Ten Vital Pages

How do people in the movie industry sort through all the thousands of scripts that enter their lives each year? They judge a whole by some of its parts. One part by which many a Hollywood player judges a whole screenplay is the first ten pages. Your work's first ten pages must grip the reader. Don't waste pages, or even lines. Avoid superfluous writing. That goes for your whole script, but especially your first ten pages.

Don't worry too much over your first ten pages on the first draft. Be sure to tighten them though, during rewrite.