Screenwriting : What do you do in between writing screenplays? by WL Wright

Live life. So you have something to use and write about.

Cry... more than usual...

I usually take a week between projects. During that week I watch a lot of movies, classic TV shows, read. Anything to clear the old story out and keep my mind from thinking.

I always have one project going even if I am not currently writing on it. I finish one screenplay while I'm outlining another. If I finish the first screenplay before the outline is finished with the other, I take time to do research. No rest, the life of a screenwriter.

For me, I have to take a break and fill up my creative bucket. I usually watch a movie in a genre that I don't write. I especially like to watch a movie while reading the script or read the script first, then watch a movie.

I usually watch movies similer to what I'm working on or I'll be researching my characters backround. Most of the time though I stick to just learning what I can about writing.

Sounds like most of us are gluttons for punishment, unable or unwilling to break away from writing or film entirely. (* I'm happy with that, by the way!)

Watch stuff and wait, either for news on the last one, or for the next one to start fully forming in my thoughts.

I usually work on a novel or read lots of scripts to study them.

I feed cats.

The good writers I know don't really have totally empty "between time" - they're always working on multiple things at once.

I work on another screenplay. I usually have two to three writing projects going at a time and a rotate through them.

I love to cook... cooking on a road trip. Cooking outside. It's really relaxing. Fresh fish on the braai is what I do between writing. Well used to... I just finished a script during lockdown and I had to do my cooking outside at home. Oh by the way, I'm not weird... it's a thing in my country, the art of outdoor cooking even in pots and pans. And the road trips in our country... we love it.