Screenwriting : Too Many Ideas by Bill Lonero

Well, what was your process for finishing the other two?

Usually, I go with the idea that obsesses me the most. :)

Nick Assunto - Stage 32 Script Services Coordinator Sometimes, I wish my brain could be plugged 24/7 to my computer so that my ideas and thoughts are written automatically as soon as think about it! ;)

I tend to go with the cheapest ideas first. I find this kinda forces me to be more creative as well.

It's virtually impossible not to have ideas all around as human brain cannot cease to think (when it does it at night we call that dreams).

So, I'd tackle them all. When you come to brainstorming 25% will drop off....when you come to develop story further, another 25% will fall off...when you go to treatment, only 10% of the variations will mingle in your mind. When you complete treatment you'll have 1%...that goes to the script.

I mean, it's just discipline. Sorry if that sounds a little curt or arrogant. You gotta be a self-starter in the spec writing world.

It helps not to be a perfectionist and to have a process but, ultimately, you have to push through to the end when it gets tough and it will always get tough at a certain point.

“Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.” - Winston Churchill

Perhaps creating a good note taking document to log all those other ideas somewhere else while you're working on your main project will help.

It's also important to nurture yourself and keep a healthy, motivated mindset. It's very easy to turn writing into a chore if you get this wrong.

make the time. Thats if this is a career occupation. Writers write. A lot. At this stage, build up brain & craft muscles.

Here is advice from the Batman screenwriter. This dude was writing 10 specs a year; his story execution finally clicked on the page and now, he is a player in the big game.

https://twitter.com/mattsontomlin/status/1402361401268604928?s=20

Bill, I'm currently working on three scripts at the same time (it was four until I finished "Pipe Up!" on 5-31-2021).

Way things have been going for me recently, the bulk of my writing has taken place on weekends...so that means I work on one script on Saturday afternoon, another on Saturday night, and the third on Sunday.

During the workweek, I try to steal time in the early afternoon to get typing before I go off to my paying job.

I'm random when it comes to which screenplay I resume work on during the Saturday afternoon session, be it the first script, the second, or the third...if only to keep things interesting. But I keep pushing to get every last project finished.

So glad you're on Stage 32, Bill! All the VERY BEST to you!

I think you're asking the wrong question. The question should be "what do you want to do with your script once it's done" Sell it? Make it yourself? Put it on the shelf and say job well done?

That's going to help you focus more on what you want to write than anything else. If you want to sell your next script, find people that buy scripts to produce and figure out what kind of stories they're looking for. They're out there, find them and talk to them. BTW I'm not talking about pitching or "chasing the market", you're just getting intel.

Then if you have an idea that meshes with what they're looking for and you think you've got a good angle that shows what you can do, go for it.

Otherwise, it doesn't really matter what you write if you're just doing it for yourself. Flip a coin.

A fellow ADHD screenwriter! Don't be fearful of going back and forth on screenplays. I've learned working on one screenplay will give me an idea for another screenplay.

At the moment I am juggling 5 shorts (three of which I am expanding into features), a feature I have expanded into a series or TV season while pitching multiple others. My writing is best in the early morning. I will be thinking about a story or angle before bed, write a paragraph reminder, sleep on it and then wake up 2-3 in the morning and bang off a dozen pages before work. I try to plan it out but just find the muse drives me the most. I will work like that for a week then put it away and concentrate on another story the next week. I find coming back to a story every 2-3 weeks give new life to it. I suppose I am always thinking of how to make it better but find the breaks help to eliminate the plot holes.

I have the same problem.

I have the same issue, Bill. I have three lifetimes' worth of ideas I want to write and only about half a lifetime left to do them. I just work on whatever idea is burning a hole in my brain and wanting to get out onto the page. The hard part comes after the first 10 or 15 pages or so. At some point EVERY project becomes a matter of hard labor to get it done. That's when you need to make it like exercise and force yourself to get through it. No other way.

Start them all. The best one will win and start to monopolise your attention. You are try assess something thy hasn’t been written.

I often wonder if that's part of the creative process. It's so easy to get new ideas, but choosing to start one and finish it, that's a true feat.

I'm team start them all just like Craig : There will always be a project that stands out from the rest.