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08/30/2007: I've Said it Before...


So, you've got your ABC/Disney and Warner Brother's applications all submitted, maybe something for Slamdance, too, and now you feel like you're in limbo. What should you do now?

Write! You don't have another deadline breathing down your neck right now for which you have to spec an existing show. So this is the perfect time to write original material. Write a couple spec pilots -- a comedy and a drama, perhaps. Write some one-act plays and submit them to play-writing contests. Write a short film script. Write a feature. Write short stories and send them to magazines and journals. Write a comic book. Write a novel if you've got the patience/time/confidence.

Read books about writing and apply what you learn. Read film and television scripts and notice how they work. Outline your favorite episodes of television as you're watching them. Fill notebooks with creative ideas that you can go back to years from now when you've got a looming pitch meeting and you need something fast!

Make friends with writers. Take writing classes, join writing networks, chat with other writers on the net. Heck, start a writing discussion group if you can't find one in your area.

You might feel as though you should be doing something more active -- landing that writers' assistant job, for example -- but if there isn't progress in that direction at the moment, take it as an opportunity to write write write. Because when someone finally says, "hey, send me something so I can see your stuff," you really, really want to be ready. You want to say: "I have an original pilot, a humorous short film script and a feature script for an action movie; which would you like to see?" You don't want to say, "Sure, I have something I just need to polish and then I'll send it along," because that tells the person you only have one script and it's not even done! Think about it. If someone said that to you today, what answer would you give?

Lunch: cold stuffed tortellini from the salad bar