Why I Love To Edit My Scripts

And you can too

Image from Unsplash (Kelly Sikkema)

Now, I know most writers don’t like to edit. It’s boring, it takes ages and you just don’t want to ‘kill your darlings’. Besides, just how do you work out what to take out and what to leave in? As writers, we want to… write, not edit what we just wrote, come on!

But here’s the thing: editing is the most powerful way to fix your screenplay.

Why it’s important

You have to edit. You have to cut it down. You have to perfect it. You need to tweak those lines of dialogue, cut those overly long action lines, put more ‘white on the page’… You know, all the things they tell you about in creative writing courses. It will make things easier all around. Not to mention that readers and producers notice all of those things. Very few things pass them by when reading someone’s screenplay.

Another thing I like about it is that it massively helps when it comes to writer’s block. Whenever I’m stuck on a page, I go back up and go over a few passages, scenes, etc, looking for bits to edit. This usually takes my mind off the problem at hand, and it unlocks my creativity in the process.

Loving it

You don’t have to learn to love the process of editing, but it certainly helps. Once you realize that it is absolutely going to make…