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Era 8: Another Year Of Screenwriting | Screenwriting Blog

WHAT IS ERA 8?

It’s no secret I’m addicted to writing screenplays and over the years, I’ve developed a little tradition.  Basically, once a year, I sit back and evaluate the screenplays I’ve written and set my goals for the following year.  This occurs every year on September 1st.

Click here for my Era 7 breakdown.

Last year, one of my main goals was to finish at least one feature length screenplay.  I did.  In the Spring I finally finished a script I had been working on here and there for nearly 4 years.  It was like a huge weight was lifted.  For a long time, I felt like I couldn’t start a new project until I finished that screenplay.  Finishing it was the highlight of Era 7.

My next goal was to polish old shorts and enter a few of them into competitions.  I didn’t.  I did go through and select the scripts I would have liked to submit but I never got around to entering them.  I’m not sure what keeps holding me back but this is going to be the first thing I change in Era 8.  This year, I will enter some shorts into competitions.

In addition to my feature length screenplay, I also finished 6 brand new shorts and I’m extremely proud of every single one of them.

I also developed a new feature that with a first draft well underway.  Obviously, this will be my first priority this year.  I want to have the script completely done by the end of 2011 so I can start something new in 2012.

What I love the most about Era 8 is the variety of projects I’ll be working on.  In addition to writing new screenplays, I’ll also be contributing more screenwriting posts to this blog and to my new website which will launch very soon.

Not only that, I’ve got a top secret project that scares the hell out of me because of the honesty it will require to pull off.  It’s going to be a ton of work to finish but I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

All in all, it’s business as usual for me.  I still love to write screenplays and I love to write about my passions online.  Each year I vow to evolve as a writer.  And so today, I renew a promise to be a dedicated and passionate screenwriter.

Era 8 begins.

Time to get to work.

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Things I Love About Screenwriting

Screenwriting is my passion. I love writing and I love movies.  It’s an addiction.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve searched for ways to express myself creatively.  Screenwriting just fit so easily.  I’ve been obsessed ever since.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been thinking more and more about my overall body of work and decided it was time to expand.  So I’ve set some pretty ambitious goals over the course of the next year.  Basically, I’ve challenged myself to be better.  To learn more.  To write more.

This thought process inspired me to sit down and really think about why I love to write screenplays.

It isn’t a complete list by any means but it does represent an important idea.

Screenwriting means something different for anyone who has ever loved movies enough to give it a shot.

Here’s a small look at some simple things that remind me why I love screenwriting so much:

  1. The first time I saw the screenplay format and decided to try it.
  2. Watching movies that make me feel like writing.
  3. Feeling inspired.
  4. Being excited about a new story.
  5. The freedom to come up with new ideas.
  6. Launching Final Draft.
  7. Typing FADE IN:
  8. Writing just because I can.
  9. Finding that one thing that ties the entire story together.
  10. Designing a title page.
  11. Writing ‘trailers’ before I start a screenplay.
  12. ‘Photoshopping’ posters for new stories.
  13. Sitting somewhere quiet with a blank notebook and my imagination.
  14. Perfecting the opening scene.
  15. Keeping stories secret until they are finished.
  16. Finishing an outline and gearing up to start writing.
  17. Changing my furniture around whenever I start a new script.
  18. Finishing a first draft and then spending countless hours perfecting it.
  19. The rewriting process.
  20. Thinking about the little details.
  21. Writing good conversations.
  22. Losing track of time while I write.
  23. Writing about screenwriting.
  24. Making play lists of songs that remind me of the story I’m working on.
  25. Getting up early to write.
  26. Staying up late to write.
  27. Pulling all nighters.
  28. Creating cool villains.
  29. Creating cool heroes.
  30. Creating interesting supporting characters.
  31. Building inside jokes into scripts.
  32. Introducing new characters.
  33. Describing locations that no one has ever seen.
  34. Incorporating obscure references.
  35. Making up words and terms.
  36. Using white space to my advantage.
  37. Creative transitions between scenes.
  38. Bringing old characters into new stories.
  39. Writing confrontations and arguments.
  40. Powering through writer’s block.
  41. Revisiting old ideas.
  42. Making a change that makes the story better.
  43. Reading screenwriting books.
  44. Losing sleep because I have to write something down.
  45. Reading my old scripts.
  46. Reading screenwriting blogs.
  47. Reading produced hollywood screenplays.
  48. Knowing a characters decisions instinctively because you just know.
  49. Thinking of titles that have more than one meaning.
  50. Catching a mistake the spell checker missed.
  51. Writing on my iPhone.
  52. Printing out a finished script.
  53. Being terrified to show people my work and getting over it.
  54. Surprising myself.
  55. Typing THE END.
  56. Finishing a script and immediately starting work on a new one!

There’s literally thousands of little moments you experience when you are writing. It’s impossible to collect them all in one place.  These are just a few of the reasons why I’ll never stop writing movies.  It’s too much fun.

The Athletic Nerd Screenwriting

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Era 7: A Screenwriter Evolves

September 1st, 2010 | Posted by jasonmckinnon in Screenwriting - (0 Comments)

Era 7: A Screenwriter Evolves

September 1st.

My personal screenwriting year end.

It’s an extremely important date on my calendar because it gives me a chance to reflect on what I’ve accomplished and set some goals for the new year.

This will be the seventh anniversary of this holiday and I consider it a new era.

Era 7 has begun.

It sounds strange to number each era but I feel like each year should be a leap forward.

New year.  New goals.

It’s time to evolve.

Like every September 1st, I go back and review literally everything I’ve written as well as everything I didn’t.  This year is especially important because I really didn’t write that much.  I spent a lot of the last year and a half being a director with Playing Through completed and The Climb in post.

Sadly, directing those films in addition to my career left me with little to no time to write.

Until a few months ago when we wrapped The Climb.

I suddenly realized I had regained my free time.  Screenwriting had returned and with it, a new focus.

Era 7 is going to be my most productive to date. You can only truly call yourself a writer if you shut up, sit down and write screenplays.

Before I get to next year, it was time to reflect on the previous 12 months.

Like I said, I didn’t write much but that doesn’t mean I wrote nothing at all.  I finished a number of short film scripts and put a serious dent into my latest feature script.  I also went back and rewrote some old scripts to get them ready for potential competitions.

It’s been a while since I entered a screenwriting competition and it’s time to put myself out there again.

I’ve spent the last few weeks finishing up old projects and I started writing a series of shorts I’m thinking could work well as a web series.

Now it’s time to focus more on my feature screenplays. I haven’t finished one in a while and it’s time I fixed that problem.

Era 7 will be the year of the feature screenplay.  I couldn’t be more excited.

I’ve got 3 stories I’m planning on writing this year and I’ve never been more committed to creating entertaining scripts.

My goal for Era 8 is to be able to look back on my accomplishments and be proud of the work I’ve done this coming year.

There’s a lot to do but I feel like I’m a screenwriter again.

When it comes to being passionate about something, it doesn’t get any better than screenwriting for me.

Bring on Era 7.

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