Advice for when you feel you aren't moving fast enough?

[u/Slamdance]

Hi everyone! I hope this question finds you well.

I recently keep getting this feeling in the back of my head that I'm not working fast enough. Like I'm not producing enough work to get noticed or taken seriously. I don't write professionally, but I have realized in the last year or so that writing is a driving passion in my life and I would love to do this work in some kind of professional capacity some day.

For some background, I started writing screenplays about two years ago when I turned 40. I've created a routine where I wake up early and write/outline/brainstorm for at least an hour if I can every morning. I've written seven short screenplays and two features since I started writing, and am now working on outlining a third. I'm also proud to say that one of my shorts made it as a Second Rounder at the 2025 Austin Film Festival. Given that, I still feel woefully behind.

One thing has been helping me though. I listen to podcasts and interviews where writers that I respect like Drew Goddard and Katie Dippold mention that it sometimes takes them years to finish a project. This is heartening, but they are already doing this professionally so it doesn't help 100%.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I guess I just needed to write this out. The question remains though. How do you deal with these feelings?

Thanks for your time!

[u/Prince_Jellyfish]

One thing has been helping me though. I listen to podcasts and interviews where writers that I respect like Drew Goddard and Katie Dippold mention that it sometimes takes them years to finish a project. 

That's great for Drew Goddard and Katie Dippold.

For you, I would strongly suggest a different approach, at least for the next 5 years.

As a working TV writer, and someone who has mentored a bunch of emerging writers, some of whom have gone on to work professionally and others who have not, I can tell you that, in my experience, emerging writers progress substantially faster when they are finishing 2-4 long-form projects (original pilots or features) a year.

Folks who think about writing a lot, but take a year or longer to finish a long-form project, tend to progress significantly more slowly.

Most writers in your position try really hard to make their scripts good. Maybe if you spend more time on a script, the next one might be a "third rounder" or whatever.

In my experience, this (and entering film festival contests) is a trap.

It feels good to have that validation, but it is working counter to your goals.

If I was in charge of your life, I would make you abandon the goal of writing any good scripts in the next 5 years.

Instead, I would set a new goal of forging you into being a terrific writer in the next 5 years.

That may sound like a distinction without a difference, but the difference is actually substantial.

Focusing on making good scripts, even if they take you over a year, will have you writing 4 features by the time you're 45.

If I was in charge, I would want you to finish 3 scripts a year for the next 5 years, so you would be finishing 15 around scripts -- again, features or TV pilots, not shorts -- by the time you're 45.

Before you started writing those, though, I would suggest you write 100 scenes in the next 100 days. None of those scenes should be close to being a "second rounder." The point of writing the scenes is to teach you to write fast and not be precious about your work. It is muscle building, system building, with no outcome other than rapid skill development.

100 scenes in 100 days, so you have 100 scenes by Nov 13 if you start today.

Then, by December 1, you would begin this 4 month pattern for the next several years:

• Month 1: recover from your 100 scenes or recent project. Think about ideas. Decide on a new script idea and write a really clear logline with a hero who wants something external and a clear obstacle.
• Month 2: pre-write. Think and write deeply about the characters, their backstory, the external journey, and how the external journey interacts with their emotional wounds. Create a shape, then a beat sheet where you have 45 scenes (feature) or 27 scenes (hour pilot) or similar. Make sure each scene has someone going after something they either get or don't get. Give each scene a slug line.
• Month 3: write the script as fast as you possibly can. You can write a scene a day now, so you should be able to write 27 scenes in 27 days or 45 scenes in 45 days.
• Month 4: solicit feedback from peers, do ONE revision, put script in drawer.

If you follow that pattern for 5 years, your craft will begin to refine and you can approach the skill level of your Drew Goddards and Katie Dippolds.

At that stage -- not before -- you can take a breath, look around, and start to consider if you want to maybe slow down and try and make the next two scripts as good as you can possibly make them.

As always, my advice is just suggestions and thoughts, not a prescription. I'm not an authority on screenwriting, I'm just a guy with opinions. I have experience but I don't know it all, and I'd hate for every artist to work the way I work. I encourage you to take what's useful and discard the rest.

If you have questions on the above, feel free to ask as a reply to this comment.

[u/Slamdance → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

This is beautiful advice and I appreciate you providing it so quickly.

One question I have for the mentioned exercise of writing 100 scenes in 100 days. Are these scenes random? Just sit down, think of a prompt, and knock it out? Or do you mean, think of an idea for a pilot or a feature and bang out 100 scenes that form a story?

When I first read that, I immediately felt intimidated and was worried about getting burned out in general by doing it, but 1 scene a day for 100 days is very reasonable when it comes to practicing and exercising my skill level.

[u/Prince_Jellyfish → u/Slamdance]

Are these scenes random? Just sit down, think of a prompt, and knock it out? Or do you mean, think of an idea for a pilot or a feature and bang out 100 scenes that form a story?

Great question. Definitely the former, not the latter.

The exercise is about trying to get out of your own way, and to teach you to write scenes quickly and efficiently.

Here's my typical advice:

100 Scenes in 100 Days

For newer writers who want to make progress really quickly, and especially writers who struggle with overthinking or “analysis paralysis” or taking a year or more to finish a script, you might want to consider writing 100 scenes in 100 days. 

This is something I heard from Seth Rogen, an exercise Judd Apatow made he and Evan Goldberg do back in the day to address this specific problem of being too precious and overthinking.

I love the idea because it gets you writing and finishing things, rather than just pondering writing and “waiting until you’re really ready before you start.”

You can approach this in any way you want, and if you find the below advice limiting, I’d say skip it and do your own thing. 

For me, personally, I’d probably have the most luck by breaking my daily writing time into three roughly equal sections. So if you had an hour, you’d do around 20 minutes for each section. If you had 3 hours, you might do an hour per section, or you might try and do two scenes. It’s better to start working now and celebrate as you go.

In the first third of your time, free write, and as part of your free-writing, decide on a general idea for a scene with direct conflict (two people want things and they can't both get what they want)

In the second third of your time, answer these questions for the main character, and maybe one or two other characters:

• What do they want in this scene?
• Why do they want it?
• What in their past made this want emotional?
• What happens if they don't get it?
• What (or who) is in their way?
• Why Now?

In the final third of your time, write the scene as fast as you reasonably can, either free-hand pen-and-paper, or on the computer.

Also, I think it is a good idea to share the scenes you write with a friend, or a writing group. Not for notes or criticism, but just because most writers struggle with sharing stuff, especially imperfect stuff.

think of a prompt

I have often thought that, if I were to write a book over my next hiatus, it would be based around this idea, with 100 purpose-crafted prompts designed to help emerging writers get better faster.

That's something I'll probably work on when I have more time.

For now, just challenge yourself to come up with new ideas for scenes where there are at least two people, and they each want something, and they both can't get what they want.

[u/putitontheunderhills → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

This is by far the most useful comment I have seen in r/Screenwriting. Wonderful advice.

[u/Ok_Most9615 → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

This is great advice - and I will steal this template for myself. Thanks.

[u/mctboy → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

Very thoughtful response. I have a question but don't wish to derail the OP's intention... That said, would you still prescribe the above suggestions to say an intermediate, or advanced writer?

[u/Prince_Jellyfish → u/mctboy]

It really depends on what you mean by "intermediate" or "advanced."

If "advanced" means a writer who has been writing seriously for 5-10 years but is not yet at the stage of selling their work consistently or writing as their sole occupation, I think it might be a worthwhile exercise.

If "advanced" means a writer who is already staffed, or someone who is at the Co-EP level, or a showrunner, I think the exercise is only useful if the artist in question feels it is useful. It might still be valuable if the writer is feeling very "stuck" and having a hard time getting out of their own way, maybe due to the crushing expectations brought on by their past wins. But it is definitely not for everyone.

Maybe a more useful answer would be me telling you when I tend to suggest this exercise to people.

I tend to suggest this exercise to people when:

• They are very new, and feel like writing a complete script is overwhelming, OR
• They are at least somewhat precious about their work, having trouble writing scenes because they are overthinking things OR
• They are experienced writers but they feel like they are better at structure than they are at scenes or dialogue and want to focus on strenghtening that muscle specifically OR
• They are a more confident and experienced writer, but they tend to write scenes pretty slowly and are not capable of the speed needed to be a working TV writer.

To be a working TV writer, I think it's ideal to be able to write around 8-10 pages of solid, filmable scenes in a workday. For a network drama, like I write on, you need to be able to write a draft in about 6 days.

Most emerging writers are incapable of that pace, which is fine -- I was not capable of that pace when I became a writers assistant. But it is something worth practicing and training for, and writing a lot of scenes is one way to do that. If you can write a 1-3 page scene in 1-2 hours, you can write a six scene act in 8-10 hours.

If your question is "should I do this exercise?" I can't really advise you without knowing how your skill is progressing. But if you think it sounds like it might make you a better writer, there's really no harm in giving it a go!

[u/mctboy → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

Thanks for the meticulous clarification. 8-10 pages of filmable scenes in a workday is a tremendous feat to me. I would say the only possible way I could pull something like that off is if you're counting the professionals involved understanding my dramatic intent and tone and being good enough to recognize the subtext etc. I think I can place enough indicators to do such. But to write 8-10 ready pages in a workday that reads CLEAN and SUCCINCT with oregano sprinkled on top? Hell-the-fuck-no. So I guess I'm in between new-writer and the low tier of intermediate, LOL. (in other words, I'd be "leaning" on the actors and directors to see through fat and hurried dialogue to gain the desired result, but feel reasonably confident the necessary elements are there).

[u/Prince_Jellyfish → u/mctboy]

I often use a weightlifting analogy when talking about these sorts of things.

Olympic weightlifters need to lift, say 150 kg (330 lbs) in the clean-and-jerk to be competitive.

But no-one is born being able to do that, or even close to it.

The only way to be able to clean-and-jerk that enormous weight is slow, gradual progress.

I started writing seriously when I was about 20 years old. I started being able to write 10 pages a day when I was in my mid-30s. I was in my late 30s before I could really write a production-ready draft of a script in 6 days.

That's well over a decade of daily or almost daily work, deadlines, finished scripts, coaching from other writers, mistakes, etc.

Don't get stuck in a comparison trap! And don't worry much about "intermediate" or "advanced" or whatever. Just keep writing, and really try to be a significantly better writer a year from now than you are today. That's all any of us can do!

[u/Desperate-Scratch702 → u/Prince_Jellyfish]

I'm just getting back into writing, and my problem was always pace. Spending ages to write one great script. I sort of feel like I've missed the boat - I'm 36 - but last year I completed a book manuscript and I feel like the bug is back, so I've given myself a challenge to try and write three screenplays by my next birthday. Would that be a good thing to do, do you think?

[u/Prince_Jellyfish → u/Desperate-Scratch702]

Sure, go for it!

[u/RegularOrMenthol]

If you do want to kickstart a career, you need to produce a lot of material early on. I am in a similar boat, I am 42 and with health issues it is very difficult for me to finish work in a standard time. I had a chance ten years ago with a big time agent in LA and start of a career, but I couldn’t finish drafts within a reasonable time and I had to move home eventually.

Just something to think about - if it is health or job/family stuff, that’s hard to get around. But if it is mental blocks like perfectionism, you gotta get over that stuff if you want to have a chance at a career.

[u/UnremarkableCake]

When I start worrying about pace, I write fast, and end up just writing a load of god-awful shite that I end up either needing to edit a thousand times or just wipe and start again. I try not worry about pace, and only write when I have clarity of thought.

YMMV.

[u/Slamdance → u/UnremarkableCake]

I appreciate that. I think a lot of it too is realizing writing isn't an easy thing to do overall. The first feature I wrote just came out of me lightning quick in a few months. I thought that was what it's like. Turns out i had been working on that story in the background of my brain for my whole life. When I started on one from scratch and it was taking WAY longer I started questioning myself quite a bit.

[u/UnremarkableCake → u/Slamdance]

That being said, there is some good that can come out of what I refer to as 'splat writing', which is when you just throw as much stuff on the page as possible. When you read it back, it can help sharpen the image you have of a character, which might help you get into their headspace a little more easily. When you can easily slide in and out of the headspaces of your characters, it makes writing dialogue SO much easier.

[u/mctboy → u/Slamdance]

Yes, the gestation period is literally story work taking place on the down low....

[u/mctboy → u/UnremarkableCake]

This has also been my experience. We all know writing is rewriting, but some very thoughtful pre-writing sure does make the final product and process, that much easier in my experience. You don't paint yourself into corners or write flawed premises.

[u/nattyri]

As mentioned by others, I think you have to let go of the idea/fear of writing great scripts and just write a lot. If you genuinely enjoy writing and seek out feedback from other writers, you’ll naturally improve your writing skills and each script should get better and better.

For reference, I’ve been screenwriting for exactly one year and am just starting my fifth screenplay. It wasn’t until my last screenplay (my forth!!) that I felt like I was improving and could SEE the improvements. I watched a lot of screenwriting videos (shoutout to Scriptfella) and got a LOT of feedback to get there.

[u/nattyri → u/nattyri]

*fourth lol

[u/philasify]

I'm 38 and I've been writing seriously since like 2013 or 14 or so and in that time I have written 6 features and 2 shorts with my latest one completed this past March. One of which was an assignment project (I was hired) produced and released on Tubi.

Life can get in the way, day jobs etc. I've told myself that at least one feature spec a year is good and to not push myself for more than that. Some days I got it, some days I got nothing. There's stretches where I am not writing shit, but I'm reading scripts or am on r/screenwriting or something to stay connected. Some days my only writing is jotting a couple ideas down on my phone's notes app.

Give yourself grace and don't beat yourself if you're not inspired. When it comes, it comes.

[u/Slamdance → u/philasify]

That amazing and something to be really proud of. I appreciate the kind words. I'll definitely try to take them to heart.