apply what you’re learning about story structure. Ask yourself questions like:

• What is the Central Dramatic Question?

• When is it launched?

• When is it answered?

• What is the answer?

• What is the thematic question or thematic statement of the film?

The more you try to dissect the art you see out in the world, the more you will be able to pull back the curtain and start to speak visual storytelling fluently. This comes not just from watching movies but from reading the scripts that go with them.

Whether it’s the writer’s draft or a shooting script, try to get your hands on any sold or produced screenplays that you can.

Notice how writers put dialogue on the page, evoke emotion with character description, or phrase action lines. Immerse yourself in the language of screenwriting by reading tons of great screenplays by tons of great writers. It will be infinitely more productive than Googling things like, “How to format a montage.”

You are influenced by your intake.

That’s why in my class I assign a movie a week and have my students read the script to go along with it. Then in our live lectures, we break down these examples and compare them with one another.

This helps illuminate patterns in story structure, character building, and other parts of screenwriting that you will learn to incorporate in your own work over time.

Tactic #6: Build a consistent writing habit.

Consistent work is the only way forward.

If you’re serious about finishing your screenplay, my #1 recommendation is that you sit down and write at least a page of it every single day, no matter what. That doesn’t need to be a page of script in Final Draft. It could be a page of brainstorming scene ideas in your notebook. A page of writing character backstory in prose.

Hell, even a page of complaining about the parts of your story that are giving you trouble counts as productive work.

Just write one page.

The first page is the hardest part. If you can get through that, you can access the flow state that will allow you to move through even more of your writing.

But if you don’t do more than a page, that’s okay!

You can get so much done in writing 30 minutes a day.

Perfect is the enemy of the good. It’s the writers who showed up and were willing to chip away tiny pieces of their script, bit by bit, that were able to finish. Even when they had exhausting day jobs, family obligations, and travel pulling at their focus.

Once you fall out of the daily momentum, it’s hard to get back into it.

So unplug the router at night (or in the morning) and do what you need to do to keep moving forward, no matter how small that step is.

Tactic #7: Embrace Fractal Storytelling.

So many writers focus on big picture story points, like the Inciting Incident, All-Is-Lost Moment, and Climax.

And don’t get me wrong, those elements are all important.

But it can get overwhelming to think about writing 90 pages of a script, figuring out how to get through a whole movie. And the Save the Cat story beats are not going to help you muddle through the intimidating and confusing Act Two.

“Fun and games”? What does that even mean?

In the effort to chip away at your story little by little, I recommend breaking down your script into three acts. Then break each act down into its sequences. Break each sequence down to its scenes.

Then, your writing session isn’t about getting from point A to point B.

It’s about writing a complete scene.

A scene is a story with a beginning, middle and end. And it makes up a bigger story (the sequence).

When you can start to conceptualize your movie as its smaller components, you will make each section much more entertaining, and the writing process itself will be easier and more fun.

Tactic #8: Character Deep Dives

Before you finalize the story decisions of your movie, you need to understand who your characters are and why they do the things that they do.

Sometimes the best way to learn about a character is to put them into situations and see how they respond. Many writers prefer to dive right into their story and start writing the script, allowing the characters to emerge in the process.

But this can have the drawback of pushing you to consider plot decisions before your characters are fully formed.

That’s why one of our first assignments is to complete a Character Deep Dive Worksheet, not just for your main character but for as many antagonists and supporting characters as you have time to consider.

That way it becomes easier to create moments that challenge them.

You’ll already know what these people’s strengths, weaknesses, and greatest fears are.

That will make it much easier to figure out the most interesting scenario to put them in and the most interesting person to pair them with.

Tactic #9: Scene Generation

In one of the first classes, my students are tasked with the homework to brainstorm 100 potential scenes for their movie.

You’re not going to use all of these scenes.

And not all (or most) of them are going to be good ideas or scenes worth including in your movie. If you're in the ideating phase of your screenplay, or if you're stuck on what to include in your Act Two, I challenge you to sit down and do this exercise for your concept.

But you don’t have to stop when you finish brainstorming 100 scenes!

Start training your eye to notice situations around you every day that could be scenes in a movie someday. Whenever you’re in conversation with someone and you hear yourself saying or thinking, “That’s a scene,” write it down!

Writing these thoughts down is so important.

Whether its the notes app on your phone, a journal you keep with you at all times, or if you’re emailing yourself your ideas and collecting them in a folder, figure out a system that works for you.

This way, when you’re working your way through Act Two, you’re not just trying to conjure up things for your characters to do.

You’re pulling from exciting or interesting moments that feel inherently related to your premise and characters.

Tactic #10: Start with a Story Beat Worksheet.

I know I mentioned previously that understanding plot points isn’t enough to get you from the beginning to the end of your script.

But they are still important to know!

One of the worst things you can do as a screenwriter is write filler.

Meaning, you know that you need to write pages but you don’t have a specific idea for what the character should be doing.

A Story Beat Worksheet will ask you questions whose answers you need to know before you dive into your outline. Things like:

• Who is your main character?

• What is their goal for the movie?

• What are the obstacles that prevent them from achieving that goal?

• What is the inciting incident that launches that goal?

• What is the All-is-Lost Moment that takes them as low as they can possibly go?

Starting with the pain story points allows you to write the broad strokes of your outline first, instead of just asking yourself, “What events happen in my script?”

Then you can fill in the in-between spaces with entertaining scenes that you brainstormed that move the story forward.

Give yourself a clear roadmap in the form of an outline.

It will make the screenplay writing process way less daunting than just sitting down with a goal to finish 120 pages.

All this has been working, but there are some things I’ll be doing differently moving forward.

One of the best parts about teaching a class is getting all the feedback from my 82 students about what did and did not work for them.

And in doing the homework myself, I was able to experience the challenges and pitfalls of my class structure firsthand.

As a result, here are the things I’m going to be doing differently in Q2 in order to get our success rate even higher.

Tactic #1: Spend more time on outlining.

I spent two weeks on the outline in Q1.

In Q2, we’re bumping this up to three. And I’m pulling the Fractal Storytelling lecture/sequence lessons up sooner. This is because an outline needs to address more than just the main plot beats. It needs to give the writer a chance to flesh out exactly what sequences will make up the story.

I found myself needing to make structural decisions in later weeks of the class. This slowed me down and killed my confidence.

Instead, I’ll make sure that everything is planned out and organized much more thoroughly, which will make the scene writing process even more fun.

Tactic #2: Use fewer examples.

Watching and reading movies is essential for learning about story structure.

But in the first quarter, I gave students two options to choose from: Two movies and the two scripts that went along with them. The idea was that they could choose to watch one or both. But many people want to go above and beyond. Plus, students got the most out of lectures when they could see the comparisons between the different films each week.

Watching two movies and reading two feature screenplays in a week is too much work.

Did I mention that many of these students have day jobs and families?

The goal is to keep this class fun, rewarding, motivating, and productive. Not stressful. For this reason, in Q2, we’re only going to address one example a week.

But as I teach subsequent lectures, we’ll return to the examples from previous weeks, so that I will still be able to compare and contrast as we walk through the topics, building on them as we continue on for the next few months.

Tactic #3: Allow more time to write Act Two.

The first quarter of Screenwriter Brunch Club aimed to get writers to finish their scripts in 8 weeks.

This worked out as 8 classes spread out over 10 weeks because we took a couple Saturdays off for holidays.

The students loved these holiday weeks.

Even the writers who showed up and consistently worked on their scripts every day found the pacing to be grueling, especially during Act Two, which involves a lot of exciting, bigger set pieces that take more time to write.

Therefore, this quarter I’m spreading the class out over 12 weeks.

We’ll still have 8 live classes and 2 Saturdays completely off.

But I’m adding in 2 “write-ins.” Meaning that two of the Saturdays at our usual class time, everyone will gather on Zoom and spend those 2.5 hours working on our scripts.

This quarter, my goal is to get at least half my class to finish the first draft of their feature screenplay.

And I have a goal to finish mine too. After all, carving out time to move my own creative writing career forward is the most important thing for me to do to prevent burning out.

What is your screenwriting goal for this summer?

If it’s to write a brand new script, consider incorporating some of these tactics into your writing process.

If you’re looking to sign with an agent or manager, make sure you download my Free PDF Guidebook to Querying.

Enrollment for Screenwriter Brunch Club is currently closed, but if you want to learn more about it (including how to get on the waitlist for next quarter), click here.