These last few months have been very busy and filled with accomplishments, but also it’s fair share of failures and setbacks. In short… life as usual! Routines are much easier when life is going smoothly and with few challenges. However, if your life is anything like mine, you know that these precious moments are fleeting and a tsunami of unexpected struggles and surprises are lurking just around the corner. In these stressful times, it’s not uncommon to only see the problems that are in front of you, and forget about the core necessities you need to keep grounded and foster a healthy environment to combat this new wave of giants. I want to take a few moments and talk about just a few small things you can do each day, no matter what DEFCON level your professional or private life is like, to warm up your writer’s brain to take on the day.
1. Immerse yourself in the language
I was listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast (#185) with guest Scott Meyers. Meyers made a simple, but profound statement, when he said that he likes to start each day reading great scripts in the genre of whatever he’s writing. This activity jump starts the brain to start thinking in terms of screenwriting; reminding it that, this is the language we’re going to be speaking for a while, here. It serves as a perfect warm-up to the exact activity that you are about to do. Now, not all of us can start off our day crafting scripts. Many, if not almost all of us, have other responsibilities and jobs that typically have to be dealt with before we get to reward ourselves with a few precious moments of writing time. I’d suggest you taking a few moments before you start the screenwriting portion of your day to make your reading time, so that the form is fresh in the mind. Think of it as a palette cleanser from the rest of your day.
2. Location, location, location
Consider where you choose to write. Some people prefer the quiet of a solitary office. Some prefer the background buzz of a public park or coffee shop. Whether you are on either end or somewhere in the middle, it’s important to get into the discipline of this being your work zone. Screenwriter and Producer Leslie Dixon stated, “When you’re in that head space, it doesn’t matter as long as nothing is distracting you like noise or music or kids pulling on your leg.” You need a place to focus- find it.
3. Make it a priority
In a recent Scriptnotes podcast hosted by the legendary John August and Craig Mazin (Episode #320), they discussed the attitude of the need to be in love with the work of writing rather than being in love with the idea of being a writer. If you really love the craft of writing, you’ll make the time to get it done. If you approach it like a necessity and grant yourself the time to get better, good things will happen. The renown Ron Bass stated, “I had to find the hours in the day, on the weekends, and in my vacations. I found the time to do it because I needed to do it.” Many of the great writers have a very specific regimen that they use to set up “writing time”. Some choose to do it first thing in the morning while others are late night writers. Many like to start off with exercise, reading, and other activities, but the bottom line is that they stick to the schedule.
4. Writing when you’re not “writing”
As we all know, inspiration can come at any time and any place. We should embrace and enjoy those fun moments of creative clarity and not feel that they need to be suppressed because we aren’t “working”. Akiva Goldsman said, “When you are writing well, that place in your mind is constantly engaged”. The fist key to making sure you are prepared for these moments is to have a method of recording them. Whether it’s a small notebook, a laptop you keep with you, or simply leaving an audio recording on your phone or sending yourself a voice mail- always be ready to record any bit of inspiration that may come your way. Many creatives stress the need to be out in the world and experience people and things. Writer/Producer/Editor, Amy Holden Jones said, “When you are out in the world… your subconscious is working on whatever the problems are in the script.” Writer Ed Solomon likes to leave subconscious assignments for his brain, “I will actually assign tasks to my subconscious, literally say to myself and type in the computer, “By Monday, figure out X, Y, and Z” and just leave for the weekend. By Monday, I usually have it figured out.”
5. Back to School
This bit of advice is not a push for film schools, but to make a life long commitment to continuing your education. Dedicate yourself to being a lifetime student of the craft of screenwriting. I personally own about 70 books on screenwriting, about 80 printed screenplays, dozens of television episodes, and hundreds more of both available digitally. A prospective writer once asked me; why did I feel like I needed to keep reading all these things? I’ll freely admit that I have learned something from every single one of them. Not all equally, but there is always a new perspective, and new angle, a new way of approaching the process of writing that I hadn’t thought of before. Never be guilty of thinking you know it all. This also includes education into subjects that might not be directly associated with screenwriting like history, psychology, police procedures, and literature. Now, no amount of texts on theory and technique can every replace the real act of writing, but it can certainly help to lessen the learning curve. The other valuable part about drawing help from many different sources is that no one person or way of thinking becomes the gospel truth for you. It’s extremely helpful to draw inspiration from dozens of the greats, and synthesize them all into a system that works specifically for you. Writing great Ron Bass advises to “read screenplays, good ones and bad ones, so you can learn what you don’t want to do, but more importantly, write a lot of stuff.” Another obvious source of education is watching a ton of movies and television. Steven DeSouza urges writers to, “see classic movies”. He goes on to explain that so many of today’s films are imitations of these classics- so go to the original source. Eric Roth goes on to include other sources as well; “I think people also have to learn literature and plays. Dramatic rules will always apply. And a classical education is as important as anything because a well-rounded kind of knowledge is the best for any kind of writer.”
So in summary, there are a great many things that one can do to keep their write brain charged and ready to work when the time arrives. If you liked these sage bits of wisdom, you can find them all with the links in the text or in the book, The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters, by Karl Iglesias. You can find a link to the book below as well as many other great books over in our Resources section. Check it out and keep writing! Now… Back to One!
