Jerry, it sounds to me like you're basically happy with the 5th drafts script and are mentally moving on the next one. Dude, congratualtions! That's awesome.

I've gone through the same thing for years (I've finished work on 14 scripts, 13 of which I'm trying to sell). You're not alone with this dilema.

Scott gave you some great advice. He's what I'd like to add:

1. On the 5th draft script, are you happy with the plot? You HAVE to get the sequence of events down pat.

2. Have you told your story in the most poetic way and eliminated as many typos and formating error as you can? That's the icing on the cake. NOT as critcal as the first question.

You can always work on two scripts at the same time. I've found that one always wins out. But I've also found as I've done multiple drafts it eventually becomes laborous, then toxic. I find my mind drifting wanting to explore new ideas. And it sounds to me, Jerry, like you're in that place now.

My goal with an idea to finshed scirpt is to knock out the plot, then get it as polished as I can, then move on.

I think one of the worst things you can is stay on 1 script forever. If you're a true writer there comes a time where you reach a place of completion. You need to find that place, Jerry. You need to feel good that you've taken your idea and maximised it to the best of your abilty.

Realize that script perfection is a relative term. If someone shows interest in, you can always do another draft later, and act on their suggestions.

Hope this helps. Sounds like you're on the right track, Jerry. Great first question!

- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA

Great ideas, Scott.
I'd also suggest looking at what Paul Schrader says in the Screenwriting 101 post for today.

I personally don't even go near the script until I've researched every part of the story (sometimes it's neighborhoods, college majors, dangerous chemicals, ion engines, FBI casualties)
and written out every sequence(scene) in an outline - in the process usually killing several characters and changing the story four or five times.

Jerry, put it down for a month. Completely forget about it. And ramp up the new project. Go full tilt. See if you can knock out 100 -- 120 pages.

After a month, go back to the first project. Look at it with fresh eyes.

I find breaks between drafts absolutely essential. After picking at something so obsessively for a time I stop being able to really see it, and it morphs in my mind into something completely stale and predictible, because I'm so overly-familiar and exhausted by the thing. Objectivity is gone.

I find that taking breaks to work on something else (or sometimes I just take time off of writing entirely and read a ton instead) helps me to come back with fresh eyes. You see things you'd previously innoculated yourself against, and you may have absorbed or learned things in the intermittent time, without even realizing it, that you can apply to your earlier work.

So yes, based on my personal experience I would always, always, recommend stepping back for a while. But that's just me.

Thank you Scott and all for the advice! I apologize for not commenting sooner, but reading it yesterday, rocked me to the core and I didn't know what to say.