[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Can you explain what is a page one rewrite?
Greg Porper, Filmmaker/Screenwriter: A page one rewrite is:
-To look at the screenplay that you have
-Be willing to just move it to the side
-Essentially start over from a new point
-To not be attached to whatever was in that first draft
-To have a mindset of being willing to change everything in there.
In this case I say page one rewrite is also pertaining to the fact that on page one or page two (originally in the earliest scripts) is when our initial incident happens. Based on what happens on that page affects everything else because this script when we were outlining it is such a puzzle.
Everything leads to the next thing that happens. It’s a therefore but, therefore but.
When you change one little thing in the beginning it affects everything else that happens.
Even if Oh, it’s one little tweak on page two, it affects the following scene at this moment. It affects what happens here Oh, now this scene doesn’t make sense anymore because the character doesn’t have to do this, but then the scene that followed that it was because of the previous scene. That’s now cut. Now that scene’s irrelevant.
A page one rewrite ends up having a different trajectory altogether.
In this case it’s because there’s such a ripple effect on every single thing that happens in the story.
Film Courage: Then when you change something on page 50, now you’re already set back to page one again?
Greg: In some cases, yes. In other cases, it’s more of a rewrite when it happens at the beginning I think…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Greg Porper is an award-winning writer, director, and producer known for edgy, unexpected comedies that push rule- followers and rebels out of their comfort zones, blending humor and tension to spark laughs and gasps. In addition to writing and directing Don’t Tell Larry, Porper served as the film’s lead producer, strategically crafting, pitching, and executing the film’s business plan, securing all of the financing from over three dozen investors, and managing daily operations overseeing a team of more than 100 people throughout the film’s life cycle. Working as a development executive and freelance producer for over ten years, Porper has also developed and produced shows for Netflix, Fox, ESPN, MTV, truTV, Viceland, Discovery+, and more. He created, sold, and served as showrunner for the ten-episode CW digital series, Worst Birthday Ever. His pilot scripts and shorts have been featured on The Black List, College Humor, Funny or Die, and have screened at festivals all across the country. Porper is also working with producer Rachel Winter (Dallas Buyers Club) on his next dark comedy feature. Porper is a proud Northwestern alum who bleeds purple (though he should probably get that checked out by a doctor).
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