Screenplay: A numerical postmortem.

Here's the script I wrote in 2017 for an animated direct-to-DVD feature as seen by the numbers:

Total pages: 67

Estimated movie length: 75 minutes

Total writing time: 5 months

Note cards used: 222

Draft outlines submitted: 8

Draft scripts submitted: 5 drafts and 4 punch-ups.

Average turn-around between outlines: 1.5 weeks.

Turn-around time between drafts: 2 weeks.

Turn-around time between punch-ups: 1 week.

Total creative and corporate individuals that had to be presented to and sold on every draft of the project: 12-15

Business trips to Japan: 3

Estimated hours discussing with partners in meetings: 80-100

Estimated hours on Skype with Japanese partners: 15-20

Here are five thoughts worth noting from the numbers above:

1. Collaborating with two very different partners (a US-based financier/distributor and a Japanese Director and production staff) was the most time consuming part. After that, the writing itself was actually surprisingly fast.
2. I easily wrote triple the amount I was expecting to write in terms of drafts and submissions even though my screenplay was probably 2/3 the length of a typical live-action feature film.
3. Being a writer isn't just sitting alone typing. It took me a 100 hours worth of meetings, talking, and listening to other people. It was a constant game of selling and convincing, pitching and adjusting.
4. Writing for me is equally about looking at cards on the floor as it is looking at pages on the screen. I didn't launch Final Draft until about 2.5 months into the process. For the way I write, the story happens on the cards and the scenes and dialog happen on the page.
5. The script is only the beginning! 2018 will all be about how we make this thing! I'll be posting updates as they (the distributor/financier) allow me to do so!