- Have an idea about a specific person doing a specific thing.
- Write 90 pages about that.
- Put it away.
- Celebrate.
- Pick it up.
- Figure out what it’s actually about, which will be a pleasant surprise.
- Take out everything that isn’t about that.
- Fill in the spaces with work that is about that.
- Repeat steps 3-8 for a while.
- Ask some other screenwriters to read it.
- Fearlessly address the one or two universal notes you will get.
- Submit.