Fourteen versions of the book were drafted and edited before it was published. There may ultimately be more drafts and edits of the adapted screenplay. In spite of today’s methods of editing, whether on a tablet or laptop, with spellcheckers, grammarcheckers, redliners, and other tools, there is no substitute for red pen editing on paper. I spend countless hours at it on each draft.
The words and the images created are more vivid when ink rests on paper. The technical flaws are more easily detected. The feeling of holding the draft while gliding a red pen across its pages, cannot be matched by strokes on a keyboard.
Although a tedious undertaking that may progress at a glacial pace, draft and edit, redraft and edit again, is a task with which one must contend. Why? Because, as Earnest Hemingway said, “The first draft of everything is shit.”
Thank you to all those, especially in the film industry, who have helped with the screenplay’s development, with the goal of telling a story that touches the heart and stirs the soul.
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