Breaking & Entering: Your Final Draft Needs a Rewrite! The Polish & Hone Checklist – 7 Simple Steps to A Stronger Script

Whether working with writers on projects or consulting on a script with a client, ultimately we get to a phase that I believe must take place before anyone else lays eyes on it – The Polish & Hone pass. We’ve done all the heavy lifting, but there is still work to be done.

It’s challenging to have finally typed: Fade Out, and then muster the motivation to take one more pass. But this is essential to take your script to the next level and make it the best it can possibly be. These seven easy to implement little steps can add up to a big change: elevating your writing, focusing your story, and engaging your reader. 

When you get to that “final draft” – that’s in air quotes because is there ever really a final draft? – a draft you believe is ready to go out into the world, I urge you to first step away from the computer! 

Get out of your writing space and do something completely different.

Whether it’s a little adventure, a new experience, a hike, or hitting the gym, whatever refreshes you. For me, doing something physical with a tangible ending – moving something from my “To Do” list to “To Done” – is satisfying. It’s a great switch from intellectual endeavors. And admittedly, it is the real reason why I cleaned the greasy oven vents before rewriting this! So give the bathroom a good scrub, run errands, rake the yard. Anything that leads to the gratification of checking something off your "To Do" list is reinvigorating.

I believe in the magic of stepping away. After all, I’m the girl who devoted an entire article to the creative “ah-ha” moments I have while in the shower, and how you can spark “Sudden Illumination” by pressing pause.

Get refreshed and get rewriting! Return to your script, roll up your sleeves, and start rewriting with this checklist in hand. 

Rather than saving the best for last, I’m starting with my favorite because it is both easy and invaluable:

While writers worry about page count – often more than industry pros, see “Does Page Count Count?” – in a polish pass I look at line length. Are they too short or too long?

When I see a line with a single word – called a widow or an orphan – it immediately triggers me to think of a way to get rid of it and, in the process, strengthen the sentence. Don’t hold me accountable for this article as the formatting is beyond my control, but do take this principle as a challenge to improve your draft in the rewrite.

Whether in description or dialogue, strive to rewrite the sentence to make it both shorter and stronger. The double value is saving an entire line – which adds up over the course of a script when page count does count – and crafting a leaner, stronger sentence, that makes for a better read.

Open a thesaurus and discover words that up impact and underscore meaning!

The opposite of looking for lines with only one word works too. Is there a third of a line or more left blank in a block of description that could be filled out to be more cinematic and engaging? Underscore character or tone? Paint a richer picture of a new setting? Hint at the theme? Is there a significant detail that would resonate with an extra word or phrase of description?

Use this space!

Whether too long or too short, the goal is to create a great experience for your first audience, your reader. The Audience is Listening is filled with practical pointers on how ensure your reader is swept up in the flow of reading and absorbed by your story.

Here’s my simple equation for engaging readers:

Reworking lines that are too short or too long can simultaneously tighten and strengthen your script to make it a more cinematic read. It’s an easy tool in the Polish & Hone pass that pays off with tangible benefits.

I revel in the nuances of words. Active verbs and juicy adjectives make your story a dynamic reading experience. The word that perfectly conveys your intention. Yes, I have my share of Pet Peeves when writers fall short of making the most of each word choice, exposed in my column, Screenwriting’s Seven Dirty Words. High on my list is word repetition. It detracts from you appearing as a strong, articulate writer capable of expressing exactly what they mean.

Squeeze every bit of juice you can out of each word you choose. There is power in choosing the right word that can convey character, highlight what is significant, illuminate inner emotion, and underscore theme.

When it comes to conveying emotion, subtext is powerful. I’m so passionate about this skill, I filled up two columns, Shh: Subtext - The Powerful Sound of Show Not Tell and Subtext - Turn Up The Volume on Screenwriting. I teach how to use subtext to elevate your writing. Here’s a quick lesson with examples:

Also, see the excellent book, The Emotional Thesaurus, written specifically to help writers express emotions in subtext. And never forget that nifty thesaurus right there on your computer!

Choosing the right word is invaluable. Or: critical, crucial, essential, key, vital, priceless!

While we writers all yearn to find the creative flow, that sweet spot where words cascade effortlessly onto the page, in a Polish & Hone pass, your goal is for your reader to experience that seamless, delicious feeling.

Do your paragraphs draw us in? A script is a blueprint for a visual medium. Draw us in and through scenes visually. While we frown on writers literally “calling the shots,” you can indicate them. Direct our point of view with your description. Start with the big picture of a new setting or a character introduction, and move in for added significant specifics. This is “The Goldilocks Paradox:” too little is vague and generic; too much can become a dry “laundry list” of what we see. Hitting the sweet spot of “just right” is only possible when you are clear on the purpose of the scene and know exactly what your reader needs to know. This requires focus and vision.

Do your sentences flow? Read it out loud. Does it sound like a prose? Is it a match with the tone? Does it reflect you – your distinctive writer’s voice?

I’ve helped clients put together readings with professional actors, but even reading your script aloud on your own, or getting writer friends together to read each other’s scripts, can be eye-opening.

Does the pacing match the tone and the moment? Edgier genres benefit from lean writing. Action feels fast in short sentences. It packs a bigger punch. Comedy moves quick. Nuanced, emotion-laden moments might be most fully conveyed with longer, more complex sentences. Thrillers must escalate.

Use this concept to your advantage. Break both these patterns so that we are not consistently reading long or short sentences. It is more natural and more engaging on the page.

What We See, As It Happens

Are you writing in active present tense? Are you telling and showing – describing what is about to be conveyed in the scene, and then having it play out in action and dialogue? Readers want to experience things as they unfold. Try interweaving action and reaction into description, as it happens, by breaking up the dialogue with description:

Conveying “what we see, as it happens” keeps us in the moment and in the shoes of the character. This is visceral, cinematic writing, and an engaging read.

While learning how to write a screenplay, you might have picked up a bad habit or two. Identifying what they are means you can spot them and stop them in their tracks.

A hard working consulting client first studied screenwriting a long time ago. They were taught to start each description paragraph with the character’s name. Even in a scene between two characters of different genders, with no chance readers would be confused by pronouns, each line began with the character’s name. It felt choppy and stiff. As I made them aware of this, they realized that sometimes a pronoun was fine, and often, slipping in the character’s name into the middle of the line made for a smoother sentence and a better read.

I’ve been working with a professional writer who left film and television and has been writing steadily and successfully in novels. Returning to screenwriting, he sometimes lapses into prose. While the sentences are lovely, they are not cinematic, and not as impactful. Every one is underlined in the annotated draft accompanying our conversation.

Another writer introduced every single character with their exact age in parentheses. Unless their exact age is a crucial factor in the story, just don’t do it. You’re giving us unnecessary information and cluttering up the page (with visually distracting parentheses). Children are the exception to this rule. The difference between a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old is about a thousand, and essential to our understanding the story.

Exact ages in parentheses landed on my Pet Peeves list in Five Things Readers Wish Every Writer Knew along with eleven tips for cutting visual clutter you can use in a Polish & Hone pass. But don’t just cut it, make it better!

NO – because we will never see Jane after this scene. And who cares?

YES – because indicating the age it adds to the atmosphere, which is also underscored with the solid action verb and the juicy adjective in one succinct, cinematic sentence. BOOM! We’re experiencing the setting. Using fewer words, the second version makes us feel as if we are in a dilapidated diner.

Lastly, we have what I call “The Crutch.” It’s your go-to phrase. You are likely unaware of it, but I see it often enough to land a place on my list of Screenwriting’s Seven Dirty Words. I think most writers have a phrase they lean on when they lack something specific, often in character reactions. Overusing, “she looks down,” or “he forces a smile,” falls flat. When you need that expression in an important moment, such as, “ashamed, she cannot meet his eyes, and looks down at her shoes,” or “stunned, he forces a smile, unable to reply,” they no longer land with impact.

Discover your bad habits. 

Be on the lookout for them. 

Build new habits.

Never forget the power of practice. 

That’s how you internalize good habits.

The goal is always lean writing that conveys the most with the least. Less is more is a tidy adage, but in reality, it is a challenging balancing act.

An often overlooked trigger for overwriting is knowing too much about the subject, prevalent in true stories. While research is valuable, “what really happened” can overwhelm a story. Striking a balance between the facts and the needs of dramatic narrative is essential. In Telling The True Story, I expressed my love for this genre, as well as pointers for navigating the pitfalls.

A consulting client working on a terrific true story knew the person very well. They had worked closely with them and admired their life and their accomplishments. The writer struggled to incorporate everything to do justice to the biopic. Had it been fiction, our instinct is for less setup, focused on essential things to know about the protagonist and their world so the story gets to the inciting incident and the plot can advance. In this case, lengthy backstory made for a sprawling first act, diluting the focus on truly formative moments.

I’ve developed many true stories that I was passionate about, including one where I met and got to know the amazing person. I know the challenges and the weighty responsibility to “get it right.” But the goal is to find the gems that bring insight into the person, as telling everything feels unwieldy and unfocused.

It can be easy to write too much when you are concerned that the audience won’t “get it.” However, story is ingrained in us early in childhood. And natural selection ensured that our brains are very good at predicting what will happen next, key to our ancient ancestor’s survival. Tipping your hand too much, especially by both telling and showing, feels like telegraphing what will happen next, or being heavy handed in foreshadowing. Again, this is a “just right” situation.

Be confident that we can add 2 + 2 and get 4. Telling us more than once is more than repetitive, it is redundant, and slows the pace. It makes readers think that we need to be hit over the head. When you're focused on the significance and the purpose, you can feel confident you’re nailing it.

When working on an outline, I use the “House of Cards” metaphor, suggesting writers imagine each scene as a card. Does that scene build on the next? If a scene is pulled, does the entire story collapse? Will the reader miss something essential that cannot be incorporated into another scene? If not, it might be filler. Buh-bye!

Can your scenes slim down? Enter scenes late and get out early, strengthening their support of the structure.

In the Polish & Hone rewrite, you should be down to the micro level. Is every detail essential to the story? Does it make a meaningful contribution to the whole?

One of my favorite examples is from THE SIXTH SENSE, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Every element is intentional in construction, deliberately placed, and meaningful visually. In the opening, we briefly see the remnants of the couple’s Chinese take-out dinner, with two place settings. That is the only time in the film where there are two place settings. In two subsequent scenes, there is only one place setting, one of many clues to the big twist this film is famous for.

That’s my checklist of seven easy and effective pointers when working on your Polish & Hone draft – B.A.E. – before anyone else sees it. Whether you print your script and add neon highlights or handwritten notes, annotate a PDF, or read each scene but from the last to the first, try to break your pattern to get the most juice possible out of that “last pass,” leading to a final, final draft!

I don’t just talk the talk. For a Polish & Hone pass on this article, I read it on my computer, printed it, I made tons of handwritten notes and edits. While implementing them I made more changes, and also found a horribly garbled phrase that I missed in all the previous passes. Blame the brain for automatically fixing these things so they readily escaped our notice. Reread and rewrote again on the computer to ensure the changes I incorporated were improvements. Tightened it again, hoping to strengthen the article. Found something that wasn’t in the optimal progression. Printed it out and started the Polish & Hone rewrite again.

Even with these tips and tricks, it’s challenging to be objective about your own work. That’s why I’m confident that despite applying the Polish & Hone process here, a typo, a grammatical error, or – ugh – even an awkward phrase, escaped my attention. For this reason, many writers also do script swaps or work with a consultant for fresh eyes and insights. Here’s my gal pal Dr. Paige Turner’s witty words of wisdom on rewriting: When is enough, enough?

The time you spend polishing and honing can boost your read to the next level. That’s the purpose of doing a final rewrite. Check off every box that might possibly apply to you, and then implement, and then do it all over again, to ensure you make the most of your rewrite.

Put your new knowledge to work. Incorporate the Polish & Hone tips and tricks into your process on every draft. Incorporating these techniques in each pass means your “Final Draft” will be stronger going into the Polish & Hone pass. Make this a part of your writing ritual. I guarantee you – and your readers – will see a difference.

If you have fine-tuning 

tips or tricks 

that work for you, 

please share in the comments!