KITFR Screenwriting Program Begins Tomorrow

For one week, starting tomorrow; the following readers of the blog, all of whom are writers (although not all of them identify in this way... yet) will be taking part in the Kid In The Front Row ONE WEEK Screenwriting Program.

Anthony Abatte, Texas. 

Cheryl Beading, San Francisco, California. 

Chad Brown, Studio City, California

Lesya Hearst, Ukraine.

Kim Nunley, Oakland, California.

Matt Zurcher, Pennsylvania.

For one week, starting tomorrow; these six writers will be penning their own short-form screenplays -- with my assistance. The purpose, more than anything, is to get them writing. To get their visions to the point of completion. Will the scripts all be perfect? Probably not. Will they get made into movies? Who knows. That's not the point of this exercise.

The point of the screenwriting program is to get writers writing. At the end of the week; I will publish all six screenplays. If any of the writers don't complete their scripts by the deadline, Sunday 10th June, then I won't publish their scripts and won't take them seriously as writers again.

I will be on hand to assist them in any way I can. They may not need me. Or they may be stuck on a blank first page and need some motivation. Or maybe they'll need someone to brainstorm with; or they'll need help overcoming self-doubt. Who knows. Whatever it is; my plan and hope is to see six completed scripts, based on their own original ideas; all completed by next Sunday. They will retain full ownership, and credit, it's their babies --- I'm just sitting in the passenger seat, trying to egg them on.

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Be a Part of the KITFR Screenwriting Program!

The deadline for entry is TOMORROW! This is a free opportunity to work with me to help get your short screenplay written in ONE WEEK! Apply HERE.

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Note to Self

Focus.

Write. Or take things in.

Get inspired. Watch 'Inside the Actors Studio'. And Oscar speeches. Listen to podcasts.

Read screenplays. Watch movies. Find writers, directors and actors who resonate. Learn about their style, their journeys, their technique.

Learn more about how to write. Read writers and articles and books that challenge you. Discover new words.

Write down new ideas every day. Sometimes force ideas out, other times be content with having no ideas.

Dream. Sit in a room and do nothing. Ignore the urge to check your phone. See what the moment you're in has to offer.

Look at the sky, look at people, close your eyes.

Spend whole days writing. Spend whole days reading. Spend whole days in the cinema. Spend whole days discovering some place new.

Don't be a hack. Don't write within your comfort zone. Believe you can write whatever needs to be written. Don't be afraid that you can't be technical enough or funny enough or mainstream enough or artistic enough. You are enough. More than enough.

Have fun. Writing should be joyful, there are no rules.

Be in pain. Writing hurts because you care so much.

Write and read and discover people who are like you. Commit to doing better. To doing your best work.

Do your best work at every moment that you can.

Follow these steps, for they're what you really care about in regards to your art. The time for distraction is over.

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APOLLO 13 - So long, Earth. Catch you on the flip side.

Some lives are really about something. It's not just about making money, it's about something else, discovery.

Strange how something so embedded in the history of humankind is so disregarded by modern society. Tell people you're going to walk rather than take the car and they think you're insane. Stop to watch an insect on its journey and people will think you've lost the plot. Discovery and curiosity are an awkward fit in the capitalism paradigm that we've all conformed to.

It's great to know that occasionally in human history, we've been places. We dared to look to the skies and live out our dreams, despite how insane they were.

And sure, it was about the space race. About Americans beating the Russians. But if you look past that, you see an immense human achievement.

Apollo 13 always resonates more with me than the moon landing. It's great to get to places, but it's even more meaningful when there's failure, when people say, "no matter what, we're bringing you home."

There are some beautiful scenes in the movie between Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) and his wife Marilyn (Kathleen Quinlan), like when they're in the garden, staring up at the moon and Lovell has named part of the moon after her. His love for her is huge, yet still he feels he must leave her behind to visit the great unknowns of the big dark nothing of the universe.

Is there anything better than a great adventure? Than exploration?

"It's not a miracle, we just decided to go."

A decision. That's all it is. You decide you want to do a thing and then you go to the moon. And you might have roadblocks, like Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), who was grounded because of the measles (which he never got), but then it transpired that his expertise down on the ground was far more important.

"You never know what events are to transpire to bring you home."

There's magic in the journey. In exploring some place. In reaching high up into the sky.

Is this film about a bunch of astronauts or is it about you and me and all those journeys we never took?

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Creative Disturbances: Exploring the Other Side

What disturbs you the most? What is the thing you think about when you can't sleep at night?

A good way to look at your creativity is to look at what is occupying your thoughts. Even if you can't put words to it, what is the energy behind it?

Maybe you can't write because you have a strong and powerful inner critic, or maybe it's because you're feeling vague and confused.

Rather than disown these feelings, take a closer look at them. Maybe you struggle with strong people in your life, maybe it's authority that troubles you. Maybe that's what you need to write about.

Or maybe you're vague and confused, but that troubles you because you look down on being vague and confused.

All too often we search for creativity as if it's just across the street, just out of our reach, as if it'll turn up if we keep holding on. If only we could get out of our heads.

Perhaps the ghosts of all the writers and artists who died painful drug and drink induced deaths were just trying to get to that magic place on the other side of the road. The place just outside of themselves.

Maybe we just need to look closer at ourselves. Whatever we think we're meant to be doing to be creative, so often it's the opposite.

Are you busy and productive but keep hitting a brick wall? Maybe you need to be lazy and quiet!

Keep splitting your mind between tiny projects that drive you insane? Maybe you need to focus on the delayed gratification of one larger project.

Find yourself exhausted due to your wild ambitions? Maybe you need to want for nothing and sit in a comfortable chair.

Whatever you think is right, I bet the opposite is equally valid. In fact, it may be the one ingredient you're missing.

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