What Is Holding Your Screenwriting Back Is Possibly Fear Of Failure

While growing up, I ran cross-country, track and road races. My Dad and I ran many of these road races together. Early on, he instilled in me a competitive pedigree to become a winner. I always feared losing because my Dad placed high standards on winning. 

In junior high school, there was this one kid who always defeated me in every race we competed in. He would beat me in school competitions, road races, and cross-country events. Somehow, I allowed my nerves to get the best of me. In training, I could run the times required to win my age group. On race day, my nerves would get the best of me--exhausting my energy to influence my breathing and race pace. 

My Dad relied on me to win my age group at a local Turkey Trot race. I entered into the 800 meter and the 5K races to increase the probability of winning a turkey. In both of these races, this junior high classmate defeated me. I lost both chances to win a turkey for our Thanksgiving family dinner. 

On our last chance, they held a raffle to give away a turkey. My Dad pulled my name in the raffle; however, the race promoters rejected this over conflict of interest. 

On the way home, my Dad scolded me for losing the two races. He said with all the training I still couldn't become a winner. He said he wouldn't buy me the running shoes I needed to continue on with training. On that night, he took me out to Macy's to buy me new running shoes. 

You can imagine a 12-year-old wanting to make his Dad proud. In the face of others, I was viewed as a failure. My Dad's opinion of me mattered the most, so losing these races shook my confidence. It would eventually carry on until my adult years, where if i didn't make something of myself that I would hear his criticism in the form of passive aggressiveness. Sometimes, my Mom and brothers would share his negative text messages or what he said to put me down. 

I admit that I allowed my Dad's opinion of me not being a winner in life to affect me. He would still buy me random gifts, subtly showing that he appreciated my support. I never held back from telling him I was proud of the life he has lived. 

Last year, my parents were given a move-out notice to leave a home they rented for the past 28 years. My Dad could not let go of leaving this home. I tried my best to convince him that maybe this is a blessing in disguise to purchase a place they can own. Along the way, I went with him on an apartment search. He struggled to overcome the attachment of living in the rental home. 

My Dad linked up with a real estate agent who specialized in manufactured homes. We viewed a few condos and manufactured homes. I even went with my Mom to see another condo. My Dad lost his patience; he wanted to fire the real estate agent. She called me to share what was going on behind the scenes with my Dad. I stepped up and put pressure on my Dad to move past the rental home and focus on purchasing the manufactured home. Usually, I just stayed quiet and didn't confront my Dad. His constant complaining wore me thin and I had to take an unconventional approach to knock down the barriers.  

After being assertive with my Dad to do what the real estate agent requested, she helped him to purchase a manufactured home in a nice 55+ community. A month later, my middle brother and I helped move all of their possessions into the home. However, my Dad started complaining once again about all the junk and refusing to accept these items. He agreed to keep the previous furniture in the place after the former owner had passed away a few weeks before viewing this property. 

When we tried to carry their household items into this place, he wouldn't stop complaining. Yet again, I stepped up to tell him we worked hard in the heat to pack the truck and prepare for this move. I made sure to be assertive like he did in my childhood. This direct approach worked out, allowing us to move everything into the place without anymore resistance. 

A few months after, my Dad underwent a serious health emergency. A medical mistake a few months prior to the move resulted in his toes later developing gangrene. His surgeon made a critical decision to amputate all of his toes and repair an artery supplying blood to his foot. My Dad was feeling so down and out that he was ready to give up on life. I supported him every step of the way, throughout his hospital stay during the holidays. All my personal growth skills went to work, molding him into being appreciative and feeling blessed under the intense circumstances. 

There were a few moments I had to put pressure on him to change his perspective that he had no one to support him. He got into this cynical mindset where he would overlook what people did for him.

Because of my Dad's medical crisis, my best friend started to connect with me again. We have gone on scenic hikes, visited the Disney museum, he helped me to apply for various city jobs and we communicated at a higher frequency. Recently, I got to watch his niece place a college soccer game. At this game, I reconnected with his brother and brother's wife, as well as his Mom who I hadn't seen or talked to in 5 years following the passing of her husband and his Dad. 

Back in June, both of my vehicles broke down and this impacted my earnings. As a result of this, I revised my resume and applied for a variety of jobs. My best friend contributed to making revisions on my resume for city job openings. I focused on pursuing a tech savvy/driving position for a month, completing the extensive interview process and getting hired. Furthermore, I got invited to take an exam for a city planner and passed this test to move forward in the hiring process with the supplemental questionnaire. In about 5 days, I will start my new job with a tech company. 

This story of fearing failure involves breaking out of bad habits that likely originated from my past connections. My Dad's perception weighed me down like an anchor. I always wanted to make him proud. All he would see is me struggling with continuous challenges that impacted all areas of my life. 

I never gave up trying to meet success. Sometimes, we face extremely difficult moments where we must take serious actions. We have to do what is new, what is uncomfortable to gain confidence.

What has held me back in pursuing my dream is my fear of failure, my fear of change, my fear of losing more time. No matter how much I have tried to convince myself, I still have yet to engage in screenwriting with the identical effort that resembles my college years and 2016-2020. It took detaching from several people to start making serious decisions. 

When we lose fear, we can start living a better life. Truth is, I have failed so many times to stay afloat on the dream path. Once you have the resources to apply yourself, you start struggling with commitment. Then, your financial life keeps reminding you of all the mistakes you think you made to keep your dream alive. Balance never arrives in time, so you believe you lost many years. 

I do not feel I have given everything in my heart to become a successful screenwriter. What I do know is that I don't fear failing anymore. When you lose at winning the life you believe will make you happy, you look at different ways to do things. You develop a new perspective to view the little wins as positive steps moving you forward. 

I found great happiness in going on many unique adventures with my dog. Landing the new tech job will enable me to take him to new places. Taking photography will reserve a digital memory of our nostalgic moments.  

Even though my circle encourages me to let go out my dream and let it die, I still plan to work on screenplays on silent convert missions. We don't have to share everything we are working on. If we lack support, we can create new circles that match our interests. Most importantly, we can get ahead if we can take care of ourselves without being dependent on outside help. 

If you lost your motivation and inspiration to do screenwriting, retrace the steps to unblock these kinks. You may have to travel way back into your childhood years to pinpoint the source. Once you do this, you will be able to commit yourself and reconnect with screenwriting. 

Someone once wrote me, "Things happen for a reason, there are no accidents".  I totally agree with her. 

Good screenwriters understand real life. They are masters of showing conflict, and then resolving it. Use everything you got to get to where you want to be. Never allow any fears to set you back. 

We don't need to win at everything. We don't need to make people proud. We do need to believe in this life to have a purpose. Waking up every morning aspiring to make a difference can be enough to turn our life around. Don't be afraid that you may be extremely good at what you love. 

Remind yourself that you deserve your dream. Reward yourself for all the little wins. Appreciate the simple moments. Your dream is much bigger than what you can ever imagine. 

Happy Screenwriting! 

Take a Hold of Your Destiny

You gotta take hold of your destiny. Family members and friends may look down at you for wanting to pursue your passion. Instead of convincing them to see why your purpose matters, just go silent and start doing some work. They don’t need to know what you are working on.

Mostly all stores and restaurants close early. The pandemic changed business practices, where even fast food restaurants are only operating their drive-thru to minimize customer contact. We can complain nonstop of not having a creative space to partake in screenwriting. I’m done getting angry about what is not working in my life.

I’ve been disappointed with my lack of support. It’s obvious the people in my circle have zero interest in giving me feedback and showing support for what makes me happy. The worst part is that I can barely get on my computer to focus on one particular screenplay. When you are requested to do other things, this disrupts your work flow.

No matter what I have done to give so much to everyone, I can’t receive a fraction of this effort in return. I finally just let go…

I’m committing myself to engage in screenwriting. If we wait for a better time, freedom, creative space or an ideal financial situation, we will never finish anything. Our dream will never come true in this lifetime. Unless you have DP, editing, animation or sound design to contribute to projects, you will be sitting on the sidelines without a script, samples and previous works.

Nobody cares what ideas you have in your mind. The story must be written in a screenplay, formatted and structured to demonstrate your understanding of screenwriting. As much as you communicate in Facebook forums, or talk with everyone you encounter about your dream, you will not move forward unless you take a hold of your destiny yourself.

People don’t care if you can’t pay your bills. They don’t care what degrees you have earned, even if you attended prestigious film schools such as UCLA, USC or NYU. They don’t care if you accomplish your dreams.

If you believe you have plenty of support to live your dream, then you are one of the rare screenwriters. Ask yourself how many people ask about your projects? Do they give you feedback? Are they offering a helping hand without you sharing your projects?

Truth is, people barely ask how you are doing without you contacting them first. It is not up to other people to show support, it is up to you to do the work. Forget celebrating the highlights and getting validation from strangers. Throw that meaningless attention away in the trash. Temporary acknowledgment will sink your production and shift your attention to receive compliments.

I decided to take my screenwriting into my car. Nobody will disrupt my research and writing there. I can listen to any music I choose. Moreover, I won’t be requested to do something else. Screenwriting is already a difficult craft, so the people who contribute the least and critiquing/criticizing/judging the most must be pushed aside.

If you don’t take the serious steps to create, you may as well just quit today. Your frustration and anger will eventually turn into cynicism, negativity and regret. Save yourself future pain and suffering; make immediate adjustments in your daily routines/habits to improve your future outlook.

My luxury SUV is super comfortable. I have plenty of space to stretch out. It is about time that I finally committed myself to do what I am destined to do. There are no excuses! I won’t fake it to make it. While attending college, I completed so many screenplays and didn’t have to seek permission from anyone. When people see me down and out, they enjoy taking jabs at my dream to remind me of past mistakes and bad decisions.

I don’t need my dream to be happy. It is what I choose to do because I am confident in my storytelling abilities. I’ve held a few writing jobs that made me good money. However, I haven’t fully applied all my skills, experience and education to finish a passion project. After reaching the cross-roads once again, and dealing with the inner desire to keep creating, I am now being proactive to just do it.

Commitment is everything! Starting anything is taking a step in the right direction. Don’t worry about perfection, just release your profound stories. You’ll have plenty of time to revise your screenplay. Develop a system that is effective for you. Stop regretting the past, overthinking about the future that hasn’t happened yet. Follow your life purpose and start screenwriting right now!

Happy Screenwriting!

Feature Films Shot on the iPhone

Smartphones have now integrated 4K resolution into their video technology. Since the introduction of the first iPhone on June 29, 2007, only two feature films were shot on the iPhone with a FilmicPro app in 4K. Unfortunately, there are no other attempts to make a Hollywood feature film entirely on an iPhone. 

A wide range of film cameras are available to shoot Hollywood movies. The cost to purchase and/or rent any of these high-end cameras can cut deep into your film budget. Whether pride is involved, or studio reputation is at stake, the iPhone is rarely considered an alternative to making feature films. 

Only two Hollywood feature films were shot on iPhone cameras. Sean Baker's Tangerine (2015) and Steven Soderbergh's Unsane (2018) are feature films shot on iPhones. Tangerine's production budget cost $100,000 and generated $702,354 in the US box office and $828,874 (US & worldwide combined). On a $1.5 million production budget, Unsane unleashed a crazy $14,293,601 in the worldwide box office (including US box office) and $7,732,899 in the US box office. 

Do you want to be innovative? Expand your creativity? Take a risk to shoot your next feature film on an iPhone. Don't be afraid to be different because you will never know the outcome until you try something new. Your dream can come true shooting a feature film on an iPhone.

Happy Screenwriting!  

Cobra Kai Season 3 Premiere on January 1, 2021

Netflix's Cobra Kai Season 3 premiered on January 1, 2021. Episode 1 revisited Season 2, Episode 10: The school fight that rocked the Valley. Miguel Diaz still remains in a coma after Robby Keene kicked him off the second floor, causing Cobra Kai's star pupil to sustain a terrible neck injury accompanied with paralysis. Robby is on the run following his direct role in causing Miguel's tragic injury. With their differences and past grudges still intact, Daniel and Johnny go on a mission to locate the troubled teenager on the run before the police find him first. 

Samantha now struggles with PTSD after the controversial school fight that rocked the Valley. Flashbacks of John Kreese's Vietnam tour clearly convey his motivation to start Cobra Kai. John's desire to punish his enemies through showing no mercy is explained in its entirety. Daniel returns back to Tomi Village in Okinawa, the site of The Karate Kid II, to reclaim his lost focus and rekindle past relationships. Season 3 features many unique surprises, further delving into the mysteries pitting the past up against the present.   

Cobra Kai is an extremely well written series that instantly grabbed my attention upon my first initial viewing: I binge-watched Season 1 and Season 2 on Netflix. This former YouTube series has done a great job integrating "The Karate Kid" films into its storyline. There are many personal growth teachings that teach us to evolve, such as the wisdom Miyagi ingrained into Daniel's mind, body and soul. 

There is newfound empathy to understand Johnny Lawrence's character; we see his broken childhood and how karate gave him guidance. The fallout of losing the All-Valley Karate tournament kept Johnny living in the past. His inability to come to terms with the 80's restricts his character arc. Despite protecting his tough guy image, letting his defense down actually helps him become a humble character with moral values.  

Daniel adopted identical character traits that made Johnny unlikeable in The Karate Kid. Clashing with Johnny created conflict in his posh life. His wife reminded him to return back to the man she first met.  For the most part, Daniel's love for karate reconnected him with valuable life lessons. He self-reflects on Mr. Miyagi's teachings, focusing on karate as defense and focus. Concentrating on Miyagi's passion-first advice is what keeps Daniel living a rich life full of blessings. Nevertheless, karate represents Daniel's true calling to make a difference in his community. Perhaps karate is the main reason Daniel is who he is today; it serves as the foundation to his personal, family and business life. 

Binge watching Cobra Kai Season 3 gave me a nostalgic experience: These empowering episodes reconnected me with my childhood. My brothers and I would do karate after watching The Karate Kid movies! Whenever I feel disappointed, I remember the carefree times where I lived in the moment. Living in the moment keeps me in the present, reminding me to not take life so seriously. Life is too short to waste time on regrets, resentments, grudges and failures. We must learn to appreciate who we are, the life we lived and what we can become with hard work, effort and passion. If you want your dream, you are all the support you need. 

Until Cobra Kai Season 4 arrives, stay safe and healthy. Most importantly, keep writing the stories you want to see at the movies. Do it for yourself, not for attention, money and popularity. 

Happy Screenwriting! 

  

Screenwriting Inspiration: The Crossroads

When your Hollywood dream hits the crossroads, reflect back to the past to recapture your spark. 

Patience and Perseverance

Thousands of aspiring screenwriters dream of writing the next hot script that is made into a popular movie. There are film industry players and prolific screenwriters who have already taken this journey numerous times. Nevertheless, thousands of writers spend countless hours in screenwriting forums chatting about their current/past stories, popular films they like, creative ideas that excite them, and famous screenwriters they admire. They are motivated to make industry connections, form new friendships and build meaningful relationships. Hundreds of Instagram page owners post content sharing personal script projects, screenwriting contests, potential story ideas and script pages to their personal screenplays. True screenwriters hold passion for creating compelling stories. Patience and perseverance hold the key to making your screenwriting dream a lucrative career.

If we wish our screenplay will eventually be optioned, we are putting our dream on a pedestal. Making Hollywood appear unattainable is giving the film industry way too much credit for our future happiness. It is possible to write a good screenplay capable of winning screenwriting competitions.

Your script can move past gatekeepers to get optioned. Your script can be made into a Netflix movie. Your script can become a blockbuster movie. Visualize what you want and apply yourself to go get it. 

We must believe in our creative adventures. Don't worry about what people think. You are not selfish for desiring to live your dream. If you put forth the effort, you deserve to live a better life.  

Writers have many goals in sight. Looking in the rearview mirror can/will block progress. Discipline, time management and passion will keep your screenwriting dream moving forward. We must keep writing pages, research what studios want/need, listen to podcasts featuring successful screenwriters, study great screenwriters, learn about the business of movies and build our stories into profound movies. When I mention scripts, I mean we must complete several scripts to increase our chances in getting noticed. 

One script can connect us with the right people who want to view our writing portfolio. It's possible this individual, that studio or those group of people may not have interest in optioning our only script. However, our writing talents may attract the attention of industry-connected people. They may ask us what other projects we have stored in our script arsenal. Don't sell yourself short by investing your entire farm into only one script idea, unless you are confident in this story to sacrifice everything.  

This is where your patience and perseverance come into play. No matter what obstacles and challenges stand in your way, you must be confident in your creation(s). Pet projects usually create intense excitement because these stories hit close to home. These projects hold a deeper meaning-- they fulfill our inner desires. They can go back to our childhood, where we enjoyed watching science fiction movies such as E.T. and Star Wars. Emotional connections can take us down memory lane. 

The most powerful filmmakers in Hollywood had to wait their turn. Christopher Nolan directed Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige and The Dark Knight to earn his chance at making Inception. The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Dunkirk and Tenet followed Inception. Given Nolan's track record, he is one of most successful directors working in Hollywood.  

Good things happen to those who are patient is a flawed saying. It should be good things happen to those who work hard while being patient for opportunities. Staying confident to continue working on your script project(s) hold(s) immense power over your dreams and goals.    

Most of the time, we must prove our value before we take a stab at prized projects. For the most part, we will likely have to pay our dues working on projects with no creative value. Reality television is a perfect example of aspiring filmmakers going to film school and accepting high paying jobs working on uncreative ventures to climb up that industry ladder. Never judge professional work that rewards you with valuable experience. If you get paid to perform your talents, you are moving in the right direction.

Many writers get stuck listening to what writing books tell them to write. They follow Save The Cat, Kate Wright's sequences, A Hero With A Thousand Faces, Story and other books that instruct writers what must happen at what time with careful attention to the author's thoughts and theories. Following this approach turns a screenplay into a cliched piece of unoriginal work. Even though our scripts are fictional pieces of work, we have no obligation to mimic past screenplays. 

The human condition and emotions connect the audience with characters who may have similar traits that resemble theirs. How do people behave in a pre-apocalyptic world? What will people do to protect a secret? What fears block them? What regrets do they have? What is stopping them from talking to their true love? End of the world movies convey real actions of real life people. 

Truth is, we waste too much time living in the past instead of planning for our future. We don't do enough to live our dream. We need constant attention to feel self-worth. We focus on what other people are doing. We stay on the sidelines, being afraid of looking bad in front of people who we don't know. We postpone making decisions to avoid rejection. We obsess over small things that have no impact on the bigger picture.

We let years pass us by without responding to what we want. We allow true love to slip away. We don't take personal responsibility. We blame other peole for our mistakes. We don't show we care about our dream to be taken seriously. We need people to validate us. We envy others for living the dream we think we are better at doing but do nothing to make it happen. We are to blame for our own life. Nobody is responsible for our failures. The moment we can accept personal responsibility, there will be hope for us to achieve greatness. 

If you don’t give your dream any attention, you are guaranteed to fail what you want most in this life. 

Happy Screenwriting! 

        

Applying Talent To Get Work Done

Screenwriting is a craft we can develop. If you remember the saying, practice makes perfect, you will recognize that becoming better at what we love to do can improve our lifestyle. Good habits deliver consistent results. Rewarding effort motivates us to spend time on projects, jobs and tasks.

Applying our writing talent to make a difference is the first step to push our screenwriting forward. We need to be writing, writing, writing! Withholding our talents/gifts for financial gain can/will influence our passion. Spending countless hours on social media to discuss screenwriting delays production.

The fear to finish a script is connected to uncomfortable change. People who lack confidence worry about criticism. They feel unworthy without attention. They stress out watching other people get ahead. Sometimes, these people just need someone to complain to so they don't feel alone--even worthless. Insecurities can block us from climbing up that tall mountain. Overthinking is full of self-doubts that delay our production and stall progress.

What talented artists forget is that they possess what many people lack: A gift. People who are not as talented must work harder to make an impact. For some ungodly reason, talented artists are uninspired to apply their gifts. There is a big reason people never accomplish their dreams. They have unresolved issues originating from childhood that manifest into mental disorders. If left untreated, these internal problems put these people in inferior roles. They accept poor treatment because they believe it is deserved. Their sense of worth is extremely low. Nevertheless, they believe people look down on them.

No matter how much time we spend to help someone succeed, they can keep coming back with the same exact problems. They never apply what we teach them. They self-sabotage daily. They follow a self-destructive path. They put themselves down. Working hard to confront internal challenges will help us overcome setbacks.

How to gain a competitive advantage:

• Apply yourself to increase luck. 
• Work hard to get your work out there. 
• Stay humble to avoid overvaluing your worth. 
• Be patient. 
• Balance is everything.

Happy screenwriting!

Time and Effort = Screenwriting Success

"Life got in the way of my screenwriting dream"

Are you a screenwriter working toward that Hollywood dream? Still haven't cracked into the movie biz yet? If you answered yes, then you must re-evaluate this screenwriting dream.

Ask yourself these questions. What are you doing that is delaying this professional writing goal? Procrastinating? Fear of success? Focusing on long-term goals? Perfectionist? Financial instability blocking this long-awaited goal? No game plan to dedicate time to writing? No completed script to show the right people? 

We can't keep telling others we want to become a screenwriter. There comes a moment where we must invest time and effort to be taken seriously. This "taken seriously" label has been directed toward me several times. I know I missed opportunities because of my lack of time management, my lack of preparation. I am highly educated. I know how to write and package screenplays. What is my delay? 

We can view my screenwriting dream as a talented builder who has studied and worked hard professionally to complete a masterpiece. Once the right moment arrives to deliver the completed goods, these projects remain unfinished, incompleted, and unconstructed. No display is available to promote this brilliant work of art. Writers may allow a flourishing dream filled with promise to dry up and go empty.  

Screenplays don't write themselves, screenwriters must invest time and energy into completing these movie projects. During my film school days, I wrote screenplays often and usually created excited concepts. Unfortunately, life got in the way and delayed the inevitable. This is the same life that also gave me valuable content to construct stories. 

Many aspiring writers focus on writing unrelated content to survive. Unfortunately, this repeated action blocks their screenwriting dream. On, I kept several completed scripts in my possession. I never sent out these screenplays to movie studios. I took part in a few screenwriting competitions - a collaborated screenwriting contest on an untilted Bourne Identity movie, a short film that got scored a 90 and missed the cut, and the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. I passed up on the Disney Writing Fellowship. 

Back in 2012, while moving to Florida, several great concepts got lost in the shuffle. A Houston robbery resulted in many stolen possessions, including my Apple computer with several lost scripts, many ideas, outlines and entire movie plans. Valuable time got wasted. This dream had major potential to materialize because my passion and talent for screenwriting and movies are still riding high. 

If there is no completed script, there is nothing to sell. We'll see where the road takes me. I realized time and effort influenced my screenwriting dream. After graduating film school, I wrote all the wrong content and this stalled out movie projects. It is never too late to reach success. 

Keep screenwriting. Set a schedule. Take your dream seriously. Don't listen to criticism, unless this is honest and constructive. Stay confident. Be consistent. Happy writing!

And remember, write the raw pages to flush out your creativity.