For me, the hardest part of writing a script is the second act. I put too much detail in and it sags. I spend a lot of time during rewrites fixing the second act.

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The hardest part for me is making minor characters distinctive. Especially those where you only get one or two words to describe them.

Everything. No, all jokes aside, I would say it's the rewrites - trying to find the balance between what's good about your work and what's bad and trying to fix the bad without losing the good. Also learning to disengage sometimes and be willing to cut things and characters that you grow fond of to stay focused on the story.

The first draft, especially the maze known as act 2. The rewrite polish and the inspiration/brainstorm/research phase are the funnest parts. When I say rewrite I don't mean your first draft is a mess and you have to do a page one rewrite--I mean just polishing up. Everything in between is tough sledding. It's also doubly hard to write characters/plot if it's outside your genre or your general strike zone.

For me the hardest part is tempo. I tend to stop-start a lot.

Figuring out the ending, which I'd like to do in the beginning and write toward. Often I just proceed because it's taking too long and then have to manage that sinking feeling that I'm moving sideways instead of forward.

I learned long ago if I don't have a treatment, I won't finish the script. The treatment is where I make many of the decisions that move the narrative and character along. If those decisions aren't made - even if their changed in the script - before I start writing, then the script becomes a writing version of dead reckoning out at sea. I'll get stuck on this scene or that sequence or that character motivation and the thing just won't get done. Nowadays, the hardest part for me is there's always a day or two, somewhere between Act 2 & Act 3 where the whole piece kind of feels like a tall Jenga tower about to fall over. It's kind of irrational, I know, but all the moving parts and all the cards in the house seem like they're about to collapse. Go back over and rereading the script, making sure everything does make sense and is motivated usually clears it up.

A couple of years ago, I would have said prep, but the more I do, the easier it gets... Probably the second or third draft - when there's still hard work to do, but you're starting to lose that initial novelty and energy of a new project.

Specifically my main character. My can picture my secondary players in my mind. Their faces, attitudes and quirks came right out. My main person is always a blank face, reserved, in the shadows or background. I know what he wants to do but I struggle hanging flaws and specific traits on him. I've gotten past this issue stopping me from finishing the first draft which was a fairly thick road block. I find that after the first draft I can focus on the main character in the rewrites as the world around them is built and I can put them through the ringer revealing things I didn't realize were there. Writing is rewriting. -Jim (Seattle)

I think the hardest part for me is just knowing who the characters are. I also have problems with structure, pacing, plot, transitions, dialogue, theme, description, typing, outlining, rewriting, spellling, endings, page count, subplots, subtext, suspense, middles, beginnings, dramatic scenes, any scenes with humor, and I can't stand people looking at me as I write. Screw it. I give up. Becoming a plumber.

Right there with you on having something down first even if there are changes down the road. If I don't have a story broken, I can't get anywhere.

Finding the time. Especially now that the kiddos are out of school I haven't written squat. But also with that is discipline... it takes me forever to get focused and in the zone and by the time I get there it's so late at night or it's time to go somewhere. I need a solid block of time to write and really get into it. Dialogue scares me. Most of all, I think it's Act 2 and ensuring I have good set-ups for the ending.

About 3-4 drafts in -- sustaining the confidence that it still has a chance to be brilliant. And taking myself waaaaayyyyyy too seriously (a wider character flaw) as I bludgeon the thing (and myself) for not yet being brilliant. Ever since I arrived at a level of understanding the craft that enabled me to see just how damn brilliant fully developed scripts are and need to be, the pen and paper have become hammer and chisel. So the hardest hardest part is learning to lighten up, trust the process, and have fun. The GITS interviews confirm this: brilliant work flows from fun and funny people. Gotta figure out how they do that…

+1

I remember listening to an ep of Talking Toons where they were discussing Phil LaMarr, saying he could get a character like "Astronaut No 3" and make his one line interesting and funny. Futurama and The Simpsons (and I'm sure a ton of cartoons) are full of that, I think the trick is figuring out what their perspectives are in relation to their function in the story: the store clerk didn't get any sleep last night, the whale biologist hates whales, etc etc. The actor's only going to be on set one day, give them something to do, make it worth their time! Give them something to put on their reel, they'll thank you for that.

The internet.

I agreed with Kristy and Despina. Kristy: "For me, the hardest part of writing a script is the second act. " Agreed, but the problem I have is that it is always too short. I know what to say in the 1st act and in the 3rd act, but I'm told by readers that my 3rd act is confusing or not well motivated. (Of course, in my mind, it is:-) Despina: "Finding the time." For me, it's a full-time job, etc., that is a time/energy sink. It is hard to find the time but I do have chunks of free time and I'd like to use those to write more effectively.

raising a 16mo old daughter is the hardest part of writing a script. I went from all the time in the world to an hour or two after she falls asleep at night... it's completely destroyed my productivity but I wouldn't change it for the world.