You Got To Know When to Fold 'em
I was just speaking to a dear friend and fellow writer about a script that I just couldn't "crack". I worked on this comedy for two entire years. In-between I worked on other things, of course, but draft after draft, I just couldn't find the heart of this particular comedy. I wore myself down, I bored my writing group to death, I wrote drafts that closely resembled earlier drafts, I ripped apart the whole thing and rewrote it taking a different point of view - and I still couldn't do it. So I walked. I still like the conceit of it and most likely I will return to it - some day.
How do you know when it's time to walk away? What are the signs? Here are five tell-tale symptoms:
- You've been working on the same script, regularly, for over a year and you seem to be taking one step forward, two steps back.
- Your friends are really sick of hearing about the script. They say things like are you STILL working on that one?
- You are reaching; plot points seem ridiculous even as you write them.
- You realize you have gotten very far away from the original idea or inspiration
- You aren't having fun anymore; you're sick of the story but you feel obligated to finish it.
Wavers, there is nothing wrong with walking away. Put the script on the shelf and just move on. It could be that one day inspiration will hit you like a bolt of lightning and you'll crack the story wide open. The solution might be getting further out of your reach the harder you try to find it. If you aren't having fun when you're writing - something is wrong.
My writing partner and I are working on a very exciting, high concept action-thriller at the moment. I work full time, reading and consulting and some days it feels a bit much to also work on this script. But when I open the pages and begin - time stops for me. I have such fun that I always get way more done than I thought I would. And that, Wavers, is how it should feel. Maybe not every second of every day, but overall.
If you're stuck, if the joy has gone out of it, you owe it to yourself (not to mention your friends or spouse) to know when to say when. There's no shame in moving on. Closing the door on this script is opening the window to another. It might just be waiting its turn very patiently.
I read a Western in which one characters says to another: The true mark of a cowboy is not how fast he gets bucked off the horse - it's how he fast he gets off the ground. Hit the ground running, Wavers. You got to know when to walk away and know when to run.
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3 comments:
This is great advice, on a topic that doesn't usually get addressed.
I just recently had a shower-epiphany (my rain room is often the scene of Great Thoughts) about a project of mine written (and re-written) nearly a decade ago, where I suddenly got a flash "Aha!" insight re: a central story concept problem I'd never quite licked, and thought -- Hmmm... That's one I could revisit anew, now. So your "you can always go back" edict is certainly true.
Whenever I get an idea for a screenplay, I immediately sit myself down and work out some of the details of the story. Sometimes I can’t crack it. I give it my best shot, but it just ain’t coming together…at least for the moment. So I put the idea up on the shelf. Then one day, maybe six months later, I’ll suddenly come up with a piece of the story puzzle that will help me put that script together. In fact, last October I came up with an idea and immediately wrote the first several scenes (mostly in outline form). Then I hit a wall. I tried to get it figured out, but it just wasn’t happening. I put the idea aside. Then about six weeks ago I came up with a solution to the story problem and was able to outline several more scenes. At the moment, I have the first act written and about a third of act two. I also have a fairly clear view of what the rest of the story is about. When I wrap up some other writing obligations, I’ll get back to it. As I mention on my website, I’m a big proponent of always finishing what you start. It’s a baaaad idea getting into the habit of starting a script, running out of ideas, then abandoning it. So, if you start an actual script, finish it. Even if that first draft ain’t so great (which it won’t be), at least psychologically you know you got it done…and that means quite a bit in the ol’ screenwriting game. If you must abandon anything, abandon your idea/concept/story in those early stages. If you can’t make it work, tuck it away in your Idea File and move on to something else. Believe me, there’s no better way to kill a love affair with an idea than laboring over fifty pages of a screenplay that simply isn’t working. That’s why I’m a big proponent of the outlining process. Outlining is where you determine if that particular idea/concept/story is working – and why write forty or fifty script pages before determining your story isn’t working when you can make the same determination in five or ten pages of an outline? So…come up with your idea, flesh it out with an outline and see if it’s all working or not. If it does work, get that script written. Just get it done.
Great comment, Jim! I am a huge proponent of outlining, and in a post last week, talked about writing a great premise before committing to a script. Sometimes, though, you just lose your mojo for the script. My philosophy is that one can walk away from something and begin anew, lesson learned, without any damage to one's sense of discipline or commitment. But often, as Billy pointed out in his shower-epiphany moment, walking away means - for now. You can always return to the script. The one I mentioned, that I worked on for 2 years, I had outlined, idea-tested and had gotten table reads on. Popular, well attended table reads. But something centrally was not coming together. I am confident that one night at 3am the solution will come to me. And I'm gonna blow that comedy wide open and have a great script. Interestingly, the script I started after walking away from the comedy wound up getting me repped and has since opened a lot of doors and while nothing may come of it (realistic, party of one?) it is currently being read by A-list actors and is at Cruise/Wagner for consideration.
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