August Diary - 10 Essential Things to Finish A Screenplay
From a certified expert in procrastination & stationery
Welcome to Dispatch From MacGuffins, Never Cursed’s monthly culture diary.
This is usually a post for paid subscribers, but this month I’m releasing it for free in lieu of my usual long form essay — I spent August writing the aforementioned draft of my new feature spec script, with little room in my brain for anything else. We’ll be back to regularly scheduled programming now that I’m finally (!!) finished (!!) (for now…).
The script is an erotic thriller, so next months’s post will be about my findings about the state of the genre while doing research, and the connections/differences I found between the romantic thrillers & noirs from the 40s-70s and erotic thrillers from the 80s-today.
While I was writing, I had basically no mental capacity for anything outside of the world of my film aside from the new seasons of Alone and Industry. If I’m being really honest, I mostly watched GQ’s 10 Essential Things videos on YouTube. So, in honor of that Holy Institution and my favorite procrastination activity (making lists), here are the 10 things that helped me finish a draft of a screenplay that I’ve been dreaming, worrying, and dilly-dallying over for the last year:
1. The State of Maine / Going Remote
I spent most of July and August in northern Maine staying with my folks. Aside from their new puppy Pip there was basically nothing to distract me up here.
The landscape (and weather) reminds me a lot of Whidbey Island on the west coast, where I was so, so lucky to do a writing residency at Hedgebrook a couple years ago. It’s warm enough to make going on a walk enticing, but cool enough that I can still think straight. In the past I’ve mostly avoided solitude and quiet while writing, wanting to ‘soak up life around me’ or something, which now seems extremely dumb. A room of one’s own is good, a state where there are no other people for miles is even better.
2. Writer’s Group
I love my writers group so much. We meet once a week without fail and take turns sharing works in progress. Their notes are phenomenal and kind-hearted and I really am just so happy to have opened up my creative process to my brilliant friends. It feels like the best of feature and TV writing combined: the collaborative, non-precious process of pitching out alts and pulling in diverse POVs in a TV room + the ability to take time to digest notes on your own afterwards. Thank you especially to my writers groupee (grouper?) Ethan for making me watch horror movies I’ve been too chicken to see for years. I’m now on a major giallo kick and am going to finally watch The Innocents…..soon….
3. Cold & Wild Swims
On mornings I was feeling stuck, I went for an extremely cold swim and felt better every time. I’m sure there are specific medical benefits for cold plunges but all I need to know is that getting in the ocean and feeling tiny for a few minutes was the best part of most of my writing days. I also did all of my major draft revisions on the beach, bundled in a dry robe, ready to jump in the water for a refresher at each act break.
4. Productive Procrastinating
I yam what I yam — an elite procrastinator. I tried to embrace this as “part of the process” this go around by convincing myself that spending part of my writing day building a lookbook and adding to my many project-related (& color-coded) Spotify playlists were “productive” forms of procrastination. Color-coding became a particularly satisfying & time consuming vice.
5. Crochet / Keeping Hands Busy
I am very bad at calming down after a day of creative work, so I really loved finding a tactile creative outlet to balance out 8+ hours staring at a screen. Having something to do with my hands also helped pass the hours where I was waiting for or thinking through notes. My craft of choice is crochet (portable, builds quickly, fun to color-coordinate ), but it could be anything…drawing, knitting, watercoloring, whatever. Waiting for someone to match my crafting freak.
6. Seeking Stationery Serenity
I used to spend a really shameful amount of time and money buying stationery. A zillion pens and a zillion notebooks meant I somehow never had what I needed on hand when writing outside of the house. While on deadline on a different feature a couple years ago, I cut myself off. Now I only use the Midori A5 notebook in blank and a single refillable Kaweco fountain pen. I have 1 notebook going at a time where I put all of my notes, schedules, diary entries, etc ( — and lists, ofc). Serenity now.
7. Finding a Uniform
On that same theme, I basically wore a variation on this outfit every day so that I didn’t have to think about how (scary) I looked: lil cardigan (it’s Maine “summer,” after all), summery button down, Lisa B sweatpants.
9. Reference Scripts
I’ve built up a nice little library of reference scripts from movies I like, so I can see how some of my favorite films flow on the page. It’s really liberating to see how many different styles there are even within the confines of the screenplay.
9. Art Libraries
Visual references are probably even more important to me than reference scripts. Shotdeck is an amazing archive of film stills, but I often get more inspired looking for non-cinematic references. I don’t like 90% of art/art history Instagram accounts…there’s something discouraging having the number of other people looking at an image quantified for you. In NY & LA I have specific art libraries & museums that I write in at least once a week. While I’ve been in Maine, I’ve been lucky to peruse my parents’ collection of art & craft books. I’ve also relied heavily on the digitized archives of the V&A and Met.
10. Haribo Peaches
Haribo Peaches are an essential part of my process. I’m completely beholden to them. While in college I developed a terrible habit of bingeing on gummy candies while pulling all nighters, and I’ve convinced myself that Haribos are a gentler option than shredding my taste buds with Sour Patch Kids.
One day I will have a fab office like this to write in. For now, these are my coping mechanisms.
I’m buying myself one of those pens!