When it rains it pours
I am about to be underwater
Hi Hollyweirdos! Since last week’s edition of the newsletter I have been doing my best to continue getting into a flow state with brainstorming / outlining this first ever Hollyweird Picture (aka my ghost road trip movie*) and… it has been working.
I feel like I have a decent idea of where I want the movie to end (important) and the way that I have come to that conclusion is by… writing a lot of things down. Everything I’ve been thinking, really.
[*I’ve gained quite a few new readers the last couple weeks, so if you are new here and wondering what the heck I’m talking about, I introduced the idea of this movie here, and the idea behind sharing everything about making the movie here. And if you are new here, just a reminder that you can share the newsletter anytime!*]
So, right now, I have a giant document of mush, which I have been slowly putting into a more coherent structure in Highland Pro.
Why Highland and not Final Draft? I like Highland’s interface better for a first draft. This is for a few reasons.
It feels more customizable… I am currently in the “Solarized Dark” night mode.
I like the functionality of being able to hide notes to myself within the script simply by typing the “=” sign. I will essentially write my outline into the draft like that and then, once I begin drafting, slowly transform those notes into scenes.
I like that it automatically knows whether you are typing a scene heading or a character name for dialogue. This genuinely does speed my writing process up, which is incredibly important to me, because I am ALL ABOUT FLOW.
I also like the little hashtag bookmarks you can make, because it makes it very easy to find different Key Moments within the draft while you are writing. Here’s what I currently have bookmarked. But I’ll usually end up with even more.
I have the final ending beat figured out, and I have the major moves into each act somewhat figured out, and I have a lot of room in the middle for… Stuff. I believe that’s the technical term. I have a big bucket of Stuff that I’ve slowly been accumulating in my notes document, some of which is good, some of which is bad, and a lot of which is… TBD.
Lots to figure out still! But progress continues to be made!
All of which is probably going to change, and soon!
I’ve written before (here and here) about how many things you need to juggle (too many) to carve out a sustainable career as a writer in Hollywood. And while I did technically have some free time over this summer (while waiting for notes, for revised budgets and schedules, for financing, for commencement, etc) things are about to change.
I am once again heading into TV WORLD, returning to the writers room for a series I worked on last year (prior to the launch of Hollyweird, actually, believe it or not). As a result, all of my best laid plans for quickly writing a new feature for me to direct while juggling another feature that I’m writing on assignment are now going to change. Now I’ll be… juggling all of those things while also working a full time writing job. Ha ha!
This is a totally normal and sustainable career! You are either DOING NOTHING AT ALL FOR WAY TOO LONG or suddenly DOING EVERYTHING ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Somehow it is always like this!
I think it will be a challenging rest of the year, if I’m being honest. And it will mean switching my passion projects out of day to day work and into… Nights and Weekends Mode.
So… I already know some of the techniques for avoiding burnout, including… doing less, asking for help, putting extra effort into making free time feel restorative… but what else have you got, gang?
How do you juggle having jobs on jobs on jobs? And this applies to, oh I’m guessing… everyone who’s reading. I’m confident all you Hollyweirdos are either stacking creative gigs on top of other creative gigs, and/or stacking creative gigs on top of non creative gigs. So how do you do it? What keeps you sane? Seriously. Let me know! Please!
What else is going on in Hollyweird, you ask?
Well, just a reminder that the back half of August is basically no man’s land. Nobody is around, everybody’s moving slowly, it’s really hot, the people who are around don’t really want to be doing anything… so if things are feeling especially slow and frustrating for you out there, you are not alone!
In the spirit of dreamy steamy summer malaise, I made a video about leaving a little bit of ambiguity in your work. We don’t need it all spelled out, and we don’t need it to be a mathematical equation. So if you want a little pep talk about how “film is a shared dream” (a thing I do genuinely say in the video).
The Hollyweird Hang, our monthly group hang session for PAID SUBSCRIBERS is coming up September 6th. So if you haven’t joined as a paid subscriber but want a chance to get to meet some other creative folks, and talk about what you’re up to, you still have time to join and receive the invite. Later in September I will also be hosting a Hollyweird Board Meeting in which I go in depth with the paid Hollyweirdos on the State of the Newsletter as well as the State of the First Hollyweird Picture. More on that below the paywall, which is coming up in just a moment…
Previously on… Hollyweird!
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