"Even A-list writers write crappy first drafts." No, they absolutely do not.
This post’s title is a comment I once came across … and I couldn’t disagree more.
A-list writers deliver, they know the craft. Of course their first drafts are not the shooting script - but they will deliver a first draft that is well crafted. An A-list writer does not deliver “crappy” anything – they’d be off that list in a heartbeat.
When it comes to the mad world of making film, there will always be the so-called overnight successes. Some will have sold and produced the first script they’ve ever written, and some will go on to be successful. Some will even say that it just took them a few weeks to deliver a shooting script. Some fairy tale stories will tell you that a first draft was practically perfect. Those rarest of exceptions do happen - but realize that that is what they truly are - the rarest of exceptions.
Don’t ever think that you are that rarest of exceptions. Statements like that in the title are there for one reason only: they’re supposed to lull you into the false that you’re no different from those at the top - those who have worked their asses off with tremendous stamina and discipline to get there. To me, stamina and discipline will always be the most important elements. Only then come craft and talent. A-listers have those four in spades.
Getting to that elusive top takes those four elements - and in addition it does take a tremendous jolt of luck, of the usual - you know, being in the right place and the right time. When that moment comes, if it ever comes, you want to be ready for it. We are craftspeople, we are professionals. And that means we know and are at peace with the fact that we’re not shooting for that overnight success, for that flash in the pan, for that one lucky shot. Nope, we instead put in the hard work - just as A-list writers have done to make it to that list.
Our job is to get up and go to work and carry on with passion, creativity and a massive amount of stamina and discipline through countless drafts for months and sometimes years. And then we do that again. And then again. And then again. That is the norm of what a professional screenwriter does. Just like A-list writers. They are pros and pros work hard. No shortcuts. All screenwriters considered A-list material (such as Sorkin, Zaillian, Logan, Pizzolatto, Tarantino, Willimon, Lindelof, etc.) have been at it for many, many years - they hone their craft and when they deliver a draft, it won’t be (and it also shouldn’t be, mind you) perfect, but it will definitely be a very solid, well-crafted starting point.
Have you ever seen Amadeus? Milos Forman's 1984 film about Mozart?
Remember that incredible difference - a difference worlds apart - between that genius that was Mozart, and the hard-working Salieri? Antonio Salieri was an accomplished composer. He didn’t have Mozart’s divine gift – but he was an accomplished craftsman. And that is exactly what professional screenwriters are – we are Salieri. We know the craft, we live the craft, and we understand the craft. We know what works and we know what doesn’t and we deliver solid work from the get-go to the shooting script.
If you’re a beginning screenwriter, please, please aspire to be Salieri, not Mozart. When you watch the movie you’ll be sure to fall in love with Mozart’s genius - but realize that he was in a league of his own. He was a genius - you are, most likely, not. And that’s just fine - welcome to the world of most of us.
I have a gripe with the very idea of exceptionalism. If you think you have to aspire to become a Mozart, or Tarantino, or Beyoncé, you’re bound to be disappointed - and because of that disappointment you’ll be bound to fail. Don’t aim there. If you do, you’re likely unhappy for the rest of your life. But if your aim instead is to be solid professional, aka an inventive and reliable screenwriter - you have a shot at making this a good life for yourself. The rest is luck.
Again, no shortcuts. Don’t think you’re the one. Don’t aim for brilliance, aim for solid, aim for good. There will be Mozart-like strokes of brilliance along the way, I can assure you. They’ll creep up on you, they’ll seep into your work, the solid work, the good work you’re focused on delivering. The muse will kiss you - but not if you want it, not if you expect it, not if you think you deserve it - the muse will kiss you when you do deserve it. And you’ll be deserving/imagining/discovering those moments of brilliance when you do the good work, the solid work, time and time and time and time again.
Doing the work, learning the craft, sticking with it, dealing with rejection, sticking with it, another draft, another spec, another year and always sticking with it. All of that gives you a tremendous foundation future success can be built on.
All of that also helps to keep you humble. Geniuses like Mozart were known to be capricious - but you must always remember that screenwriting is a collaborative craft. Nobody wants ‘capricious’ on the team. And when you have a good collaborative team (producers, director, actors, etc.), those elusive Mozart-ian flashes of brilliance will also flow into the collaboration … and all of that will - if the gods of film so choose - end with the creation of a forever great film.
A-list writers know all of that, of course. And they’ve done all that work, of course. So, to come come back to the title’s claim - “Do A-list writers deliver crappy first drafts?”
Hell no.
PS: What A-list writers can do, of course, is deliver a first draft that goes off the expected or agreed-upon path. But those then are differing artistic visions (and it usually means parting due to ‘artistic differences’) - the script, structurally speaking, will still hold, will still be solid.