When the writing gets rough, don’t run from your screenplay…

I just wrapped up my second draft of a new script assignment and it ended up being a two-week rewrite executing the producer’s notes. The beginning remained the same, but the middle and the end received heavy structural changes — and now I see more clearly it was for the better. What I didn’t realize is that when I was restructuring the final act, I actually came up short with regards to the amount of story. I was shocked, as I had expected the ending to come together with ease, but now I was nearing my deadline and concerned. The solution wasn’t coming to me and it took a few solid days of looking at the ending from different angles and just sitting with the material—even if nothing immediately clicked. This is good practice and will help you get through the rough periods — and trust me, you know when the screenwriting gets difficult.

The answer to my story puzzle didn’t immediately present itself as many times it does, and I was forced to really put myself into my screenplay’s story world. The puzzle piece was right in front of me the entire time, but I could not see it. So, I took another approach and focused on the characters and their motivations, and eventually it was the villain who showed me the way. After about three days, I figured out the key to the new ending of the script and finished my rewrite by the deadline.

When you’re in the thick of it and the screenwriting becomes difficult, don’t avoid your screenplay and run off to do something else. This leads to procrastination and it doesn’t help you solve your problems but just makes you avoid them. Face your screenplay problems head on with determination to break through that barrier. I’ve always found that if you sit with the material, even if you don’t immediately find the answers, eventually something will click and you’ll find that missing piece of the puzzle to finish.

Scriptcat out!

Copyright 2018 by Mark Sanderson for his blog MY BLANK PAGE

Did you just complete your latest screenplay? Time for in-depth consultation? Check out my services by clicking the icon below for the link to my website. You never get a second chance to make a first great impression. Take the time to get your script right.

Need advice on navigating Hollywood’s trenches as you pursue your screenwriting career? Check out my new book “A Screenwriter’s Journey to Success” now available on Amazon. It chronicles my past 20 years as a professional screenwriter in Hollywood and I share my tips, tricks and tactics that have helped me stay in the game. Click on the book cover for the link to Amazon.

 

 

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“Do you have the patience to wait until your mud settles and the water is clear?”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

“You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you. Or rather you can if you will be ruthless enough about it. But the best writing is certainly when you are in love. If it is all the same to you I would rather not expound on that.”—Ernest Hemingway

“Most directors do not want to rewrite the script. They have more pressing commitments on the sound stage. The writer’s best insurance against a rewrite is to have an understanding of the directorial problems. Write a scene that can’t be played, no matter how beautiful the words or thoughts, is begging for a revamp.”—Jerry Lewis

“The time we have alone; the time we have in walking; the time we have in riding a bicycle; are the most important times for a writer. Escaping from a typewriter is part of the creative process. You have to give your subconscious time to think. Real thinking always occurs on the subconscious level.”—Ray Bradbury

The romanticized image of a working screenwriter Vol. 2…

I haven’t been on the blog lately writing because I’ve been too damn busy with screenwriting assignments. I know, be careful what you wish for, right? This has been a busy year with three script assignments in a row—and all of them have been produced. So far, one of the three has premiered on LIFETIME to terrific ratings, while the other two have wrapped post and are coming soon.

After those three projects, I secured another job and worked a solid month on a story treatment for that assignment. After getting the green light, I began the first draft with a short, three-week writing schedule. It’s a fast-tracked movie that will shoot in early December of 2017, so being able to deliver the goods is vital to its success—and mine.  I just completed the second production polish and it’s on its way. It’s not impossible and I’ve even done it in less time. The key is having a solid story treatment before you type FADE IN. This always helps you write a faster first draft. I will tell you, being holed up for three weeks, working 8-10 hour days, really is the test to see if you can meet any challenge offered. Fortunately, I’ve met the challenge before, but I never take it for granted. Every time up to the plate with a new script is a completely different adventure.

This is why you have to start training yourself now with your specs to build your writing endurance. Set up deadlines and meet them. It’s good practice. Are you able to focus and write for 8-10 hours a day—every day uninterrupted? That’s what it takes sometimes when you start working professionally. You lost the luxury of working on your spec when you feel inspired. It’s now your job and you clock in and out with an eye on doing great work under the deadline.

Sure, it can be torture at times—a hellish rewrite on a screenplay can make you question your decision to become a screenwriter when you curse the day you typed “FADE IN.”  Other times it’s easy breezy and brings you great creative satisfaction, a credit and the bonus of getting paid as a professional screenwriter. As with life, you deal with the good and the bad, and learn how to survive the storms to stay in the game as a working screenwriter.

Sometimes you get lucky and the alchemy just works and you produce a great script and build new working relationships. I joke about the cliché of the ideal “romanticized life” of a working Hollywood screenwriter, but many times I find aspirants who work with total freedom on their specs, believe it will be the same breezy experience when they get hired to write a screenplay assignment. It’s not all about premieres, parties and huge paydays. Once you land the gig, it becomes your job with the same expectations, responsibilities, pressures and deadlines of many jobs—all while working with a contract.

If you’re blessed enough to secure the gig, you must be the ultimate team player and collaborator. Sure, you scored the job, but never fool yourself into believing you’re the only screenwriter who could do the job. There is always someone out there equally or more talented and maybe hundreds of eager aspirants who would even write it for free just for the break. The important thing is that you landed the job. It’s yours to screw up or succeed. Show them why you were the right pick on that short list of other writers. I’m blessed to finally be offered jobs now that are mine to take or pass. You’ll learn that you take opportunities when they come your way and they will lead to more work as shown by my example.

So, after completing the first draft for one project and turning it in, I was offered a new project from another producer, took that gig, and had to immediately start on that outline.  While working on the story for three weeks, I received my notes for the second draft of the first project, and had to jump on that as well. The process is called “stacking” where you work on multiple projects at the same time. That’s why you see writers with four or five credits in one year because they are working on multiple projects. This takes experience, but also a knowledge and confidence in your abilities so you can deliver quality work within the deadlines. Trust me, it’s not easy and takes a keen sense of time and your screenwriting abilities. Mostly, you don’t get weekends off because those two precious days can be used to possibly write or rewrite 12-15 pages. You’ll of course suck it up because you’re under a deadline and want to deliver a production ready script as promised.

Always remember, meeting your deadlines is vital to your reputation and your career.  I’ve worked for these producers before on successful collaborations and it’s nice when they call me with job offers and ask, “Are you available?” I’ve worked hard to get to this place and continue to solidify my professional reputation.

So, what’s all this I continually hear about the romanticized and exciting image of working screenwriters? It’s a false image and not reality. Most of the time it’s the hard work of getting the job done.  You’re writing at the top of your game and it’s weeks or months of rewrites, polishes, and the pressure of deadlines. You’ll feel the pressure when you hit a creative wall and begin to stare at the calendar or spend more time calculating your daily page count than doing the actual writing. It will always be about the work. If you’re a true screenwriter, you thrive on process and getting the job done no matter what it takes. You’ll go above and beyond every time to show your producers and executives that you are the right person for the job. Screenwriters are craftspeople, the ones up at 3:30 A.M., chipping away, fixing the scenes, working on the structure, putting the puzzle together, chasing after your characters.

Sure, you might come up short on praise and validation but even when you do receive praise, it might be a let down from what you’d expect. The longer you’re in the screenwriting game, you’ll learn that screenwriting can be a thankless and lonely job as you slog away sometimes in the wee small hours of the morning. But don’t lose heart, realize that it’s a job and it’s hard work at all levels of the business. It was your choice to pursue the journey of a master crafts person, working away in your workshop, crafting a new story to unleash upon the world. It’s a lonely process with no parties, no champagne, no red carpets, no fame and rarely fortune, but your praise and validation comes from the satisfaction knowing that you’re working at the top of your game. How do you know? You’ve just moved your last draft from the development process into the important pre-production stage—that’s a major step to success.

Today I received that phone call that every screenwriter wants to get—the producer loved my second draft and has minimal changes for the polish. Not bad, two drafts and a polish, and then on to production.  It’s truly satisfying, but there is no fame, no fortune, no glory… just a master craftsman in his workshop, who finished his thirty-third screenplay and eighteenth paid assignment, blowing out the candle to return another day on that other project.

I never take any of it for granted and know the long slog and decades of experience that it’s taken me to get here. It’s work—hard work and I’m happy and humbled to have had another chance up to the plate and made sure to knock it out of the park. On to the next one!

You just have to be the writer that doesn’t give up. Keep writing because if you stop you are guaranteed never to have ANY shot at success. You create new opportunities with every screenplay you create and hopefully it best represents your talent and ability.

Scriptcat out!

Copyright 2017 by Mark Sanderson on his blog My Blank Page.

Did you just finish your latest screenplay and need in-depth consultation?  Check out my services by clicking on the icon below for the link to my website and more information.  You never get a second change to make a first great impression with your screenplay. Make the time to get it right.

 

Do you need help navigating Hollywood’s trenches as you pursue a screenwriting career? Check out my new book “A Screenwriter’s Journey to Success” now available on Amazon. It chronicles my past twenty years working as a professional screenwriter in Hollywood and shares my tips, tricks and tactics that have helped me stay in the game. Click on the book cover for the link to Amazon.

 

 

 

“You must write every single day of your life… You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads… may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”—Ray Bradbury

“Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”—Pablo Picasso

“Action is hope. At the end of each day, when you’ve done your work, you lie there and think, Well, I’ll be damned, I did this today. It doesn’t matter how good it is, or how bad—you did it. At the end of the week you’ll have a certain amount of accumulation. At the end of a year, you look back and say, I’ll be damned, it’s been a good year.”—Ray Bradbury

“I never feel the need to discuss my work with anyone. No, I am too busy writing it. It has got to please me and if it does I don’t need to talk about it. If it doesn’t please me, talking about it won’t improve it, since the only thing to improve it is to work on it some more. I am not a literary man but only a writer. I don’t get any pleasure from talking shop.”—William Faulkner

“If there ever was one analogy for what a screenwriter must accomplish, it’s this: To create a source of life, to find the bedrock of a given idea, to prevent most of the work from evaporating.”—FX Feeney

“Plot is people. Human emotions and desires founded on the realities of life, working at cross purposes, getting hotter and fiercer as they strike against each other until finally there’s an explosion—that’s Plot.” —Leigh Brackett