First Steps To Rewriting A Screenplay - Paul Chitlik

In this Film Courage video interview, Paul Chitlik talks about a fictional character's flaw.

Paul Chitlik has written for all the major networks and studios in English and in Spanish. He was story editor for MGM/UA'S "The New Twilight Zone," and staff writer for Showtime's sitcom "Brothers." He has written features for Rysher Entertainment, NuImage, Promark, Mainline Releasing, and others. He has directed episodes and been coordinating producer for “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol” and “U.S. Customs Classified.” He wrote and produced “Alien Abduction,” the first network movie shot on digital video for UPN. He wrote, produced, and directed “Ringling Brothers Revealed” a special for The Travel Channel. (He had been a roustabout for Circus Vargas years earlier.) Most recently he wrote, produced and directed “The Wedding Dress,” for Amazon Prime. He received a Writers Guild of America award nomination for his work on "The Twilight Zone" and a GLAAD Media Award nomination for "Los Beltrán,” a Telemundo show. He won a Genesis Award for a Showtime Family movie. He has taught in the MFA programs of UCLA, the University of Barcelona’s film school ESCAC, Cuba’s film school EICTV, Chile’s film school UNIACC, The University of Zulia in Venezuela, The Panamerican University in Mexico City, The Story Academy of Sweden and as a clinical associate professor at Loyola Marymount University. Now writing full time again and living near his grandson in Chapel Hill, NC, with wife, Beth McCauley.

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[Sarx]

Every aspiring writer should binge-watch this channel (I do)

[ratemyactors]

Great video! Paul Chitlik breaks down the rewriting process into manageable steps, providing clear and actionable tips for screenwriters looking to strengthen their script. I especially appreciated the emphasis on structure and character development - essential elements for crafting a compelling story. I'm looking forward to checking out the book and implementing these strategies in my own rewriting process.

[ratemyactors]

Really insightful video! Paul Chitlik's breakdown of the first steps to rewriting a screenplay is incredibly helpful. I've been struggling to improve my script's structure and character development, and this video has given me some valuable guidance. Can't wait to dive into the book and put these tips into practice. Highly recommended for screenwriters looking to take their work to the next level!

[ratemyactors]

Really insightful video! Paul Chitlik's advice on the first steps to rewriting a screenplay is spot on. His guidance on identifying the core structure and characters of your script, as well as his tips on how to analyze and strengthen your story, is invaluable. Looking forward to checking out his book, 'Rewrite 2nd Edition' for more in-depth guidance. Thanks for sharing!

[concernedcitizen]

My second ever production, I had constant rewrites—big rewrites—right up to day 1 of shooting. I thought I was going to go insane. It was a real baptism of fire. Looking back on it now, it was a painful but very useful experience.

[familycorvette]

Billy Wilder wouldn't move on to scene two until he nailed scene one. After that, he didn't rewrite.

[cbstevp]

The trouble is you can write an almost perfect script and then the producer, director, and actors get their say and it is not always a good say. I had a director change 75% of my script without even consulting me. And it bombed. A producer friend had a script where the main female character was a mom. And then they got this semi-famous actress to play the role and she demanded they change her character because she felt she was too young (late 20s) to be a mother. So they made the daughter into her younger sister. On another movie during shooting the director wrote and inserted scenes so the main actor got more screen time. The scenes didn't fit well and if he had only asked me to do that I might have been able to fix it better.

[Matt_Mosley]

The hardest thing isn't writing the script well enough... It's getting a person with a good imagination to read it so they can see it as you do.

[mano]

When I start writing a story, I usually have only vague ideas. Oddly enough, I know the ending best. The first paragraph takes days, then the rest comes much more quickly, as the "wise" person here said, one chapter after another and it's done. But of course he's not right, Paul is, because I have to rewrite it about twenty-five times, but unfortunately I can't do it any other way.

[charlessmyth]

All sounds reasonable until you take a movie or episode of TV, eliminate the dialogue and the m&e audio, and then dub in new dialogue and m&e to complete the movie or TV episode. Like Mario Bava did for The Day The Sky Exploded, you could simply take old material and treat it as stock footage and recut . . .

[wexwuthor]

Measure twice cut once. Who says a script can't be right the first time?

[renatozanardo]

Thanks Paul. Can I ask you wich is the process of your writing? What is your first step, from the moment you have the idea? For instance: write the meaning of your story, fill out character sheets, the outline for the hero's journey. Because I think there's a lot of confusion about it, or maybe there's more than one way to arrive at a good story that is not just writing down what comes to mind.