The Polish

The rewrite & the polish.

Not shoes.

Some of my UCLA students asked why rewrites and polishes are necessary, after all directors or actors can't change lines without permission of the playright?

The awful truth in screenplays is the opposite; once it's sold everyone gets a shot at "improving it." Assuming that the first draft is finished, the next stages are usually but not always a rewrite and a polish. 

The best ways to describe them is to look at the definitions as determined by WGA.

"Rewrite" means the writing of significant changes in plot, storyline or Interrelationship of characters in a teleplay (same as screenplay, etc. if you want).

"Polish" means the writing of changes in dialog, narration or action but not including a rewrite.

Okay, let's look at where rewrites and/or polishes are required. If you've just finished your screenplay and it still belongs to you, you have two choices; send it around town or go back and read it again with the intention of "cleaning it up."

Or you might want to do a lot of work on it which indicates a rewrite but since you're doing it for yourself WGA isn't involved. They get involved when someone who's a signatory wants to buy it or to hire you to write it.

After I finish a screenplay I usually set it aside for a week, maybe longer if I'm afraid to read it again in case it's really  bad. I still prefer a hard copy when I finally drag myself to read it from beginning to end.

I've tried to do it on a laptop screen and can do it, but I still like paper in my hand where I can use a red ballpoint Pilot pen  to mark it up where it needs something to be cut out. You can see this in person in my Worker's Writer's Screenplay. Sometimes I use the black Pilot to add something.

Usually I do a minor polish, cleaning it up and doing some reasonable corrections, maybe something new and changing a few scenes I didn't like. I also go over the first ten pages to make sure there's enough setups.

Sorry to be so late, I flew to visit my Aunt Lena, who is 99 years old.