Homework
"Being a screenwriter is like having homework every night for the rest of your life." -- Lawrence Kasdan
Kasdan is SO right about that. If you're a professional screenwriter -- or trying to be one -- then there is always something you could or should be doing. Like, right now, I should be working on one of numerous script ideas, shaping up some material to be my next spec.
I should be thinking about a short film I'd like to make in the fall.
I should be sweating over every detail of the feature film I just made, and feeling massive anxiety over every festival rejection. Okay, I'm already doing this item.
But my point is -- there are loads of things I should or could be doing right now. But I'm blogging. And I've got the Capote DVD in my briefcase right now, and it's just itching to be watched. And you know, I've got a couple of Monty Python retrospectives and new Doctor Who episodes on the DVR right now, and they're not going to watch themselves.
posted by Chris Hansen at 8:04 AM
4 Comments:
Man, does that sound about right!
yeah, and since i posted this, i've watched a bunch of dvds, sweated over film festival entries, and written absolutely nothing.
i thought about thinking about a script, but i didn't get as far as ACTUALLY thinking about the script...
it's an avoidance technique i perfected when i'm afraid anything i work on will turn out awful.
I love that Kasdan line, followed shortly by - figure out a way to have closure at the end of your writing session each day - so you don't take the anxiety that you didn't do enough/aren't writing/aren't working - whatever - into your evening. One of the best pieces of advice I'd ever heard. As to not writing, there are other fruitful ways to engage yourself when you actually are doing your work - watching other films, reading, taking a walk in the woods, observing people, it ain't all in front of the keyboard, or you'd have nothing to write about. Important to live life, so you know what enrages you, or shuts you down, and then you're able to write about it. THen of course you do need to nail your feet to the floor under desk. Good luck with your film!
Screenwriter Bones
http://www.screenwriterbones.blogspot.com
Phillip -- you're right, of course, about living life and how it contributes to the writing. I'm feeling a little like I'm using at as a bit of an excuse lately. But it's still a valid point.
And thanks for reading, and the well-wishes.
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