Scriptus Interruptus

If you are a writer with more than a couple half-finished scripts, you really have to stop and take stock. Is this a pattern? Be really honest with yourself. Could you have Scriptus Interruptus?

Often a writer will start off strong, with an idea he or she is really excited about but somewhere in the second act, discouragement and confusion set in. The premise is dead-ending or becoming seemingly ridiculous. The writer feels like a rat in a maze; running down this alternative and that only to come up against a brick wall. After a few agonizing weeks, the writer bails out. The primary culprit is a premise that just doesn’t have enough story to make it all the way across the finish line. The solution: learn to thoroughly test your premise before you start pages. Develop this muscle and take it seriously. Don’t just jump into a script without a plan and without a solid sense of the story.

Without correcting the source of the Scriptus Interruptus, half-finished scripts pile up like so many empty beer cans and a feeling of futility sets in; I can’t do this. I can’t write and what kind of lousy person can’t follow through and and and….it’s a terrible trap. If you think this might be you, stop right now, breathe it out and without judging yourself, correct the problem.

Maybe your problem is not related to a weak premise. Maybe you have a fear of failure. If a writer completes a script then it will be read. By someone in the industry, maybe some snot-nosed assistant or intern and they will coldly dissect your baby, ripping it limb from limb and leaving you feeling empty and humiliated. What if the gilded dream of writing a movie is nothing but a torpid fantasy about to be popped by a needle-sharp bad coverage?

Rejection is part of being a writer. It’s a cliché but it’s true. Yes, when you finish your script it will be read, judged and likely passed on. But it may not get passed on by everybody. You only need one yes. And if that script can’t find a single fan – you write another one and hope that one will.

It is very important for an aspiring screenwriter to get some kind of industry feed back. Otherwise you are writing in a void. Whether you use a script reading service, a consultant or maybe a friend who reads in the business – get a reality check. How are you doing? Yes, it’s painful, it really is. But otherwise, how will you ever know how you measure up? The trick is to not take it personally. Every time a script gets a thumbs down, you must use that experience to learn so that you can do better the next time around. Be selfish about your negative feedback. Grab it, horde it, and use it to do better.

They say the average writer has written ten scripts before they become a WGA member. Whether that statistic is accurate or not, it’s probably a pretty good benchmark for newer writers to look to. The chances that your first, second or third scripts will be written much less received well is slim, relatively speaking. But you can’t get to fabulous script number eight without having done the time on numbers one through seven. It’s tedious, it is painful but a writer cannot learn and improve without putting some serious time and effort in.

Of course the paradox is that with every single script you write, you have to believe with all of your heart and soul that it is terrific. That’s why this business is so terribly difficult; having faith in the face of crushing odds is nothing short of attaining a kind of grace. Also, drinking helps.

So for some writers the easy way out is to never join the race. They get about halfway through a script and sort of – just – peter – out. They spend a lot of time discussing things on message boards; opining, judging and lol-ing. It’s much more pleasant to talk about screenwriting than it is to take your heart in your hands and just do it. But there is no other way, kids. You can’t go around it. You can’t skip over it. You have to go through it.

So take a good hard look at your inventory and your patterns. Are you a serial Scriptus Interruptus writer? Time to take stock and find out exactly why that is. You can change that pattern right now. Today. But if you choose to curl up in the wet blanket of fear-of-rejection-it's-not-fair victimhood - well, terrific.
Because you just left an open spot for some other writer who will can and will finish their script. And the next one and the one after that.

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