How Screenwriting Blogs Can Kill Your Career (and How to Save Yourself)

Chances are, you don’t know who I am.

I’ve spent over 20 years teaching screenwriting from the producer’s perspective, and yet I still have a very small reach.

You know why? One reason.

Until now, I have refused to blog. If I’d started blogging when blogging began (fifteen years ago), we’d be old friends already.

But I didn’t. You know why?

Because — and I’m dead serious about this — screenwriting blogs can kill your career. I’ve seen it happen. Unless you know exactly what you’re doing (and 99% of screenwriters don’t), blogs are the last thing you need.

Don’t believe me?

Here are 5 ways screenwriting blogs can kill your career:

1. They distract you from your writing.

   Each of us has just 24 hours in a day. You work, eat and sleep. You spend time with the dog, the spouse and the kids. You watch Twitter and Facebook and YouTube. You barely get a minute to yourself as it is.

   But a writer WRITES. Think about that. There is only ONE way to make your dream real: To take ACTION every day and spend time physically WRITING. If you’re reading blogs, you’re not writing. You’re not taking the ONE action you MUST take TODAY to move forward toward your goal.

2. They give you too much to worry about.

   When you read great advice or an excellent tip or a cool insight, you learn something. You feel good. You make a note of it and think, “I have to remember that!” And then the next day (or maybe the next blog on the same day) you learn something new. “Awesome!” you think. “I’ll use that!”

   But when you sit down to write, your inner critic emerges. “You know this stuff, smartypants.” So now — as dozens of ideas swirl in your brain — you feel the need to get it “right”. But you can’t! It’s too much to do all at once. Too many ideas vying for attention. You develop a crippling case of perfectionism. And you stop writing. (Then you freak out and Google “How to Cure Writer’s Block”.)

3. Most offer BAD advice that sounds good.

   Most people who teach screenwriting come from one of two places. Either they’ve been taught how to teach (so they simply regurgitate the lessons they’ve learned from the gurus), or they teach from their own personal experience. Today, anyone can start a blog. And most are blogging about their personal experience.

   But what if the advice is sending you in the wrong direction? Screenplays only exist to be turned into films. It’s essential to write material real producers can actually use, or else you just end up writing for your bookshelf. If you’re reading advice that sounds good — does it work in the real world? Unless you’ve mastered the process, you really can’t know. And I see stuff all the time that I cringe about. Stuff that sounds good, but is sending you in the wrong direction.

4. Most offer GOOD advice — at the wrong time.

   Despite #3, I believe you can learn from anyone. Everyone has something unique and valuable to offer, and great ideas can come from anywhere. As a writer, you must be open to thinking outside your square. The most obscure blog on Earth may have a truly brilliant insight you’ll need to use at some point.

   But every writer is unique. We’re all in our own place in the world. And what may be appropriate for them may not be appropriate for you (or your project) at this moment in time. Until you know who you are, where you are in the process, and exactly what YOU personally need to move forward, just remember that blogs are written on the blogger’s schedule, not yours. Even the best advice will send you in the wrong direction if you’re not there yet.

5. They give you a false sense of accomplishment.

   Writing is not a survival requirement. You can go through your whole life without writing a word. If you want to write, you must carve out some time and do it deliberately. You must take time away from something else. So doing it can be painful. We resist. We procrastinate. And when you read something that feels like it has made you grow, that feeling can make the day seem productive.

   But we don’t acquire skills by thinking about those skills. You wouldn’t expect to learn how to play the piano by reading a book. You have to put it into practice to make the experience physical. Any insight you got from a blog will disappear immediately (often within minutes) unless you take action and apply it. If you don’t take action (or if the timing is wrong), you have not accomplished anything yet.

So, wait a minute.

Does this mean you should lock yourself in a room and shut out every new idea someone writes about?

Of course not.

How to USE Screenwriting Blogs to Take Your Work to the Next Level

If you’ve been reading between the lines, you can already see how to solve the problem.

You can either:

a) avoid screenwriting blogs, or
b) drop each one’s insight into your process — so you can revisit the idea when you’re in that phase and ready to use the information.

The problem is that most writers don’t have a process.

(And that’s why you haven’t heard of me yet — I’ve been reverse-engineering the process, and turning it into a system.)

So… I’ve decided to start blogging.

To save you. To help you.

If you’ll join me on this blog, I promise two things:

1. I will do my best to give you tangible help in every article.
2. I promise to always be honest with you.

You’re free to ask me anything — about any part of the process. Or about any aspect of the film industry. If I can’t answer it in the comments (due to space or time constraints), I will try to create an article about it in the future.

I only ask that you be courteous and respectful. Spam and disrespectful comments will be deleted (and I get to be the iron-fisted judge!).

Bottom line?

RIGHT NOW is quite literally the greatest time in all of history to be a creative writer. There are more opportunities than ever before (as you’ll discover). And YOU have imagination, which gives you the power to bring the product of your mind into the world.

But we need you to write.

Not just read a screenwriting blog.

Actually write.

So… you know what to do right now, don’t you?

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For extra credit:

In the comments below, tell us where in the process you’d put this blog article?