The first cut spanned over 30 minutes. This included extended versions of a number of scenes. They were chopped from the final cut however and the film eventually concluded to a length of 23 minutes.
The journey of 'Gubbaare' began when Saad came across Jane Armstrong's book series 'The Arden Shakespeare' through a friend. As described by Saad, this was a turning point in his life as he was consumed in a nexus of depression and the only way out was to get back to doing what he loved the most i.e. storytelling and acting. Initially planned to be a stop-motion music video, the entire script of the film was ready in January, 2015 and it took Saad a further one week to develop the screenplay.
The first screenplay draft spanned over 40 pages, making it a little too impractical to produce in a compact budget. After a series of revisions, the fifth screenplay draft was locked which was based on 23 pages.
The writing was kept simple and subtle. Saad's major writing influence came from Ashfaq Ahmed. The basic intent to narrate the story was to do it through fiction; a tale that tells some truth about the real world along with the artifice of an imaginary plot and characters.
During the writing stage, the film went through a lot of changes in its title. The film was scripted with a working title of 'Payaam' which was soon changed to 'Zara Si Dair Mein'. At one point of time, it was called 'Lifecliff' and 'One Peg Life' too. However, 'Gubbaare' was eventually finalized since it gelled well with the story.