productivity

Send it. Forget it.

Maximum Z Doctor Who, patience, perseverance, persistence, productivity, screenplay, screenwriting, script, social media, writing , , , , , ,

master

One of the essential qualities a screenwriter needs is patience. And lots of it. Actually, a ridiculously vast amount of it.

Things never go as fast as you want them to. It’s just the way it is.

Waiting can be tough enough as it is, but when it involves other people and your stuff? Time not only slows to a crawl, but probably feels like it’s standing still.

Once you send it, it’s out of your hands. Absolutely nothing else you can do.

Naturally, you daydream about getting a response in record time. With raving, positive comments, of course. No reason it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days, tops, right?

Anybody who’s been in this scenario knows otherwise. Days stretch into weeks, which stretch into months, and maybe even into years. I know more than a few writers who heard back from a producer over a year after sending in a script. It happens.

When I was just starting out, I couldn’t help but think “What’s taking them so long?”. We tend to forget that the people to whom we’re sending also have lives of their own. It’s pretty likely our stuff isn’t top priority for them, so the odds increase that it’ll get nudged aside for something that is. As a result, your wait time gets longer and longer.

After a lot of trial and error, I’ve found sending a friendly follow-up about 5-6 weeks later can be pretty effective. It at least reminds them that you’re still around. Sometimes they’re apologetic about it, and sometimes you might not hear anything at all.

Helpful tip – DO NOT be the writer who’s offended by being treated this way. Non-stop follow-up calls and emails. Complaining about it on social media. A big part of this business is presenting yourself as somebody who other people would want to work with. Acting like this is most definitely the wrong path to take.

So once you send your stuff out, what do you do to divert your focus and attention? Easy. You’re a writer. You write. Not only does it help pass the time, but you get stuff done. How productive is it to keep refreshing your email every few minutes? Developing and adding new material to your catalog is always a good idea.

When they say “it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” the implications behind it go beyond just how long all of this takes. Hopefully you can muster the strength to keep at it on all fronts.

Have a great weekend. Make sure you write something.

A challenge on multiple fronts

Maximum Z adventure, ambition, choices, creativity, determination, discipline, Doctor Who, motivation, notes, outlines, output, productivity, rewrite, scenes, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, self-confidence, spec, strategy, writing, writing process , , , , , , , ,

 

Capaldi daleks
Two possible outcomes in this scenario…

Quite the productive week around Maximum Z HQ, with the most significant being the wrap-up of the latest draft of the sci-fi adventure spec. It’s an improvement from the previous one, but could still use some more work. Rather than jump right in, I’m letting it simmer for a bit.

The original plan was to return to the horror-comedy spec, which is actually still part of the plan. Setting up the new draft’s notes page required me to dig through all of my script files, which involved seeing titles for older scripts that could also use at least one more draft. Four in total.

Thus a plan developed.

Work on all of them. A little at a time.

Jot down some ideas for one. Fine-tune a few scenes for another. Revise the outline for this one. Totally overhaul that one. Go through notes for all of them.

Or choose one to work on per day. A few steps forward, spread out over time.

Or I might strike creative gold and steamroll my way through one, temporarily foregoing the others.

Who knows how this’ll play out?

It could be a stroke of genius. It could also go horribly, horribly wrong.

But the important thing is I try. I’ve got lots of new ideas for each of these scripts, and will do what I can to make them better.

Having completed two drafts in as many months demonstrates to me that I have the ability to get the job done in a relatively timely manner. So no reason to think I couldn’t continue to make that kind of progress, or at least come mighty close to it.

Updates will be posted accordingly. Especially if the results are encouraging. Depends on my mood at the time.

Some exciting times are on the horizon and closing in fast. Sounds like it’ll be quite the thrilling journey. Hope you’ll come along for the ride.

A little help from your friends

Maximum Z ambition, networking, perseverance, persistence, productivity, screenwriting, social media, Twitter, Writers Guild of America, writing , , , ,
boost
We’re all in this together

Bit of a shorty today – lots going on around Maximum Z HQ, but I wanted to post some items to show writers trying to break in that you’re not alone, and there actually are people out there willing to help you out.

-There’s been a lot of activity on Twitter to help non-WGA writers work on dropping the “non” from their status (as well as connect and network with other writers), and some positive results are starting to develop. Seek out hashtags like #ForYourWGAConsideration, #PreWGA, #WGAFeatureBoost, #WGAStaffingBoost, and #WGAmegamix.

-Read a phenomenal script by another writer? You can help give both it and them a boost by listing it on the Spec Script Shout Out site. It officially launches on May 31st, but you can sign up and register now. You’re also more than welcome to register yourself and your own projects. Bonus – it’s free.

–The WRAC Group is a great way to help yourself out when it comes to personal accountability. It’s good, solid, and effective. Also free.

A few simple rules to keep in mind while you’re doing all of this:

-Be nice. Treat people the way you’d want to be treated.

-Be willing to help others out (leads, referrals, etc.). It makes more of an impression than you realize.

-Don’t whine. It’s tough for everybody. We all get frustrated.

-Don’t lie. The truth will always come out, and your name and reputation may not recover.

-Somebody else has something good happen? Offer some congratulations.

-Don’t be afraid to tout your own accompishments. You’ve worked hard to get there.

-Everybody has their own path to success. Some take longer. Don’t compare your progress to theirs.

The biggest takeaway from all of this is, as it is with screenwriting – YOU HAVE TO DO THE WORK! Dedicate whatever time you can spare each day. Make it part of your routine. Productivity yields results.

Good luck, chums. Now go write something.

Learning never stops. Never.

Maximum Z crowdfunding, description, development, draft, editing, education, output, overwriting, pacing, pages, persistence, productivity, reading, rewriting, scenes, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , , ,
coeds
Sure, I may be tired now, but wait until you see the end results

So far, so good, at least in terms of how the rewrite of the sci-fi adventure spec is going.

Already managed to trim a decent amount of pages, with more potential targets coming up fast.

However, one of the most surprising results this time around is seeing more and more opportunities to really get the most of not just the words on the page, but HOW they’re presented.

I already knew overwriting was one of my biggest obstacles. I tend to go into more detail than is necessary. Not “this is the color of his t-shirt, and this is what’s on his breakfast plate”-type stuff, but more in terms of excessively describing what you’d see transpire onscreen.

This has become painfully obvious for some of the fast-paced action scenes. In the old draft, there’d be several lines about what a character was doing. This time around, I want to get to the point faster – partially for less ink on the page, and partially to help speed things up – so I highlight only the parts that the can’t do without.

It’s probably safe to say each scene has become shorter by at least some degree. Some by a few lines, others by half a page, etc. But the overall impact is becoming more noticeable. Scenes seem to be flowing more smoothly. Even though the descriptions aren’t as detailed as they were before, the new, tighter versions are just as visual.

Of course, since I’m the one writing it, I already have a strong sense of how it’s supposed to “look”. The real test comes when a reader gets their hands on it. Will they experience the same results? I sure hope so, so in the meantime, I do what I can to write it so everything is easy to follow and all questions are answered.

What’s most surprising at all about these new developments is I’d written my last few drafts of several scripts with the same approach I’d always used, but there’s just something very different about it this time around. The way this draft is being put together has a much more analytical feel to it. It’s as if something holding me back has been removed, and the positive results are coming in rapid-fire. One can only hope this sensation endures.

Once again, there’s no firm deadline for a completed draft, but as I mentioned, progress has been strong and steady, so “slightly sooner than possibly expected” will have to do for now. And even when that one’s done, there’s a strong suspicion that just a little more touch-up work will be in order.

Thrilling times, chums.

-Screenwriter/filmmaker Ally May has launched a crowdfunding campaign for her packs-an-emotional-wallop short film project In A Breath. Donate if you can!

-Major congrats to screenwriter/overall mensch Bob Saenz for the upcoming US release of the film of his script Extracurricular Activities, a journey almost two decades in the making. Here’s a great interview Bob did for Script magazine.

More work now, better results later

Maximum Z acts, adventure, characters, development, outlines, pages, patience, productivity, rewrite, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, strategy, writing, writing process , , , , , , , , , ,

lalanne

It can be safely said the extensive overhaul of the outline for my pulpy sci-fi adventure story is just about wrapped up. Still have a lingering handful of small details in need of fleshing out, but I’m eagerly anticipating jumping into cranking out pages in the very near future.

Figuring all of this out – including several attempts on the beginning, and then working out the development of events over the course of the first act and the first half of the second act- took a lot longer than I expected, and definitely longer than I wanted. There were many times all I could think was “am I EVER going to figure this out?”.

A lot of writers feel that way while working on a project. We’re an impatient lot, and the ongoing struggle to find solutions doesn’t help. We want it already written. But learning how to do so effectively is necessary. How else will we improve?

It’s probably a safe bet to say that my development skills are stronger than they were – even compared to a couple of years ago, or else this overhaul wouldn’t be where it is now. Every story problem would require a lot of thought and mulling-over, and maybe I’d come up with a slapdash, roughshod placeholder of a solution – just to be able to move on.

A bad and counterproductive idea.

I like to put together stories with a lot of moving parts, and each one requires the same amount of attention in order to make the whole thing a smooth-running machine. If that means taking a little more time to do so, then so be it. I’d much rather make sure as I go along that everything works and connects the way it’s supposed to than have it come to a screeching halt because of something I overlooked or forgot about, or even worse, felt was “good enough for now”.

An added bonus to all the work on developing this story in the outlining phase is that since I’ve already written down what’s supposed to transpire in each scene, including the purpose and the conflict, it’ll make it easier (and in theory, a faster process) to transfer all of that to the actual pages.

Once I do start on pages, I can only hope to see a slight increase in my daily output. After having gone through the outline a few times, editing and tweaking as I go, I’m getting a stronger feel of flow for the story, seeing ways to incorporate more development for the characters, and just an overall sense of “I like the previous draft, but this one feels so much closer to what I set out to do”.

And I most definitely would not have gotten to this point if I hadn’t put in the time and effort to make sure every single part of it did exactly what I needed it to.