Screenwriting : Multitasking? by C.m. Andino

I am 80% done writing/developing a new TV Pilot script. I just sent a polished script out for coverage and have another script I need to begin rewrites on. I try to write one script at a time to focus on the story and characters. Once it is done I can go between scripts that need revisions and polishing.

In case I hang with one script I continue on another one to stay in the stream of writing. So, I never get the problem of not being able to go on writing or sitting in front of a white page without any idea.

I'm always working on a few outlines at once. I keep separate piles of index cards bundled with clips, with a title card on top. However, I only write one screenplay at a time. Outline ideas come randomly. Writing the actual scrip requires a more focused effort.

I have to multitask. Aside from life - I'm working one one script, one novel which will later convert into screenplay after I'm finished with my first, plus I'm making a wool hunters cowl, a blanket for Xmas present, and designin another blanket from scratch. I keep busy, so if I block on one thing, I have something else to move on to. But that system works for me, it might not be for everyone, but I don't think there is anything wrong with doing things your own way.

I write on several things at once, just finished a first draft of a screen play and am working on a novel which I am outlining for a screenplay at the same time. And like all the others I have about 9 ideas and log lines of future projects to choose from.

When I was writing my first script I wouldn't work on anything else for fear that I would never finish it. But the more scripts I write the easier it is to take on more projects at once. I still have one script as my main focus while I do rewrites and polishing, but if I get a block I might write a short or work on my pilot that seems to be a never ending project.

One till the rewrite, start next one, go back and do rewrite..Does that make sense?

I will write several projects at a time when i get sick of one or get stuck.

I have to multi-task. While working on a solo screenplay, I have a screenplay with my partner as well as ghost-writing an autobiography. Then my partner occasionally sends me scripts to read for projects he's being considered for as an action choreographer so I will read them and make notes for him, assisting.

I don't think I know of anyone who doesn't

Currently I've got one script out to a couple of contests, one in heavy rewrite, and two potential YA SciFi novels. For me, the hard part is moving from screenwriting -- all action and dialogue -- to the novel form -- so much description. :-)

I am working on my novel, and I am into 2 feature length scripts that are in various percentages of completion. I am also required to write for TV, which is my bread and butter business. Then, there are these outlines that I am compelled to complete- to compete. Thus I have my hands full, and wish I had two more hands, to complement my thoughts :-). I don't know if I am heading the right way, but for the moment, that's the way I like it, as I left a corporate job to be a full time writer. I read in between, first the newspapers and the web, and then other scripts, mostly for relaxation but often for inspiration. BTW, I am reading "Django Unchained" now and enjoying it too.

For me it's all dependant on inspiration and motivation.

Happy Friday! There's a term issue here. MULTITASKING is the act of doing more than one thing at a time. PROJECT STACKING is the act of working on more than one script. While working a on story, we should not be multitasking. Multitasking is the antithesis of focus.

Well then I'm the Queen of Project Stacking! lol. Happy Friday!

Multitasking it totally beyond me. I immerse myself utterly and totally in the project at hand. For four weeks I am that draft. Even when I walk down the road to pick up a newspaper and milk I am dreaming through the scene that I am chunking off that day. When I was young - I used to work late into the night with a pot of coffee - banging away on my old Olivetti but those days are now over. My best work is now in the morning after I have hugged a large mug of tea - and indulged in some more 'dream time'. The one great thing about modern computer key boards is you don't get people banging on the walls. I jest you not - those old manuals were damn noisy. That and everything is so easy with Final draft.

Always on more than 1 script. Whatever comes to mind, start writing, when I feel BLOCKED, I move to next one.

Steven - every writer needs a local bagel shop. Best of luck with Hope Saves Manhattan.

I stay on the tracks, one.

I'm trying to rotate and focus on things, but it can be difficult. Outlines I write whenever I get the ideas in place enough so they are there for later use revision. When I'm writing a script, usually I stick it out until it's done. When a script is done, I let it set for a week or two if I can, then get back into revision with less connection. In the meantime, I can either write something new or work on more revisions. So, basically a never ending rotation between writing, rewriting and revision, with some outlines and other projects squeezed in where I can.

Shane is so right about the need to set a draft aside before reworking. When you are in the arena it can all become so close - you could drive a bus through the plot and you wouldn't notice. But - two weeks down the road you will reread and immediately the inconsistencies scream for attention and you will slap your forehead and do a Bart Simpson. As it is the first draft that I send to the creatives I work with - I will often write two different endings. What I call a European ending and a Hollywood ending. Then come the meetings, note takings and rewrites. You never get precious over a screenplay. As for ideas - I read an old fashioned broadsheet newspaper and i take clippings - which are filed with outlines and allowed to grow into stories. So I have just pitched a Boko Haram story to a Nigerian producer I have worked with over the years - and we shall see what we will see!

When composing an original, just one, focused, beginning to end. When dreaming up stories, again, often just one. When in 'edit & polish' mode, several.