“If I’m ever completely uninspired, I make a note of what goes there, highlight it in yellow, and skip to the next scene. And if I’m still stumped, I write whatever crap I can come up with until I ease into something less crappy.”

Too bad Emily wasn’t around to give this advice to Coleridge, Ellison, Mitchell and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Writers have been blocked throughout the history of the written word. Some have been unable to work for years, leading them to abandon their careers.  Enough reason to look into some techniques to fight it.

First of all we need to establish whether you’re suffering from short term or long term block. Today, let’s be optimistic and assume it’s only short term.

SHORT TERM WRITER’S BLOCK

1. Is it block or is it a distraction? Remove the distraction or remove yourself from the distraction.
2. Find outside triggers. Pick words from song lyrics, a magazine, the news, look for inspiration in the voice message(s) on your phone.
3. Write what springs to mind. If your inner voice says “This is stupid”, write down: “This is stupid”. Continue for as long as it takes.
4. Try asemic writing. My 4-yr old ‘writes’ these doodles, then I ‘read’ them aloud for him. Makes him proud and sharpens my story skills.
5. Call a friend, tell your story and ask: “So, what happens next?” You may be surprised at the outcome.
6. Change your circumstances: Leave the keyboard, start using pen and paper, change your writing room or write in a cafe.
7. Change Point of View. Re-write a scene from a different Point of View. Continue this past the point where you got blocked.
8. Change your habit or method. Write in the morning instead of at night (& v.v.), go for a walk before your writing session.
9. Try a different medium: record your story to your phone or mp3 player/recorder, draw it as a comic book, etc.
10. Decide not to write for a set period of time: 5 mins or 5 hours. Don’t even try. Good chance inspiration will start flowing.

If you’re still blocked tomorrow, consider the following:

LONG TERM WRITER’S BLOCK

1. Do you have a structure? Where is your story going in the first place? Work this out before anything else.
2. Create a habit. Write every day, at the same time, for the same duration. It reduces the chances of block.
3. Call your story consultant for advise. Perhaps it only takes a minor change in the story to unblock you.
4. Look for a co-writer. This may improve the speed and the quality of your writing. Or join a writers group.
5. Go back to your research notes or do more research. Become an expert in the world of your hero.
6. Re-write everything. Try a different POV for the whole story. Continue past the point where you got blocked.
7. Go back to square one. Perhaps your story sucks and you need to abandon it? Or start it completely from scratch.
8. Take a holiday. Resist the urge to write; take notes only. Next, you’ll be so keen you can’t stop the creative juices.
9. Start a new story. Brainstorm new ideas and alternate 2 (or more) stories. Have stories cross-pollinate each other.
10. Look after yourself. Is another problem keeping you from writing? Sort this out first, or learn to live with it.

Still stuck?

You may have stopped being a writer.  Or you’re just procrastinating.

In the latter case, let’s dig a little deeper into the causes of and solutions to writer’s block. It helps to understand how the mind works and how creativity happens (or doesn’t happen).

Here are three wonderful resources:

• Elizabeth Gilbert on ‘nurturing creativity’ (TED talk).
• David Levy on ‘ratio vs. intellectus’ (Google Tech talk).
• Joan Acocella on history and origins of Writer’s Block (in The New Yorker).

You’ll find that in almost all cases, there are far more fundamental causes at the root of our inability to continue writing here & now.

Which brings us to the conclusion that Emily may be right.

Writer’s block is a lie.

Please share your experience with writer’s block in the comments. Thank you!

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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“In a way you’re on a serendipitous journey, a journey which is much more akin to the life experience. When you see somebody on the screen in a documentary, you’re really engaged with a person going through real life experiences. So for that period of time, as you watch the film, you are, in effect, in the shoes of another individual. What a privilege to have that experience.”

Albert Maysles

On a busy New York street, a silhouetted figure slips through a manhole into the dank, dark world beneath the city. As a train rumbles past, the figure walks through a network of subway tunnels that have become home to a large community of New York’s homeless.

Watching this memorable sequence from Marc Singer’s feature length documentary Dark Days is the beginning of the kind of serendipitous journey Albert Maysles is referring to, propelling the viewer to the farthest reaches of the earth to reveal the extraordinariness of everyday life.

Welcome to the wonderful world of documentary cinema.

As a programmer for documentary film festival, Real: life on film, I spent five sweltering summers with the blinds drawn perched in front of a glowing screen as images of thousands of different characters and places flickered before my eyes.

From vodka fuelled punks working in a Russian boot factory to Japanese female wrestlers or Romanian orphans living in the underground subways of Bucharest, these films revealed both the beautiful and the wretched characteristics of the human condition.

The Documentary Landscape

Looking back through the documentary archives there have been a number of significant stylistic movements that have been shaped as much by technological developments as by the desire of documentary makers to find more effective methods for telling stories about the real.

Whilst the languid observational documentaries of the Maysles Brothers (Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter, Salesman) or Kim Longinotto (Dream Girls, Divorce Iranian Style, Sisters in Law) differ vastly from the highly stylised documentaries of Errol Morris (Thin Blue Line, Fog of War) and the evocative and performative documentaries of Werner Herzog  (La Soufrière, Lessons of Darkness), they are all shaped by story.

The strength of these films lies in not just what the films are about but how the story is told.

The concept of writing for documentary seemed something of an oxymoron. How could documentary be distinguished from the realm of fiction films if the events are scripted prior to the events occurring in real life? How does this effect the representation of the real world?

For many observational documentary makers, story is largely shaped in the edit once reels and reels of footage have been viewed and catalogued. For documentary filmmakers creating more stylized or constructed non-fiction films, story can be scripted prior to filming and the shoot executed with as much control as a fiction film.

After many years viewing, selecting and writing about non-fiction film, I decided I would try my hand at making documentaries. With a bent for purist observational documentary, I assumed that once I had selected a documentary subject and worked out the angle for the story, the most intensive part of the process would be the shoot and the edit.

What I did not realize at that stage was how essential the writing process is to documentary, not only in the shaping of story, but in attracting investors, distributors and broadcasters to the project. What struck me when looking through the funding applications was the requirement of a full written treatment, script or outline of the project.

The concept of writing for documentary seemed something of an oxymoron. How could documentary be distinguished from the realm of fiction films if the events are scripted prior to the events occurring in real life? How does this effect the representation of the real world?

Next week: Writing a Treatment that Sells

Natasha Gadd is a Melbourne based writer and director whose recent works include the AFI nominated documentary, Words From the City, and Anatomy – Muscle, awarded Best Documentary at the 2008 Australian Directors Guild Awards.

Cleo Mees

Cleo Mees is a Sydney-based writer, filmmaker and dancer. With a background across several disciplines, her interest is in finding out how these different disciplines can intersect and inform each other.

In our series about screenwriting software, the people behind some of the leading titles contribute to this blog.

Our guest this week is Dan Bronzite, CEO of Movie Outline.

Is there a right or wrong way to write a screenplay?
Is one piece of software better than another?

The answers to both of these common questions are purely subjective. Of course, I think Movie Outline is far superior to Final Draft and Movie Magic – not just because I designed it but because, from my perspective as a working screenwriter, it ticks more of the boxes for story development than our competition. But that doesn’t mean what works for me will work for somebody else.

Every writer has their own method. Some may grab a pen and pad (as I used to do when I started out), others may type FADE IN on their favorite word processor and bash out a full script without any kind of planning. And hey, if it works, then great! Who am I, or indeed, who is anybody to tell you how to work or what tools to use?

There is no right or wrong way that applies to everyone. There are only common methodologies and structural roadmaps that tend to come up again and again when you analyze successful movie narratives. I bet if you asked the writers of two box office smashes that both followed the “Hero’s Journey” paradigm about their writing process, you would find that they constructed the script in very different ways.

So how do I work? My first task, once I’ve got that killer idea, is to create a step outline. This is something I never used to do. My old method was writing a script on a pad, then copying it all into an archaic word processor and formatting it with macros. Jesus, it took a long time. But funnily enough, the process had its advantages. The time it took me to type it all out and format it correctly helped me revise the prose and dialogue (sometimes the structure, but not often) and mould it into a better rough first draft. That said, I wouldn’t go back and do it that way again, I now just make sure I give myself plenty of time to think over anything I’ve written.

A step outline ultimately saves me a hell of a lot of time in the rewriting stage but more importantly, it helps me focus theme, create three-dimensional characters and tighten story structure from the get go.

Originally I would only write a treatment as a selling document (something to give to producers to get interest and financing for a script) and I would only outline when developing rewrites with producers and directors. I initially didn’t like the process because I felt it hindered my creative flow. I was eager to write. I just wanted to flush everything out of my brain onto paper, not plan scenes. But in time I have learned to embrace the process and now actually find it helps my creative flow.

The trick with a step outline is simple: keep it short and succinct. Just write each step in one or two paragraphs then roll on to the next one. If you have ideas for dialogue or character development then note them down but don’t get too caught up in the details. Once you’ve got your basic step to step plan then you can go back in and re-jig the order, add some scenes, delete some scenes, work on the characterization and ensure your theme is strong, clear and intrinsically gluing everything else together.

The process doesn’t normally take me too long and by the end of it I have a ten to twelve page document in front of me that is ready for transformation into a proper screenplay. For this I used to use Final Draft, which was good for formatting but didn’t do anything else that I needed. It had production features but this was no use without a production deal. What I needed was an outliner, but unfortunately there wasn’t anything around specific to screenwriting.

That’s when Movie Outline was conceived.

Since 2004 the product has developed from a simple step-outliner into a professional screenplay development package, and it is continually evolving. I am extremely excited about its future and love the fact that a community is now growing around it all over the world. The best part is the constructive feedback we receive. Movie Outline users really seem to have taken to the concept of the software and are effectively shaping its future development.

For me the software fulfills my screenwriting needs and suits my own writing methodology which, as mentioned, has also evolved over time. It allows me to write how I want without forcing rigid rules upon me. It has many features, but unlike some other structuring and story development tools, they do not take a Masters in Science to understand and are customizable.

A good example is Movie Outline’s Character Profile Wizard, a feature that allows you to asks a series of probing “interview style” questions to your characters and define their relationships with other characters in the story. You can also answer four key questions for each character for each step of your outline. But that’s the thing… you don’t have to. And if you do want to flesh out your characters with these tools then you can do it at any stage: before your outline, while writing your first draft script or even during re-writes.

Movie Outline also comes with twelve step by step breakdowns and analyses of successful Hollywood movies that allow you to simultaneously view the progression of your own story’s narrative with that of films in the same genre. This helps you identify pacing problems (especially through the FeelFactor graphs) and in conjunction with the software’s structuring and dialogue isolation tools can certainly help you craft a more rounded and professional screenplay.

That said, let me be clear: there is no quick fix for a broken script. It’s still down to you to work out why your script or scene or piece of dialogue doesn’t work. Sometimes you can follow all the so-called “rules” and still not get it right and in these instances the only solution is usually a combination of time, unbiased feedback and your own objective analysis… which is always the hardest part.

-Dan Bronzite
Dan Bronzite is a produced screenwriter and creator of the popular scriptwriting software Movie Outline 3. His company has also just launched Hollywood Script Express, an online script submission service for out-of-state and overseas writers.

Cleo Mees

Cleo Mees is a Sydney-based writer, filmmaker and dancer. With a background across several disciplines, her interest is in finding out how these different disciplines can intersect and inform each other.

Better is to consolidate your understanding by applying it to films you know, by watching them and identifying the key turning points.

A breakdown in scenes or plot points is an excellent start. To help you with this, I will regularly publish examples from different genres.

Here is the full list of breakdowns – or ‘beat sheets’:

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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From the answers I have compiled the list below, together with ten common problems from my own experience. These are not just issues with scripts of my clients, but problems occurring in many – if not most – screenplays sent to me for financing and/or production.

Script Editors’ Top Ten:

– long descriptions
– lack of practical insight
– too many characters
– too many subplots
– over-writing
– passive protagonist
– weak antagonist
– not enough obstacles
– absence of logic
– breach of genre rules

Karel’s Top Ten:

– weak protagonist
– lack of conflict
– lack of subtext
– lack of turning points
– shifting point of view
– on-the-nose dialogue
– too clever dialogue
– direction from the page
– lengthy scenes
– bad use of parentheses

Half of my list I consider structural problems. They are issues to be addressed during the story development, i.e. before you even write your screenplay draft.

If you are about to write a draft or have just written one, you might want to have a look at the screenplay checklist (Premium only) in which I focus on a number of problems that may occur in the writing of the draft.

Screenplay Checklist (Premium) >>

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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1. STAGE ONE ($99)
– story + text analysis of the synopsis.
– written notes + 1 hour tele-conference.

Pay AUD$99
(incl. GST)

At the conceptual stage, this service helps you determine the strengths and weaknesses of your story or story idea.

At a later draft stage, this service helps you to make sure you are selling your story in the best possible way, to producers, potential investors or government agencies.

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2. STAGE TWO ($389)

– story analysis based on the step outline.
– written notes + up to 3hs consultation.

Pay AUD$389
(incl. GST)

This is the most powerful development stage, as it works on the story level, yet lays the foundations for the scenes to be (re-)written.

The step outline session can be taken after the conceptual stage, to test if you are heading the right direction with the plot, even before writing a single scene.

Once past the first draft, this stage will strip the flesh from your script and test the strength of its skeletal story.

When you take the consultancy for the first time, I will give you guidelines on how to prepare for the session.

Every professional writer will tell you you will have to go through this stage numerous times before confidently moving to the screenplay stage. Inquire about a development plan that includes a number of Stage Two session, so you can benefit from the loyalty discount.

______________________________________________________

3. STAGE THREE ($489)
– full draft script notes, prioritising areas of major concern.
– up to one hour discussion.

Pay AUD$489
(incl. GST)
______________________________________________________

To use a different payment method, visit the payments page.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Toula’s family has exactly three traditional values – “Marry a Greek boy, have Greek babies, and feed everyone.” When she falls in love with a sweet, but WASPy guy, Toula struggles to get her family to accept her fiance, while she comes to terms with her own heritage. (4/5: outer + inner)

A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love aboard an ill-fated voyage at sea. (4/5)

When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by a corrupt prince, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek his revenge. (3/5: no inner, opposite of what it really is “‘ restore justice)

An older man is forced to deal with an ambiguous future after he enters retirement and his wife passes away. Ultimately, he finds hope as he comes to terms with his daughter’s marriage and his own life. (3/5)

A comedic portrayal of a young and broke Shakespeare who falls in love with a woman, inspiring him to write “Romeo and Juliet.” (2/5: no antagonism, only real life hook)

A journey of self-discovery by a brilliant mathematician once he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He eventually triumphs over tragedy and receives the Nobel Prize.

An Epic tale of a 1940s New York Mafia family and their struggle to protect their empire, as the leadership switches from the father to his youngest son.

A meek and alienated little boy finds a stranded extraterrestrial and has find the courage to defy authorities to help the alien return to its home planet.

A boxer (hero) with a loser mentality (flaw) is offered a chance by the world champ (opponent) to fight for the title (lifechanging event) but, with the help of his lover (ally) must learn to see himself as a winner before he can step into the ring (battle). “Rocky.”

A jaded (flaw) WWII casino owner (hero) in Nazi-occupied Morocco sees his former lover (opponent) arrive (lifechanging event), accompanied by her husband (ally) whose heroism forces the hero to choose between his cynicism, his feeling for his ex-lover, and his once-strong feelings of patriotism (battle). “Casablanca.”

When a pathologically deceitful attorney gets zapped by his son’s birthday wish, he learns that he can no longer tell a lie even when he tries, so he must now win the biggest case of his career by being honest.

back to start >>

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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I have just returned from SPAAmart, Australia’s film financing market, where Wojciech and I pitched THE MORTAL COIL to twenty-four industry executives from Australia and overseas. It was only the second time ever I applied for this competitive market. One hundred percent hit rate. Luck? Possibly. But my recent string of successes cannot be ignored as an unusually high hit rate. An AFC project manager with impressive film credits recently told an audience how his applications used to be rejected at a rate of 8/1. No future for me as an AFC project manager, I guess…

If luck is one factor, what other factors are there? The talent of the writer, first and foremost. I have the honour and the pleasure of working with brilliant people. Without an interesting concept you can edit until the cows come home. THE MORTAL COIL has the support of Richard Taylor at the famous Weta Workshop in Wellington. Given the amazing track record of that effects house, their attachment is a major bonus and it helps convincing decision makers that this project will fly.

STORY VS. SCRIPT EDITING

There is no doubt in my mind that the story development approach is another crucial factor in those recent funding successes. I used to get sucked into reading, analysing and assessing screenplays. Most scripts have enough weaknesses on the scene level for a script editor to provide his money’s worth in surface level feedback. The writer takes on board all the comments and does a – often completely useless – rewrite. My rejection rate used to be higher than average until I changed my development strategy. By focusing on the story, the writer doesn’t touch the screenwriting software until the structure works. This sounds like a longer process, but the reality is just the opposite.

If there is an easier way, why do we keep getting caught in this trap? Why do we all give feedback based on the script? I believe that we are scared to tell you – the writer – to fundamentally review the story. What if you walked away to find yourself another editor? It would mean the potential loss of some hard-earned business. Will those essential story changes guarantee a movie that works? Of course not. The most quoted line in the movie industry is William Goldman’s “Nobody knows anything.” But a well-structured story will increase the chances that better people read your script and give you better feedback so you get a step closer to funding.

Once you have successfully applied the principles of story structure and you’ve made it past the Ordeal of story and script development, remember Vogler and don’t confuse the Sword with the Elixir. I, too, am fully aware that the Final Confrontation is yet to come.

SHORT FILMS AND THE PRINCIPLES OF STORY STRUCTURE

The Australian Film Commission is paying $60,000 towards the production of ACID SUN, the first project I took on as a producer after becoming a father late 2004. Parental responsibility had brought with it a greater focus and a more radical selection of projects and short films just didn’t seem to cut it any longer. “Short films no longer work as a calling card.”

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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