Is your screenwriting career stuck on pause? Let me help you un-pause it.
One of the hardest things about screenwriting is the solitary aspect of it. It’s the long hours you spend alone working on something when you have no idea whether it’s going to connect with people or not. This feeling of loneliness and frustration builds every time you write a script that doesn’t go anywhere. You begin to get bitter. You become convinced the system is rigged. And, tragically, you lose all motivation to write. Or at least write consistently.
I was just chatting with a writer over e-mail about this yesterday. He said he was in a really bad spot screenwriting-wise and didn’t have any motivation to write. Then he finished as one of the finalists in The Last Great Screenwriting Contest and that was the shot in the arm he needed. His latest script just got him a meeting at, arguably, the hottest action production company in town. That’s what this business is. It’s highs and it’s lows. But you have to weather the lows to get to the highs and not everybody can. Well, today, I’m going to give you ten things you can do to reignite your passion for screenwriting and get your career moving in the right direction again. All you have to do is pick one of these things, do it, and I promise you, you’re going be excited to write again.
Take Three Months Off To Study Your Biggest Weakness – Sometimes we just need to take the pressure off. Pushing out pages can be difficult when you’ve lost confidence in yourself. So why not kill two birds with one stone? First, stop writing. And second, identify what it is you’re weakest at and spend a quarter of the year studying and getting better at it. We all have that thing we suck at. For some of us, it’s dialogue. For others, it’s structure. Some of us, theme. Others, character. Create a three-month course for yourself where you study the hell out of that weakness. For example, if it’s dialogue, google 30 articles about dialogue. Watch ten dialogue-driven movies. Read twenty dialogue-driven scripts. Take meticulous notes on why the dialogue is good in these movies and compare it to your dialogue. What are they doing that you’re not? Then, when you’re all finished, write a script that specifically features your weakness and use all your newfound knowledge to write it. I guarantee you’ll find it fun because you’ll have all these new tools and concepts to play with.
Try a new genre – We’ve all heard the advice, “Get out of your comfort zone.” We know we should do it yet we never do. Why in the world would I want to be uncomfortable? Well, I don’t have to tell you that the only way to grow in an area is to place yourself in situations you’re not completely comfortable in. You’ll hear actors say this all the time. “I took this role because it scared me.” Sure, under normal circumstances, you’d like to work within the genres you’re confident in. But we’re trying to jumpstart you, get you excited about screenwriting again. With that in mind, why not try a genre you’ve never written in before? One of the unique benefits of doing this is that you’ll probably bring something fresh to the genre because you’re not beholden to it. Since it’s a one-off, you’ll have no issues breaking all the rules. Which, ironically, is going to be what makes the script so unique and fun.
Write with a partner – I know that a lot of screenwriters are particular about the way they work. They like their little routines. They don’t want anyone breathing down their neck or challenging their choices. But there’s something about writing with a partner that can really energize you. You’re more accountable now, which means you’ll write more. You learn from the other person, since they’ll have a different style than you do. And when you find someone you click with, there’s nothing like it. You’ll find that writing is fun again. And remember, you’re just working on one script together. It’s not like this person is now your wife and will be with you for the rest of your screenwriting life. You’re just trying one script with a co-writer. You might be surprised and how much it gets your juices flowing. Feel free to look for partners in the comments section below. I suggest you trade info through e-mail about how many scripts you’ve written and where you are in your careers as these pairings tend to work best when the writers are at a similar level.
Shift over into a different form of art – One of the tips I was going to give today was to quit for six months. But the more I thought about that tip, the less I liked it. I suppose it’s an option to just get away from something for awhile. But then I realized there’s a way to do this without completely abandoning screenwriting. Just slide over into an adjacent art form for six months. The one I would prefer you try is filmmaking. Specifically, make a short film on your iphone. You will definitely learn something new about screenwriting in the process. And if you like it, you become a double-threat, as you can now direct your own screenplays. But if you don’t like filmmaking, write a song. Paint. Sing. Draw. Become an amateur photographer. Do something in the arts, as I’ve found that there’s always a carryover effect where you learn something from that experience that helps you back in screenwriting. And the time off will also get you excited to write again.
Become a contest jockey for a year – A lot of writers avoid contests because they’re so subjective. And I get that. But that’s not what this advice is about. One of the issues with screenwriting is that, unless you’re a working writer, there are no deadlines. This creates a lackadaisical approach to writing where you only write “when you feel like it.” By entering 3 to 4 contests, you’ll find that you’re accountable and, therefore, forced to write. The bonus with this is that you have that possibility that your script will do well. So it gives you more motivation. If you’re wondering what contests are worth entering, people in the comments section will be happy to tell you. You can start by entering my FREE First Act Contest. Send me your title, genre, logline, anything else you want me to know, and a PDF of your first act to carsonreeves3@gmail.com by May 1, 11:59 pm Pacific Time.
Get a consultation – Am I pimping my own services? Hell yes. But I wouldn’t pimp my services unless I knew for sure it would help you. A lot of times as writers we get stuck in our heads for so long that we lose perspective. This can happen with individual scripts and it can happen with long stretches of your screenwriting career. You don’t really know what’s working anymore because how would you? You’ve only experienced rejection with little to no feedback on what you’re doing wrong. The great thing about a consultation is that you hear all those things that you knew somewhere deep in the back of your mind already, but just weren’t ready to accept. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard that after a consult. “Deep down I knew this, Carson. But you helped me realize it’s a legitimate problem and I need to fix it.” You’ve invested years in screenwriting. Investing a little money to get a huge pick-me-up seems like a no-brainer (e-mail “CONSULTATION” to carsonreeves1@gmail.com).
Do sh#t – A few years back, I traveled to Prague for a couple of weeks, and I was more energized after that trip than at any point in my life in the last decade. Being around a new culture, experiencing new things, meeting new people, getting outside my comfort zone, it just gave me this fervor for life that had been missing. As writers, it’s important that we experience new things consistently because that’s where we draw our inspiration from. You can’t solely be inspired by movies and TV. You just can’t. Now I know not everyone can afford to travel. But that doesn’t get you off the hook. Go to bars you’d never go to. Visit a nearby town you’ve never been to. If you’re an atheist, go to a church service. Look up all the events in your city, close your eyes, spin your finger around, and whatever event it lands on, go to it. There’s nothing like the inspiration that comes from doing new things. All artists must do this.
Drop that script that’s making you miserable – You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve been working on this script for longer than you can remember. The script is big and complex and therefore needs a ton of rewriting, and you think if you can just redefine this one character and make the second act move a little faster and improve the arc of your villain, that it’s all going to come together. And sure, you were saying the exact same thing last year at this time, but this year you’re really going to finish it. No, man. It’s time to let that script go. It’s making you miserable. And deep down, you know it’s not fixable. Once you do this, you’re going to feel like a 1000 pound brick has been removed from your back. You’re going to feel free and you’re going to love screenwriting again.
Write a script with just two characters and all dialogue – I’m talking your Before Sunsets, 500 Days of Summer, Once, When Harry Met Sally. Why? Because these are the fastest scripts you can write. It’s screenwriting in its purest form – 2 people and dialogue dialogue dialogue. There’s something about being able to belt out a script quickly that gives you confidence. And because you can write it so fast, there’s no downside to it. If it’s bad, so what? You lost two weeks. I know that when I don’t have to worry about plot and I can just write a bunch of fun dialogue, that’s the most fun I have writing a script. And I always feel better about screenwriting afterwards.
Write a pilot – If you’re anything like me, you get a little gristly when you hear, “Write a pilot.” “A pilot?? I’m a feature writer, dude!” But here’s the cool thing about pilots. You don’t have to come up with a bunch of answers. That’s one of the things that makes feature-writing such a challenge, is that you have to come up with really compelling questions (in your first act), and then really satisfying answers (in your third act). But a pilot is just setup. You can have fun with it, especially if you’re writing something like, “Lost,” where you can set up this really wild world and leave it to your future self to figure out all the answers. Plus pilots are shorter, and therefore easier to write. So it’s a good break from what you usually do and you’ll probably find that it’s more fun than you expected.
Were you ever about to give up on screenwriting and then, magically, found your mojo again? What did you do? Share it in the comments!
