Screenwriting : Warming up for a hard day's work... by Felix Agyeman Boahen

Whiskey and cigarettes .

I like to do 15 min meditation before starting my work day. It makes it easier to focus, it quiets the mind of unnecessary noise. But... honestly, for me, it has always been like I sit with the computer, a notebook to my side, a pencil (yes, I'm old fashioned hahaha) and I write. I just write. I began my life being an actor and a Journalist. In both functions I had to soon give up the notion of having time, of procrastinating because they are both jobs of "the moment". You have to deliver. So I learned to just trust that you will start to type and the story WILL show up.

Music and coffee/tea but usually just punching in without fear a word or two on the page

gets the fingers moving, for me personally

.

Usually marijuana.

Caffeine.

Avoidance.

"Smash the like button" - Stephan Graham.

Seems everybody's a comedian...er...or a cynic. Meditate. Read. Open the space for creative flow within the limits you have set and forge ahead.

I always read an interesting screenplay of the genre I'm about to tackle, to warm myself up...

And go through my scripts, and the treatment-like outline I create for the project... It help to keep my mind focused.

What I don’t do is on the days I don’t work I’d get right up and write. I used to do it. But I found it comes off like a chore. I may add a detail to a scene. But I won’t sit there and write the entire sequence. Add I started writing long before I had a laptop. Now that I have one I’ll never write at home like I use too. Truth is I will write anywhere. At anytime. I don’t have a routine. I will go to the coffer shop when it gets cold but that depends on what am I writing. The key for me is to get the pages out. I stay “loose” by reading everything I can. Writing in other ways like the journal in my phone. I also listen to a litany if various podcasts. Watching docs is helpful too. I may write too much so when I take time off those non writing media outlets really keep you engaged. As we know our stories start to tell us what the deal is. I’ll have a podcast on that has nothing to do with anything I’m writing. Yet a point is made in of of those podcast and boom a character is telling me that’s what they would do given how they have been built up. I think the key for screenwriters is to absorb stories in all forms. And today we can do that on a vastly larger scale than we could’ve back in the 80’s and 90’s.

I put duct tape on my family members' mouths (dogs included), then I strap them to chairs, but only after they have cleaned the house for me. Oh wait, you didn't ask what I fantasize doing.

I can write in most scenarios (even in my loud house) as long as there's snacks and coffee. Or wine depending on what time of day it is ;)

Nothing, I just write. It's pulls me into it every day with breaks here and there.

I have two teen, both into heavy rock. For Christmas, I asked Santa fornoise canceling ear protectors. Works well. I can only write when its quiet.

Sacrificing a virgin to a statue of Robert McKee and eating the heart.

Visualization!