3 Tips to Get Your First Draft Done
by Mikey Montemayor
I’ve been lucky enough over the past few years to write movies for Netflix and Disney, and recently I found myself thinking back to the very first screenplay I ever wrote 14 years ago. Specifically because it was unbelievably bad.
I was 19, interning at a production company and I thought… this screenplay is going to be my big break! At the end of the internship, I sent it to the producer and was soooo excited for his thoughts. At the time I was studying chemistry at Princeton with plans to go to medical school, but my real dream was to write movies, so this opportunity was everything to me!
I’ll never forget it. My last day on the job. The producer took me to have a hot dog on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, sat me down, and said, “So I read your script, and… I really think you should become a doctor.”
I was crushed! I maybe cried for two months. I truly thought my dreams were dead and my life was over.
But then a friend gave me a piece of advice. They told me… write another script.
So that’s what I did! And over the years, I wrote more and more AWFUL screenplays.
I wrote a thriller about the world not turning anymore. I wrote a comedy about three friends getting sucked into a video game. I wrote a murder mystery set in a Minnesota town that, thinking back on it, was basically a rip-off of Fargo. And all of those scripts went absolutely nowhere…. BUT I learned how to write the bad screenplays quicker.
And 14 years later, that’s been the key to my success! I can churn out a crappy script in five days flat, which is easily the hardest part of writing.
So many writers agonize over their ideas, so much so that it cripples them from writing. But what I inadvertently did while writing all those bad scripts was find my voice. And more importantly, all that bad writing trained me in discipline and how to sit down and just type.
As I’ve progressed and met more professional, working writers, I learned this secret… that all fancy Hollywood writers write crap screenplays too!
But when people tell them to rewrite it, and studios come back with pages and pages of notes, they all do it with a smile on their face. And that’s how you succeed as a writer!
Stop being precious. Don’t take it personally. Just keep writing.
Here’s my three tips for cranking out a first bad draft:
If writing the first page seems too daunting, then speak it out loud. I love to use dictation apps to say what I think the opening of a movie, or a scene in general should look and feel like. Go on a hike, talk to your self about it, get an app to transcribe your words and BOOM you’ve begun.
Write all the dialogue first. I know it sounds crazy, but isn’t that the fun of a scene? Getting characters talking? I like to think of screenwriting as doing improv but on paper. I get two characters in a situation speaking, I run with the dialogue, see where it goes and worry about all the direction and details in the edit.
Don’t be precious about your writing ritual. Do it while watching TV. Do it while in the car. Do it while on the toilet! I know a lot of writers who belabor writing because they need to be in the perfect space, at the right time, with their specific drip coffee. Stop it! If you can find a way to not be precious with anything regarding your writing, it’ll all flow out so much easier. It doesn’t need to be pretty it just needs to get on paper!
Writing isn’t about waiting for brilliance to strike. It’s about showing up over and over again until one day you look back and realize… oh wow, I actually know how to do this now. Because most other people are still just thinking about their ideas.
About Mikey:
Michael Montemayor is a writer and comedian who began his career as a writer’s assistant on Cruella (2021) for Disney and has since emerged as an in-demand feature writer, performing rewrites on The Lost City (2022) for Paramount Pictures as well as the upcoming live-action adaptation of Tangled.
In addition to his film work, his social content has amassed over 40 million views across platforms, with a comedic voice focused on uplifting and celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.
Submit to the Slamdance Screenplay Competition HERE
Submit to the Slamdance Film Festival HERE