27. The cutting room: Handling rewrites

Homework

Time to play “Operation” on your script! (Except this is more like making a Robocop – you add back in better things and don’t just leave the patient organless.)

Scene surgery

Even if you think it’s working well, just move some of your scenes around on your beat sheet and see what the story would be like if it played out in a different order – you never know what can happen. Real writing is being able to cut, so get cutting, too.

Looking at your script objectively will drastically improve your story. Don’t let yourself off the hook: if anything doesn’t work, remove it.