The Creative Process: Stage Five - Completing

Okay, I had a dose of my own medicine. I probably should not have started a week long series of blogs. Initially I intended to inspire myself to stick with a daily blog for a week to establish a good habit. Eric Maisel's six stages of the creative process seemed like a great place to start. Little structure, little me, little structure, little o me. Instead of inspiration I ran smack into a wall of mediocrity. 

Then I realized that the feelings I was having toward this creative process series was mirroring the actual process. Tomorrow I will finish the series. After that, who knows? This is a blog about appreciating the creative journey. Over the past few days I was inspired by a wealth of great input. So much so that I slept very little as my head swam in a sea of ideas. Oooo there is a graphic image!

Let's stick with Maisel's model. The mind's anxiety related to completing a work is the critical nature that we observe our progress. I know this problem so well as a screenwriter. In July 2008 I finished my first script: Crossover.  All the stuff I blabbed about for the past several days really happened to me. I had ideas. Mulled on them for months. Wrestled with structure and tools of the trade. But on July 30, I said "It is done." I was so jazzed that I went on to write three more scripts by March 2009.

Then I went to a Screenwriting Expo in LA put on by Creative Screenwriting magazine. There I learned a lot about the biz. I should have seen the post-conference blues coming. The reality of the industry took the wind out of my sails. I met great people. Learned a ton. Was validated to some degree. But somehow lost my motivation to rewrite my stuff AGAIN. In my preferred creative expression, the work is not truly complete until it is viewed by an audience on the big screen, small screen, computer monitor, or telephone.

Completing my work means that it is so compelling and business smart that a producer will turn my work over to other creative types to make a film, distribute it, make money from it, and live to make another film. For my scripts to reach the place where that is possible, I must be very critically minded. To help me be tough on my work, I purchased Will Akers book "Your Screenplay Sucks!" As if my own tendancy to self-debasement at this stage wasn't enough, I had to buy a book to bullet my failings.

Not really. Getting outside, critical feedback is absolutely essential for getting over yourself. I am on several screenwriting networks. I learn a lot from those great folks. What I have not done is let my work be critically evaluated. For my scripts to sell, they cannot be good...they must be great.

I am writing a short film for a friend so he can get something produced. Didn't I just talk about that on Tuesday? That project is due by February 1. That will get me back into full swing screenwriting. After that, my two babies get rewrites. At that point some select folks will get a peek. I will make some changes. Pay for script coverage. Then? Show and sell.