In 1973, a young writer-director, fresh off the unexpected success of his last movie, got back to work.
Every morning, he would sit at his desk promptly at 8AM with a goal of writing 5 pages. He’d usually have one page done by 4PM, and then he’d panic-write the final 4 pages over the next hour.
What was he working on?
A space movie about aliens.
After an ugly first draft left his film friends very confused, he rewrote the movie and made some major changes.
His new screenplay involved a villain who was very strong in the ways of the Bogan. He used a laser sword to defeat a blaster-wielding character named Deak.
This draft was also a mess.
Anyone who read those drafts said, “What are you doing here?”
“This is absolute gobbledygook,” said one friend.
We all know what movie I’m talking about, right?
Its working title might give it away:
“The Adventures of the Starkiller, Saga I: The Star Wars”
Fortunately for us nerds, George Lucas kept at it, and after years of rewrites the screenplay started to take shape.
By the time he wrote his 3rd and 4th drafts, Deak was out and Luke was in. Darth Vader, Chewie, Leia, and Obi-Wan became fully realized.
And the rest is Star Wars history.
As I learned more about the origins of Star Wars: A New Hope, I was legitimately shocked at how different the 4th draft was from the first draft.
Its screenplay was a legit disaster through most versions of its scripts, and only started to take shape on the 3rd and 4th rewrite of the drafts. Hell, even the shooting of the movie was a disaster, that most would say was saved in the editing room.
That’s all besides the point.
It was those early, ugly-duckling scripts that provided the trial-and-error foundation for what would become the most famous franchise in nerd culture.
(Side note: I refuse to believe there are actual ugly ducklings. All ducks are cute).
Once I learned this story about the ugly draft, I started seeing it everywhere:
Pixar’s adorable, brilliant, and clairvoyant WALL-E? Its working title through most of its development was Trash Planet.
Ridley Scott’s Alien, one of the most influential sci-fi/horror films ever, began its life under a very different title:
Star Beast.
How fortunate are we nerds?
These filmmakers didn’t let tiny details like “the plot” or “characters” or “the name of the movie” get in the way. They just got started, and changed stuff along the way. A lot of stuff.
So much so that the final version often looked NOTHING like the first version.
See where I’m going with this?
You can’t rewrite a blank page.
Right now, there’s probably some part of your life that you’re waiting to get started on.
Maybe you’re waiting for the perfect workout plan before you get started with exercise.
Maybe you want to learn to cook healthier meals, but you’re not sure which recipe to start with.
Maybe you want to start therapy but you’re not sure which therapist to pick.
Ernest Hemmingway said it best:
“The first draft of anything is sh**”
That doesn’t just apply to writers. It applies to literally any project we’re looking to start. Which includes taking on ourselves as a project!
We can start by doing bad push-ups and half-squats.
We can cook a bad meal and then adjust the next time we cook it.
We can go to a therapy session and then decide what we liked or didn’t like.
It’s a lot easier to pivot something that’s in motion than when it’s in a dead stop. My workouts now look nothing like the workouts I did when I first went to the gym at age 16. I’m so embarrassed by those workouts. But they got me in the door.
My diet looks nothing like how I ate in my early 20s, when I didn’t eat vegetables. I’m embarrassed by how I used to eat. But it got me educated about protein and calories and vegetables and macronutrients.
You’re not writing a final draft.
You’re not creating your “final form” with whatever workout you start tomorrow.
You’re just getting rid of that “blank” page. You’re beta-testing.
You’re gathering info for what works and doesn’t.
You’re just getting started.
A month from now, you’ll get to work on your next “draft,” applying what you learned and didn’t learn.
Just don’t expect your first “Adventures of the Starkiller” to be the same as your final “Star Wars: A New Hope.”
Start. Learn. Restart. Win.
And as George wrote in his first draft…
“May the Force of Others be with you All.”
-Steve
