Quote:
Originally Posted by indietalk
Sometimes it's not an actual block but a lack of stimulation. Change your environment and spitball off others.
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How's your research coming? Lots of reading/viewing of the problems of foster kids, dysfunctional familial relationships, teachers assistants and high school theatre?
Dig into the problems of foster kids; they are myriad. (When I was a teen we would take in transitional young foster kids - we didn't have the room for permanent foster kids, but at least we were a safe place until they did find a foster home.)
Hell, dysfunctional families make up half the sitcoms and dramas on TV. Even serious problems come up in "normal" families - illness/injury, mental illness (or brain disease as some are now calling it), financial problems, etc.
Any time you get into the educational system there are rules and regulations too numerous to mention coming from federal, state and local authorities - many of them contradictory. Trust me; my sister-in-law was a teacher, then a special ed teacher, then an administrator. She used to bitch continuously about them.
My youngest daughter is deeply involved in the theatre program at high school. (She was Phoebe in "As You Like It" back in October, she's in "High School Musical" next week, playing Ryan on Wednesday, Jackie on Thursday.) The backstage "drama" can really take a toll on the kids as well as the school staff involved.
And yeah, I know that it'll probably be garbage, but just write anything. As a mentor of mine once told me, get the crap out of your system. After all the crap is gone the good stuff comes next. Conversely, look through all of your rejected material. Who knows, there might be a diamond or two in the cesspool.
Try lampooning your own project. If it's a drama, write it as comedy or horror. Toss in something really stupid just to liven the mix. I've done that with music - turn a soft ballad into a heavy metal thrasher, for example. And I've done it with films - turn all the men into munchkins and all the women into James Earl Jones (with formant/pitch-shifting); replace gunshots with fart noises (I laughed harder than anyone at Dr. Nefarios Fart Gun in "Despicable me"), modern cars with Model T sounds, etc. The results are good for the gag reel and to gain new perspective on your project.
On top of all of that, get away from it for a while. Do things completely unrelated to your script. Refresh yourself physically, mentally and emotionally. Try something new and different, it may change your perspective.