I'm excited!
I'm listening to Justin Timberlake cover The Jacksons' "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" on BBC1! I'm sure I'm annoying the people trying to be serious at the Weho Library with my desk dancing. I'm wearing headphones!
Last year was great for the writing. I wrote a pilot called FUSION. I rewrote two plays of mine, OPEN and THE SNAKE CHARMER. I wrote a bunch of blog posts. And I started a new play, I WANT IT and an outline for another play called PREACH.
I said that last year would be the year for rewriting. I didn't really have any new ideas for plays going in. I skipped my group's February 2013 playwriting challenge because I didn't have anything new I wanted to work on. I really wanted to work on the pilot. And I think I was still in recovery from my Dad's passing. It had only been about six months at that point. I didn't want to force myself back into writing something new.
I did something I've never done. I hibernated. I had plenty of things to occupy me in my proverbial cave. I had projects I had started and that I wanted to redo or rewrite. The year before (2012), I had written three new pilots and a new play. And my Dad was dying and died. I needed to write to get me through it. And I didn't care how polished it was. I just needed output of new ideas. The new ideas kept me running from my feelings. And I really needed to keep running. It made me stronger and it gave me plenty of stamina.
Then last year, I wanted to just focus on making those things better. I needed something familiar. I needed to train instead of running race after race.
And now. Now I have plenty of ideas.
About half way through 2013, I started having ideas. I got a notice about a commission that a theatre company was doing. It had parameters. I read the list. Then I just started keeping a journal. And I took the assignment on. I had no idea what I would write about. I just started watching Robert Altman movies because I had nothing else to do. Instead of just watch the one movie they had mentioned, I decided to keep watching. I got up to about 11 or 12 films. Then the setting came to me. And that's really what I have. I have some ideas for characters, but I sent them what I had. They didn't pick up on my vibe, so I didn't get the commission. But I knew it would fit into the seven play cycle that I had planned on writing.
Oh yeah. In the middle of this "break" from anything new, I got an idea for a new seven play cycle based on the seven deadly sins. But I knew I would put off any new writing until the beginning of the year.
That play sparked another idea for a pilot, based on something Altman never finished and a pilot I had written three years ago.
Then at the end of the year, I started working with my best friend on some new sketches. And got another idea for a half hour pilot.
So I guess that's what's on my docket for this year. That's a lot to get done. Maybe I should make a two year plan. I read this article recently from Entrepreneur magazine that was about setting up systems for accomplishments rather than just focusing on goals.
It can be summed up this way:
- Set goals.
- Figure out a system for each goal in how you're going to accomplish it.
- Get rid of the goals and just focus on the system.
Here's the article:
Here are the pieces I want to work on (I'm listening them vaguely so that I don't give the ideas away):
- Play about advertising that I've started.
- Play about my friend Dave that I've outlined.
- Play about growing up and loving Woody Allen.
- Play about a woman who was a musician in the 1970s looking back.
- TV pilot that I'm revisiting.
- New TV comedy pilot.
- TV sketch show with my friend Alanna.
That's a lot to get done in one year. So now let's look at these goals and the systems:
What I've done so far: watched 11 films by Robert Altman, read The Circle by Dave Eggers, read How Literature Saved My Life by David Shields, wrote 25 pages, watched The Pitch on AMC.
Try to shadow at a friend's ad agency.
Spend time over the summer to work on the play.
Write every day.
Write the play during a one month writing challenge in February.
Talk to Dave.
Write every day.
Go to church and listen to homilies.
Rewatch: Woody Allen documentary on Netflix.
Watch my favorite Woody Allen movies growing up.
Write every day.
Rewatch Pina Bausch documentary.
Listen to Patti Smith, Linda Ronstadt, Debbie Harry, Laura Nyro.
Read any biographies on these women and watch any documentaries I can.
Write every day.
Go to art museums.
Rewatch: The Eye Has To Travel.
Re-read: Seven Days in the Art World
Write every day.
On site research.
Watching TV comedies with great characters: Parks and Recreation, The Office, Community, 30 Rock.
Talk about it with my friend Alanna.
Write every day.
Meet with Alanna once a week if possible.
Write sketches.
Send to people we trust to read.
Write every day.
Okay, so now I want to take these writing goals out of it and just include the systems.
Try to shadow at a friend's ad agency.
Spend time over the summer to work on the play.
Write every day.
Write the play during a one month writing challenge in February.
Talk to Dave.
Write every day.
Go to church and listen to homilies.
Rewatch: Woody Allen documentary on Netflix.
Watch my favorite Woody Allen movies growing up.
Write every day.
Rewatch Pina Bausch documentary.
Listen to Patti Smith, Linda Ronstadt, Debbie Harry, Laura Nyro.
Read any biographies on these women and watch any documentaries I can.
Write every day.
Go to art museums.
Rewatch: The Eye Has To Travel.
Re-read: Seven Days in the Art World
Write every day.
On site research.
Watching TV comedies with great characters: Parks and Recreation, The Office, Community, 30 Rock.
Talk about it with my friend Alanna.
Write every day.
Meet with Alanna once a week if possible.
Write sketches.
Send to people we trust to read.
Write every day.
Even though that list of things I need to do is long, it seems like fun and it seems doable. It's funny. When I look at the goal list, it feels intimidating. I doubt whether or not I can get all of that done. But when I look at the tasks alone, it all looks like just parts of my day. And it shows variety instead of
DO THIS
THEN THIS
THEN THAT WHEN YOU'RE DONE
THEN MORE
YOU'RE NOT DONE YET
YOU'RE ONLY HALF WAY THROUGH
YOU AREN'T DONE
That's what the list of goals feels like. Just based on that one small example, I'm going to focus on these systems.
I am already adapting this way of thinking. I feel accomplished about the work I've done even though I don't have "finished products." I have scripts that I've written and rewritten over and over. It's like my favorite marathon analogy:
In order to run 26.2 miles on marathon day, I will have run over 500 miles during a six month training period. I will be stronger, more focused, and have more stamina because I started training.
I am grateful for this new approach to accomplishment.
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