creativity

Rip-roaring and ready to go yet again

Maximum Z ambition, confidence, creativeness, creativity, determination, experience, fun, goals, ideas, inspiration, logline, patience, perseverance, persistence, plot points, productivity, project, screenplay, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, story, storytelling, writing

 

lightning
That’s me. All charged up.

Over the past week or so, the idea for a new story has been slowly developing inside my head.

Even though most of my attention continues to be focused on completing other projects, that seed has been planted and I work out a few details about it when I can.

This is just the beginning of the whole process, and my work is definitely cut out for me. Like with any script, it’s going to be tough.

But I also have to admit I’m quite thrilled about it.

There’s just something about coming up with a new idea that really reinvigorates your creative process. You’re excited about the story, the potential within it and possibly even (gasp!) looking forward to writing it.

I certainly doubt I’m the only who experiences this.

As expected, there will be days I get frustrated about any number of things related to this, which is par for the course. But I’ve also been doing this for a while, so the positive days steadily continue to outnumber the negative.

As has also been my experience, some of those negative days will most likely include outside comments of a tearing-down nature. Fortunately, I’ve developed a thick skin over the years and learned to ignore the ramblings of self-proclaimed “experts”.

For now, everything is still in the early-early development stage. It took a while just to come up with a good logline, and even that will probably still need work. Now I’m just figuring out the plot points. There’s no rush, especially since I already have several other scripts that require my attentions.

I like the concept of this one, and am really looking forward to seeing how things work out with it.

What comes after the light bulb?

Maximum Z ambition, confidence, creativeness, creativity, criticism, determination, encouragement, ideas, inspiration, originality, patience, perseverance, persistence, screenplay, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, story, storytelling, writing
light bulb
This is how it starts

Being a writer means your creativeness is always running, or at least should be. It never shuts off, and sometimes kicks in when you least expect it.

Inspiration can hit anytime, but are you prepared for when it does?

You could be doing something you do practically every day or see something seemingly normal, and all of a sudden think, “Hey! There’s a story here!” It could be whatever you can imagine: the basis for a short, an episode of a webseries, or part of a feature.

Then there’s the thrill as your mind races through all the potential possibilities. What if THIS happened? Or THIS? Ooh! I love THIS! It’s like a shot of adrenaline into the right side of your brain.

When the idea hits, do you immediately write it down, or is it suddenly burned into your brain so deeply that there’s no way you could possibly forget any part of it?

Of course, it’s one thing to come up with the idea. How far do you go with it? Does it lose its luster after a few days, and then you just give up completely? Do you hold onto it because there’s just SO MUCH POTENTIAL here? Do you tinker around with it, file it away, then come back to it weeks or months later?

How original an idea is it? Can you think of something that’s similar? Who’s your target audience? Is it something you yourself would actually pay to see?

Let’s also not forget that this is all based on your thinking. You love the idea, but what if somebody says “I don’t get it” or all you get is a shrug? Do you think the idea is worth developing? Is it one you’re prepared to slave away on for an extended period of time?

It’s easy to come up with the ideas, but definitely not easy to turn them into quality, fleshed-out screenplays. It takes a long time to get the hang of doing this, let alone doing it well. But don’t let the difficulty or length of the journey dissuade you from at least trying.

Start with the idea, and take it from there.

Enjoying that microsecond of contentedness

Maximum Z cannoli, comedy, confidence, creativeness, creativity, determination, draft, encouragement, goals, multitasking, output, pages, perseverance, persistence, productivity, rewrite, screenplay, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, spec, story, storytelling, writing
cannoli
True, normally I’m a pie kind of guy, but I’ve really been craving these for a while…

Happy times around these parts, chums. The November writing project was a success. The first draft of the low-budget comedy is complete.

I listen to Pandora for white/background sounds while I write, and – this is absolutely true, swear to God – Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus was playing as I typed in “The End”. A pretty solid good omen, if you ask me.

So the draft is done, and now gets tucked away for a couple of weeks. It’ll definitely need a lot of work when I come back to it, but it’s great to know I have a completed draft to come back to.

This is that feeling that every writer should savor when they achieve a specific milestone like this. A lot of would-be writers start a project, then abandon ship when it “just gets too hard” or “don’t have time”. It’s those of us who are truly dedicated that toil away no matter what. You’ve had a long day at work. Stuff around the house needs to get done.

Through it all, we find the time and make the effort. Even if it’s only 30 minutes or one page a day. We do it not just because we want to, but because we have to. We consider not writing unthinkable.

There are good days and bad days, but you learn to work your way through both. You have a goal in mind, and do what you can to get there. And once you do, there’s nothing that can compare to that feeling of accomplishment.

Enjoy it. You’ve earned it. The first of what will probably many rewrites awaits, but it can wait just a little bit so you can reward yourself in a small but appropriate manner.

A friend told me that whenever they finish a first draft, they celebrate with scotch. Scotch really isn’t my thing, but I wouldn’t say no to a cannoli from this great Italian bakery down on the Peninsula…(diet be damned)

Have a great weekend, and get some great kickass writing done.

Is the original concept an endangered species?

Maximum Z concept, creativity, ideas, originality, perseverance, screenwriting, script, spec, writing
Keep looking! They're out there somewhere.
Keep looking! They’re out there somewhere.

Quick! Name a recent successful film NOT based on a pre-existing property.

Right now, the only one I’m coming up with is INSIDE OUT.

Warner Brothers just blew $150 million on PAN, which finished 3rd its opening weekend, dropped to 6th this week, and has only made $25 million. It’s probably safe to say it’ll be one of the year’s pricier bombs.

Marvel unveiled its slate of something like 20 films over the next 5 years.

Every studio desperately wants the next Harry Potter, TWILIGHT or HUNGER GAMES franchise, but despite plenty of copycat attempts (e.g. GOLDEN COMPASS. DIVERGENT. PERCY JACKSON. SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. MAZE RUNNER.), the search for a new heir to the throne continues.

Despite cries of “Ugh! Another reboot/remake/reimagining?” the public keeps paying to see them and the studios keep making them. (“It worked before, so it’ll work again!”)

And with so many other writers out there, both aspiring and professional, as your competition, there’s bound to be a lot of repetition and similarity of stories and ideas.

What’s an ambitious spec writer to do? Especially when you take into consideration the age-old adage “Nobody’s going to take a chance on an unknown writer.”

To say our work is cut out for us is putting it very, very mildly.

We are competing against source material from all kinds of media, so your script has to be jaw-droppingly amazing for it to have any kind of traction.

And even getting to that point ain’t easy.

Everybody always says they have an idea for a script, but how many are actually able to turn that into an honest-to-God original, as in “never seen that before”?

Every script you write has to be something that people who aren’t you would want to see. Totally brand-spanking new. Out of left field. New twist on an old idea. Familiar, but different. The more original and well-executed it is, the better your chances.

What is it about your script that makes it truly stand out from all the rest? How mind-blowingly original is the idea behind it?

There really is a demand for solid, well-written original scripts. It’s up to you make sure yours is all three.

Go for the hard turn

Maximum Z analysis, Bullitt, cliches, comedy, creativity, plot, rewrite, screenwriting, script, story, storytelling, tropes, writing

bullitt gif

I just finished reading a friend’s comedy script. It was okay. It needs work, but the one thing I couldn’t shake was how the story played out pretty close to how I expected it to. There weren’t any real surprises.

However, one of the things that really stood out about this story was that deep within it was the idea for the same kind of story, but from a totally different angle. Not only would this open up new and original ideas, but it also made me think that this new story would be one I don’t think I’d ever seen/heard of before.

How many times have you read a script and known what was coming? Don’t you love that feeling when you read something and get what you were totally not expecting? A story that keeps you eagerly wondering “what comes next?” is one to be thoroughly enjoyed. The more surprised we are, the better.

Cliches. Tropes. Clams. Old reliables. Whatever you want to call them, writers with less experience use them because they’ve worked before. It takes a lot of effort to NOT use them.

The challenge is to come up with a new way to present these old ideas. “Familiar yet different,” as the saying goes.

It can be a little intimidating to take those first steps into unfamiliar territory, but you want the journey the reader takes through the story to be memorable, right? So why not take that chance and head in a new direction?

Go through your latest draft. Are there elements to it that feel tired or overused? You’ll know them when you see them. Is there a different way to do or say the same thing?

You can even go so far as to imagine “What’s the least likely thing that could happen/be said here, but still takes the story in the right direction?”

Try it. You might be surprised. And if you’re surprised, chances are the reader will be too.