One of the biggest thing holding aspiring screenwriters back from writing their scripts is the fear that they’ll pour their time, effort, and love into a project and in the end be left with something that’s bad. If you have that fear, I have some advice:

Don’t worry, your first draft will be bad.

And that’s okay!

It won’t all be bad. There will be parts of the draft that where you’ve realized our vision for the project; where the characters sound like you want them to and the story feels gripping. There will be lines of dialogue that you’re proud of and scenes that make you want to excitedly flip the page.

But there are also going to be a lot problems in the script. You may find that the characters are sounding alike (and suspiciously the person they all sound like is you). You may find that the story meanders and isn’t as thrilling, funny, emotional, or scary as you hoped. You may find you've literally lost the plot.

That’s all okay. It’s a first draft.

If you lean into the fact that the first draft will be bad, it can free you up to actually write the thing. It's so much easier to write without pressure. There are several names for this kind of draft, most common are “vomit draft” or “sh*tty first draft.” (I’ll go with vomit draft in this one to lessen our need for censorship in the post.)

The point of a vomit draft is to get the thing written, start to finish, without worrying too much about its quality. You’re writing with the expectation that it’s going to be bad. That way, when you finish and it in fact is bad, it’s not that much of a disappointment. Instead of failing in writing a good script, you’ve succeeded in the first step of writing a good script.

Thinking of it as a first step of many is key. Don’t write with the expectation that you’re going to knock it out of the park on the first try. Our brains can only focus on so many things at once, and when writing the first draft you’re usually still trying to figure out exactly what this script is. Your goal for your vomit draft should be to produce a script with enough structure and character work that you’ll be able to improve it with subsequent revisions. That's the sweet spot for a vomit draft: bad enough that it takes the pressure off, but good enough to give you something to work with moving forward.

Once you hit “The End,” you can celebrate your accomplishment and take a break before starting the revision process. (More on that soon.)

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