re: “we are at a loss as to where to begin on a script”

To begin, please read the WEEK ZERO post just before the one here:
http://www.screenwritingforhollywood.com/film-forum/write-a-screenplay-in-one-month-week-zero
The link to it is also above in this article at the beginning and end of it.

The WEEK ZERO is a post about getting started.

What is your story about?
What is the message you want to send to audiences?
What is the genre? Sci-fi? Horror? Romance? Comedy?
All these things matter as to where and how you start your story.
You can start your story from the end, a death, a mystery, a marriage, a baby, a new crop… whatever.
Or you can tell your story in chronological order, from the beginning.
Do you want to start with images or words?
Who are the characters that matter in the story?

Where to start is an enormous question, the answer to which lies in the details.

THE MOST IMPORTANT thing about where to start is this:
Your first opening page of a script is the most important.
If you don’t hook your reader in that first page, and most definitely by the 10th page, your script will never sell, because the reader will stop reading.

Your first page and first ten pages MUST be EXCITING, INTRIGUING, and INVITING to read and make the reader want to know more. Whatever you start with, make sure it has a big bang and is not boring!

Hope this helps you get going.

I will write a full post about starting scripts after I finish my Speak of the Dead Interview Series.

Best,
Jaden

Thank You
Rusty Ironfist

Everyone writes at their own pace.

If you only write one page a day and you wrote that one page every day, then you would have a 1st draft script in 3 months with 90 pages, and that is absolutely ok. You should then expect to reread and rewrite it for the next 9 months. Working 1 year on a script would be normal.

Speed of writing depends on lots of things. Me, I am an extremely fast typist and my thoughts go even faster than my fingers, hence the 5 to 10 pages I write a day. Everyday I go back and reread and rewrite those same pages at least 10 more times. So although it may come out of me quickly, it takes me forever before I actually like what I have written and am willing to let someone read it.

I like to challenge myself with speed writing: creating deadlines is good practice in case you have to work for other people with time constraints.

Anyone who wants to be a professional writer should take a typing class at a nearby school or use some kind of software in the computer to help increase speed. Being able to physically write quickly is important because writing is such a slow process.

Our brains work much faster than our physical ability to pull ideas out of our head and put those ideas into the material world.

Good luck!