Completion! It's the name of the game. It's how to get new product into the marketplace. I just completed my action/screenplay "Sinkhole" and after protecting it in the copyright office in Washington DC and in the Writer's Guild registration office, I sent it off to my agent to go do some damage with it.

 

I will also continue to market it by sending it all over the place myself, and hopefully it will be an effective tool towards getting me work and perhaps even making an outright sale of the manuscript itself.

 

It's always a huge relief to get to completion, whether it is a feature movie script or a television pilot or episode, because we all know that it takes a lot of effort to get there. The process isn't easy, because most of us go through what I have labeled "The Grind."

 

What is The Grind?

 

Whenever we start our projects there is always a huge level of enthusiasm and excitement. We've come up with this concept, this idea, the rudimentary aspects of a plot, a character or three that we can't wait to get to know better. We're more passionate and interested in this new work than we are about almost anything else in our lives.

 

But a manuscript is a long project and that initial enthusiasm inevitably wanes as we write ourselves into corners, learn the difficulties of trying to execute the concept through the three or five act structure, and as time passes and new ideas for different stories enter our heads that we also now can't help but become excited about.

 

Now we want to toss this manuscript aside and work on the new idea. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe it will never work! Or maybe it is working, and you start to feel that three drafts is good enough, even though in our hearts we know the script isn't really ready for prime time, we just want it to be.

 

Welcome to The Grind.

 

I have personally experienced The Grind in almost every script I've ever worked on, whether an original concept of my own or a subcontract I was hired to write for someone else. It is inevitable because just getting a script from the terrible initial draft to something good enough to not be mocked is extremely difficult and a major accomplishment. Terrible to Good is hard work. And after that work is done, most of the time we want to put the pen down, and move on to something else.

 

What a terrible mistake it would be for you to do it!

 

Don't you see? It's finally good. But good scripts don't sell. Or if you are subcontracted on the work, good scripts do not make it onto the company's production slate. Inevitably, they instead hire someone else to re-write the script again and erase a lot of your hard work, often to the detriment of the project. Too bad, so sad.

 

When a script is finally good, in my mind, now we're at that place where we can really have a lot of fun! We can work on ramping up that action sequence to make it really thrilling and unique. Make those jokes twice as funny! Get real with the drama! Or add all kinds of other bells and whistles because the hard work of getting to know the characters, create a plot that is effective, incorporating a solid theme through the script that doesn't overwhelm the plot, and getting the scenes written in the correct order is all done. Now we can really play with every scene and this is where the real work, for me, begins. This is where I get to show of my mad skills so everyone who reads the pages are enthralled.

 

Getting your script from terrible to good is the basic, rudimentary step that you need to take to present yourself as a professional. That doesn't make you stand out or mean you have developed anything special yet.

 

You need to keep going, and turn that script from good to great. Only the great ones sell or get made into movies. Of course, sometimes awful scripts get made into awful movies, and the same with mediocre ones, but that has more to do with studio commitments and star actors signing up on the project before they realize how terrible or mediocre the script is then it has to do with the studio not recognizing the script is flawed.

 

The problem for you when crafting your own original scripts for sale or as showcase pieces is that the recognition that the script is indeed still flawed, that it is good not great means that is how you will be viewed as a potential talent to be discovered. Or, in that case, not discovered.

  

So now that I've identified what The Grind is, how do we overcome it and fight through it to keep going until our scripts are really, actually complete instead of when we are simply tired of working on them because that "new car smell" is gone?

 

● Self-Identification - You can't fix something unless you recognize that you have the problem. Understand when you have reached that point where you are in The Grind, so that you can realize that the problems you are now having are not with the script project itself, but within you. Now that you understand this, you can make the changes to get you back on track with your manuscript and get it to a level where it is a great script.

 

● Re-Kindle the Fire - What was it about this concept that intrigued you or excited you to begin with? Often times over the long haul of the process, this essential ingredient to continue working on the piece gets lost in the shuffle. Its really important to continue to remind yourself why you are writing this and what you wanted to say when you started it, and make sure that you go ahead and say it! Re-kindle your enthusiasm for the project by making it personal for yourself again. If this is a sub-contract and the reason you took the project is for the paycheck, then kindle the fire by finding something new that fascinates you and spurs you to get in deeper and make a personal connection to the work.

 

● No A.D.D. - take breaks at the appropriate time - Sometimes when we have a bunch of concepts we want to work with, we start one, leave it, start another, leave it, start a third one, etc. etc. Now we have a bunch of unfinished scripts that we can't do anything with and when you try and go back to one, you forgot why you were writing it because you have a ton of different works in progress. I always advise that you should write a complete draft of a script, then take a break from it, which is very healthy. At that point you can work on a second idea.

 

Ideally, I never take more than 2 weeks off though from the original script I was working on. If its a subcontract I can only take 2 days off before I need to get back in the saddle, but with my own works I will take a few weeks to re-charge the battery and to create a healthy distance so I can analyze the flaws of the latest draft properly, and make the next draft much more powerful and better. Don't take a break from your manuscript during the course of the current draft. The only exception to this is when you have to put your personal projects down because you have been sub-contracted on a professional work. Obviously, though, that's not a bad thing. But don't stop writing your personal project part way to go to another personal project.

 

Some writers can work on multiple projects simultaneously. And if you are one of them? Great. But what that means is that every week you should be getting pages on both of those scripts. If you are working on three or more scripts? Unless there are professional reasons like you have producers or talent (aka actors) interested in the concepts and might want to attach to them - and if you have that going with three or more scripts that's amazing - but, I do not recommend that you work on more than two scripts at once.

 

If you do, you are just taking too long to get new product out into the marketplace, or you are rushing each of your products out before they are truly great and truly ready. Quality is so much more important than quantity in terms of what you are putting out into the marketplace. Producers and production companies will literally put you on a Non-Read list if you submit something to them that they think is sub-par. They literally will never read anything by you, ever again. And just about every professional company does this.

 

If you weren't aware of that, be aware of it and understand that tossing tons of things out there to see if something sticks is a very bad professional strategy for a screenwriter. Instead, stay focused and true to the course with the one or two scripts you are working on, and make them fantastic.

 

No attention deficit disorder when it comes to your script writing process!

 

● Micro-Manage it!  Screenplays and television episodes can be overwhelming as a whole project. I never try and think about a 90-110 page manuscript, or an A,B, and C plot all at the same time. That's just too much for most of us to do.

 

When overwhelmed, most people, in most situations, shut down. It is a negative experience and it is natural instinct to avoid negative situations. Consider that instead of having a great time writing a particular section or segment of your script, you are shutting down, and creating a negative scenario for yourself where you now want to avoid working on the script. This is part of "The Grind" and this is how I personally escape that scenario. I use micro-management skills.

 

What this means is simply that I will take a twenty page section of the script, and only outline that, and then only work on those pages. And it becomes a lot of fun for me. I only have to think about these eight to fourteen scenes.

 

There is nothing intimidating about that. Once properly outlined, I have a list of scenes to craft that fall just within that 20 page segment. Now I can pick whatever scene I want to work on from the list of them, and eventually, I will get all 8-14 scenes written.

 

Yay! Now I go and outline the next 20 pages of the manuscript. This breaks the work down so that I am only thinking about the portion of the script that is the most relevant to me because I am working on it right now. I can be passionate about these 20 pages and not worry about what's to come later. This keeps it manageable in my mind, and keeps it fun at all times.

 

Do this five times and you have a screenplay draft!

 

● Hobbies and Rewards - If you have looked at my time management system for writers, available to read anytime on my website in the Free Resources section, you will see that I key on the fact that writers need to reward themselves for writing pages.

 

I am a big fan of this technique as you get things you want, or do things you want to do, specifically as a reward for writing your manuscript. Now, instead of you not writing pages because you are in The Grind, you are instead thinking about the wonderful reward you will receive if you continue to work your craft.

 

I attach everything from my hobbies, to social activities with friends, to acquiring things for my apartment. I even work my diet into it and only allow myself to have a big ice cream sundae when I finish an entire script draft. Speaking of which, I just did that. I haven't had a big, gooey ice cream sundae in four months, which was the last time I completed a manuscript -- that one was a television pilot. This one is a screenplay. Now I have two things to shop, which greatly helps my career.

 

I get two ice cream sundaes for that, which greatly helps my dentist's career. Morale Booster!

 

It is often your attitude which determines if you can get through The Grind. Being a professional writer is both mentally and physically challenging. You can overcome a lot of the challenges on the mental aspects of it by paying yourself with rewards, and attaching the things you want out of life and participating in the activities you want to participate in, as a direct result of completing pages. I reward myself every time I get 25 pages, at each act break, and as I mentioned, when each draft of the script is done. Those are plenty of rewards per script draft and keeps me very motivated. Sometimes I will hang pictures of the rewards on the wall in front of my work station.

 

Now I am not working towards some vague goal about fame and fortune in my future. I am working for something definitive and immediate that I know I am going to truly enjoy. When you get that reward, it's a shot of adrenaline and a great feeling that you deserve to have. And when you then post up a picture of the next reward, you will be even more excited to work on those pages, trust me.

 

So these are some of the techniques you can use to overcome The Grind. Being a true professional screen or television writer means that you need to demand more of yourself, and work hard to make your script great instead of merely good. It's tough to do, but I know you can plow your way through The Grind, and get the job done.