Curious about output

[Centurio]

Was reading another thread regarding how different writers handle those difficult days when you just can't seem to get anything written. Made me curious about other writers overall pace. How many screenplays a year do you complete?

[SoCalScribe]

Originally Posted by Centurio

Was reading another thread regarding how different writers handle those difficult days when you just can't seem to get anything written. Made me curious about other writers overall pace. How many screenplays a year do you complete?

After several years of being less-than-committed to my writing, my current goal is to write two feature screenplays a year. More if I can, but with a full time job and family commitments, I figure one spec every six months is a reasonable goal.

[asjah8]

it's definitely tough. as most here, i work a full-time job to make ends meet.

i would have to say that i consider every minute as output.

i pat myself on the back for the 5 minutes i spent in line thinking about protagonists, the 12 minutes i spent driving and listening to a screenwriting podcast, the 30 minutes i spent writing half a scene before bed; and, the 20 minutes i spent emailing with my writing partner over the coolest current use of this, or that, in film scripts today.

anything over that is gravy.

the way i found focus was to start with my environment. i looked for the type of day job that wasn't rocket-science. sure i'm qualified to do better, but here's the truth of it: i don't bring work home with me and i earn just enough that i don't constantly worry about bills. for the most part, it gives me a clear head to focus on where i want to be.

[Ulysses]

Originally Posted by Centurio

Was reading another thread regarding how different writers handle those difficult days when you just can't seem to get anything written. Made me curious about other writers overall pace. How many screenplays a year do you complete?

It's not about the number of screenplays, I'd say.

I also can't really say the number of written pages is important. Six pages a day - what does it help if it's garbage? And with garbage I don't mean failed attempts to write up what you see in front of your mind. I mean six pages of trying to do it right.

Change of POV: any creative work produces a lot of things you cannot use. Either pages you don't like, or no pages at all. But all this is part of the process. How can you know what you exactly want when you start working? So you write, and you know, as it's early in the work, you will throw most of this stuff out.

Or you don't write, which is mainly the fear of writing things that won't make it into the final version, which is fear of failure.

So, if you don't write at all, you just avoid that build-up phase.

There's a movie by Clouzot. It's called "Le Mystere Picasso" (don't crucify me for not finding the French accent on my keyboard). You see Picasso painting a picture. Which means: painting several pictures on top of each other. He doesn't care if he paints over great looking stuff. He just works, I mean, plays. And he's Picasso. And he's so humble in that movie, and Clouzot such a pain in the rear exit.

Reminds me of my anti-Picasso experience: I once painted a sinking ship. The waves looked really good and scary. Which scared the hell out of me I'd destroy that good point by painting a bad sky. Well, the painting never got finished. And the fear to mess up the sky after having done good waves in an early stage is the reason so many writers actually are scared of writing. I always think of Picasso when I get close to this mood. I save an extra copy of how it was, and then I'm going to paint over what I have. And guess what: I almost never need to go back to my extra copy.

Short answer: it's not about quantity. Do one good script in who knows what amount of time, and you trump those who write a script every two months(or so they claim).

Key is writing is a lustful experience. Just like Picasso when he paints. Lustful is, of course, a stretchable term. What do I know about masochists...

[Biohazard]

Writing one page a day gives you three scripts a year (or three drafts). I've done it while working two jobs and still having a life of my own.

Granted, those three scripts sucked, but they were necessary. I learned a ton from their suckage.

[NikeeGoddess]

i consider the time i spend going over the story and scenes in my head before i start writing as writing. i'm usually in the process of rewriting or tweaking an old script while i'm working on a new script and marinating the idea of my next script all at the same time. so my answer is 3.

i write in spurts which is better than insisting that i must write every day. the time i spend here on this board is called procrastination.

[asjah8]

Originally Posted by Ulysses

(don't crucify me for not finding the French accent on my keyboard).

hehe... no one will crucify you, trust me. they are hidden functions related to the ALT key rather than a single visual button on the board.

here's a quicksheet link that might help:
http://www.sandhills.edu/english/fre...entfrench.html

[asjah8]

Originally Posted by NikeeGoddess

the time i spend here on this board is called procrastination.

yep, it's my procrastination too!

actually, basic sociology tells us that given time, people from assorted cultures, backgrounds, economic status, etc., will find themselves drawn to a place where they can speak, relate, and be understood by others. we all speak screenwriting so in a sense we're sociologically programmed to be here. that's my excuse anyway.

i imagine myself hanging out on a techno-geek's forum and get a visual image of the tower of babel. (shudder)... what is DOS?

[Jake Schuster]

Picasso also said:

"God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things."

And, as Ulysses points out, "Every act of creation is first an act of destruction."

[maralyn]

I'm an atheist.

So I only put out a finished script every two or so years.