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Question about writing schedule

Hello guys.

What do you do when you are in your writing schedule (writing your feature, short, documentary, etc.) and have no ideas?

When that happens, do you still insist and keep writing random stuff hoping good ideas pop in your head?

Thank you.
 
No matter what the creative artistic outlet - music, painting, sculpture, film, writing, etc. - you need to do it every day. If you are not creatively motivated you need to find your "jump start." And don't be afraid of writing garbage. You're not going to "hit it out of the park" every time. Being creative is just like real life, sometimes you have to (figuratively) take out the trash and take a dump. Get all the junk and crap out of your creative system; write those horrible pages. The good stuff will appear when after you've cleaned house and done your creative exercises.
 
My problem isn't so much a lack of ideas. My problem is that I'm great at coming up with plots and characters, but I seem incapable of coming up with enough scenes to stretch the plot to the length it needs to be. This is why I found a collaborator to help me write my first feature length script.

If we ever part ways, though, and I have to do a draft myself, the best way I can think of to tackle it would be to employ the Hanna Barbera method: break the story down into sections that would be 7-9 minutes in length, then focus on writing one section at a time. It seemed to work pretty well for them. Hey There It's Yogi Bear was very heavily segmented, but the story hangs together nicely.
 
When the creative muse visits you rough out the story from front to back getting the timing of WHAT events happen WHEN.

Then when the creative muse moves on and you have pretty much only twenty minutes of what needs to be 90 to 120 minutes you start filling in the gaps with work, pounding out character depth and story complexity without fluffing the core story.

Sometimes you find out you don't have sh!t to begin with.
 
Isn't that plot?

But isn't "incapable of coming up with enough scenes" lack of ideas?

I'll clarify: For the script I'm collaborating on, I wrote a lengthy, detailed plot summary that has enough plot to fill a feature length movie, but if I didn't have a writing partner and tried to do the whole thing myself, I know I would come up short and only have a 60-minute script when I need an 80-minute one. This is because I've always been a very concise writer and even if I have a complete story, I personally am not good at doing the character-based filler scenes that most movies seem to have (for example, without those filler scenes The Avengers would likely have been at least 30 minutes shorter, but it wouldn't have been as good). My collaborator had some good ideas for how to flesh out the narrative and he's started working on the first draft of the script, so for now, I'm just waiting for him to get back to me so I can see what he came up with.
 
You need to read a book called Creating Character by William Bernhardt. While you're at it, take a look at his Perfecting Plot book too.

If you're struggling to get to the 80 minute mark, what can happen to a movie is after you've finished it and then come up with the 2nd or 3rd edit. If you didn't get the pace spot on, you'll need to cut and trim, sometimes heavily. If you're at 80 mins and you trim, you may end up with a horrible decision to make. End up in no where land with a 60 minute movie or an 80 minute incorrectly paced movie if you don't have access to reshooting.
 
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Thank you for the suggestion. I'll definitely check those books out. The script I'm collaborating on is for an animated film and I'm hoping to be able to make it a musical, so If I have to trim anything to improve pace or whatever, the songs will fill out the length, but it needs to start out as a feature length script before adding music so I have some wiggle room and, as I said, that's where I run into trouble.
 
Hello guys.
What do you do when you are in your writing schedule (writing your feature, short, documentary, etc.) and have no ideas? When that happens, do you still insist and keep writing random stuff hoping good ideas pop in your head?

Thank you.
I will often visit Wikipedia, Youtube, a news site. Often one idea will lead to another. I end up bookmarking tons of stuff to my "Inspiration" folder. Periodically I'll check that folder and start writing up some idea sketches. I'll go back and revisit some of the idea sketches.
... I seem incapable of coming up with enough scenes to stretch the plot to the length it needs to be. ... employ the Hanna Barbera method: break the story down into sections that would be 7-9 minutes in length, then focus on writing one section at a time. ...

... I've always been a very concise writer and even if I have a complete story, I personally am not good at doing the character-based filler scenes that most movies seem to have ....
Television programs work in a similar fashion. Minor conflict every 4-5 pages, a major conflict every 8-10 pages. TV is film as rhyme scheme is to prose. What I often find is that most writers have their main plot (A) but don't give enough thought to their subplot (B). Even seasoned writers will follow their A plot straight through. Yes, the A plot in a sense is the movie but the B plot gives definition to the characters and situation. While writing 7-10 pages may help you get down your A plot, it's your B plot that helps fill out the script in a meaningful way as suggested by Ray and others. I appreciate what you're saying about being concise and bringing in a collaborator. It's not a deficiency or weakness. What you might ask yourself after you complete a scene is "What are the characters I'm not seeing doing right now?" Often they are planning, plotting or doing something which will impact decisions in your next scene. If you apply this, you find yourself interpolating your B plot with your A plot in the second act.

If you write: Intro (15 p) - A1 - A2 - A3 - A4 (40 p) - Crisis (5 p) - Resolution (5 p)
So act 1 is 15 pages, act 2 with 4 major scenes is 40 pages, and act 3 (crisis & resolution) is 10 pages for a total of 65 pages.

You can wonder what are the 'off screen' characters doing during scenes A1, A2, A3 and A4. That gives you some B plot. Now you add that in:
Intro - A1 - B1 -A2 - B2 - A3 - B3- A4 - B4- Crisis - Resolution
Now B plot has less screen time (about half) so adding them in is an additional 20 pages or so. Now your script length is up to 85 pages.

These are to be understood as rough numbers. I'm not trying to suggest there is a formula, only to illustrate the idea. You do not want to simply add fluff to a script. But keeping in mind that things are happening behind the scenes that are equally relevant is a good way to help both enhance the story and develop your characters.
 
Thanks for that, that's very helpful. I should probably copy and paste all this advice into a word document so I can reference it later. I'm still very much a beginner at this, but I'm doing my best to learn as I go so future films can be as good as possible.
 
when i'm alone
based on subject i get in my mind. thought enter .personalities enter.turn personalities into persons. story flows.
sequences i makeup .

"I WRITE ANYTHING !!!"
(just like super man script writer !!!)
 
Pushing Through

A couple of things about your writing schedule...

All writing is re-writing. Most of what you first jot down won't be good and it will need to be re-written. Don't get discouraged if you don't think what you are writing down is good. Just keep in mind that you will have to continue to flesh your ideas out.

Second, if you are having a hard time coming up with any ideas, it might be a good idea to research the topics that you plan on writing about. Search the internet, go to your public library, or go interview an expert on the field. This will help you generate more ideas and push you through the block.

Don't change your writing schedule though because having that discipline will keep you being a productive writer.
 
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