"Life got in the way of my 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.
And remember, write the raw pages to flush out your creativity.