having no opinion on your writing, stopping procrastination

[reelistics07]

whats up everybody, i just screened a film last night at a hip hop art show, i was the youngest one there and i dont think my film communicated to people very well, besides about 3 (my brother and parents not included) i figured, well 3 is good, it caught SOMEBODY'S eye , ya know? but i didnt like how it turned out, i realized i made the film primarily for me and wasnt thinking about the audience, i realized that people were watching a completely different film than i had wanted them to see, this film started out as a little experiment since the weather was nice, then it evolved and evolved and evolved until i'm screening it at an art show, i know i have talent , i know i can tell a story, i know i can edit and frame a shot, whats missing is the planning, i have to write and plan, ive never shot a written film, or even a film with a small plot, the film i showed last night ( which is called "Reflect") does have a theme but it doesnt communicate well, so now its friday and im on to my next film , i havent been able to get around to reading any books on wrting lately ("if you want to write" "writing without teachers") which may or may not help, i was wondering if any of you guys have any tips on freewriting or capturing that creative spark and working off of it, i tend to be a procrastinate of a writer who wrties about 2 or 3 pages, never edits, never reads it over, just stops writing becasue it doesnt work, but instead of learning from this, i just figure i cant write ( i know i can ) and will stop for like 2 weeks until i try it again, i know ive got something to say, but need to get past my procrastination and keep writing, but writing when you dont want to can be really tiring and depressing, and makes your wrting even worse and even lazier, but what triggers this is having these opinions on what your writing. does anyone have any similar stories to tell? any tips, or any things they have used that helped with their writing alot? ( things like using the computer, wrting on the paper sideways, or writing the basic idea in the middle and working around it.






Keep it REEL

PEACE

[jasper_window]

Keep a journal.  Not just a "dear diary my boss sucks, my girlfriend's a bitch, blah, blah, blah," although that stuff might work too, but a journal in which you write dialogue, ideas, images, etc...and I wouldn't bother with books focused on writing.  Spike Lee has a book on Do The Right Thing and it has his journal in it.  Little pieces of dialogue, and scenes are sprinkled throughout.  Same with sex, lies by soderbergh.  It takes you through a successful writers everyday work habit and how their ideas come together.  Might help you the most IMO.  I hear what you're saying except I go through spells where I'm writing all the time or not at all.  Good luck.

If you can't or don't want to write come up with a general story and find some actors who are good at improv and start shooting, form your story with the camera and some actors and a basic outline of an idea.

[prophet]

hahah thats exactly how i am , i started two scripts the first one about a taxi driver (ahaha) who hasnt talked to his best freind since they were kids because his freind's dad killed all 4 of their parents, anyways i forgot what it was about that was only 20 or so pages. the 2nd one was longer 42 pages it was about a reality TV spoof called 'Real Lives' it is pretty much like the real world but all the stuff that you dont get to see happens, i though of ending it with one of the 'party boy' roomates leaving the stove on or something and the hosue exploading and killing everyone in it because he was too drunk to turn it off (but then there;s camera men who would so that woudnt have worked) but yeah i havnt touched any of them since i still have them i think im scared of writing them because at the end i might see the script sucks and i waisted my time. i got this book last year i think
its pretty good goes over all the bastcs tells you what a "Catalyst" and a "Big Event" are, it pretty much teaches you howto write a movie that can be figured out in the first 20 minues, it has some other good stuff though how to find an agent and what not. it also tells you that the character needs to have a backstory motivation, his or her own view on life. you need to make the audiance care about that chracter make him or her do things that  the audiance can relate to. i dont know why i stoped i just didnt know where to go with it, or maybe i want to become a director for all the wrong reasons. i want to become one so that i can say hey i am the one who wrote that, i am not really trying to prove a point or anything. thats why i stoped writing because i was waisting my time right now, i plan to write some kind of short film after i grad HS when i get my head cleared up and when i can actually make money and fund a project. the mistake i made was that i made all the characters kinda talk like me, i need to learn how to  make them their own person before i start a page.

check the book out it should help you .

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1879505444/qid=1078886677/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2672088-5655815?v=glance&s=books

ps. use final draft its the best thing .

[reelistics07]

yeah, i have been keeping a journal for awhile, but sometimes i dont write in it because i get the tendency to think that theres no purpose to what im wrting, that;if im living my life, then why write about it? this is a complete misconception.. i used to only write when something interesting happened to me or if i wanted to contemplate something id get it on paper so its not lurking in my head.but recently ivec realized that journals can be a very excruciatingly boring art form, becasue youve already experienced everything that your wrting and you dont wanna lie, so theres no creativity.ive started to just write my thoughts, like if i am wondering about something, ill write it down, like last night i was wondering if prison guards ever feel bad coming to work every day and seeing men equal to them stuck in the cell, no change in lifestyle, nothing new, theyre just in the cell, wating for lunch. how could you not cherish your own life as a prison guard? you think "fuck , i got 6 more hours till my shifts over" then you look to your left and see charlie, in for murder, hes got 57 years in a steel and cement cubicle. do you still feel bad for yourself? or do you think " ehh, there prisoners, they deserve to suffer, im human, i have different needs so im allowed to get depressed in my day to life".
anyways, those were just thoughts, i didnt think , "this could be a great movie!" because its been done, and you should never think about a feature film or short film when all you got is an idea. the point is to not think, "what movie would be interesting?" you just hear something on tv and wonder about it, and elaborate on it, and its never a movie until you declare it, until youve got your plan all set up, and your actually confident that this will be an original film, that no ones ever seen before (duh).
   
yea, as far as books go, i dont think they could help me to much in terms of writing. books tend to get you of track, and badly written ones make you think "this is writing....but this isnt" so you limit some part of your creative conscience by slimming things down into one category.what i may need help with is maybe strategy and plot, because you dont want what your doing to be all repetitive or strewn about, making no sense to anyone but you. .....

and that reminds me, ive relaized that empathy is key to your writing. your characters have to share common problems that people in the audience might share. cuz really, they dont know you, they may not even care to know you, so you have to make characters of flesh and blood, real people that make the viewers laugh or feel sad for. People that represent life, ya know, not just subjects of your mind ( which are good to put in your writing) but not interesting to anybody else if that is the main focus of your project

[RegularKarate]

I'm  sorry, but that's some pretty crummy advice.... don't take it.

It's a cliche, but you have to learn the rules before you can properly break them.  The Screenwriter's Bible is a pretty good book.  You obviously don't have to follow everything it says, but most of the essentials of screenwriting are in there and you need to learn at least the essentials... if you don't like the essentials and you think you can get away with it, work against them, but at least know what you're working against.

"Don't learn stuff" is horrible advice and a complete cop-out.

and I can't believe anyone who's even mildly serious about writing would actually say "don't write"... that's just plain daft.

[The Perineum Falcon]

and I can't believe anyone who's even mildly serious about writing would actually say "don't write"... that's just plain daft.

Especially when he says that it hasn't worked for him yet.

[reelistics07]

I agree with karate kid, or whatever his name was. you do need to know the rules first, but dont become attached, just understand, ok, those are the basic rules of screenwriting, how does it apply to me. I never knew about 3 act structure. I learned about three act structure and realized it was rather essential yet it doesnt always have to apply to the way other people do it, like ok, we meet this guy, he falls in love, he gets the girl. i always think of charlie kaufman as someone who kind of revolutionized the structure, among others, if you plan to make good movies, that an audience can watch  and love like any other movie, you gotta know the rules of those other movies. if not, you might end up with some disorganized overworked hunk of poo that collects dust in your closet (ha! collects dust! "WILL WORK FOR DUST" AH! i kill me) anyways, please no one argue with me like NO! KAUFMAN DIDNT REVOLUTIONIZE SQUAT! you know what i mean, stop trying to be high and mighty, give me your feed back that pertains to this topic i made a hella long time ago. peace yall


gabe man