Good luck everyone! (And share your tips on staying sane)

[Chris W]

Good luck everyone!

If anyone has any good tips for things to read or watch or ideas on how to stay sane during the application process please share them here for others.

 

[Abbey Normal]

I've stayed semi-sane by listening to a lot of screenwriting/filmmaking podcasts. Here's a few I highly recommend:

- Scriptnotes
- Team Deakins
- Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
- 3rd and Fairfax

 

[hugofaraco]

I've stayed semi-sane by listening to a lot of screenwriting/filmmaking podcasts. Here's a few I highly recommend:

- Scriptnotes
- Team Deakins
- Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
- 3rd and Fairfax

Amazing! 2 more suggestions that focus more on commercial and music video directors:
- Good
- Direct to podcast

I'm also trying keep writing in the same rhythm I was during the application process.

 

[its_me_mari]

I've stayed semi-sane by listening to a lot of screenwriting/filmmaking podcasts. Here's a few I highly recommend:

- Scriptnotes
- Team Deakins
- Screaming into the Hollywood Abyss
- 3rd and Fairfax

Amazing! 2 more suggestions that focus more on commercial and music video directors:
- Good
- Direct to podcast

I'm also trying keep writing in the same rhythm I was during the application process.

I have one more!
It's called The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith.
They are interviewing a lot of directors/producers/screenwriters right now on the award season!
Just listened to the first part of the episode with Pete Docter and Kemp Powers about Soul and another one with co-writer/director Darius Marder about Sound of Metal!

 

[queeryet_good]

Personally it’s hard to listen to filmmaking content while I’m waiting so eagerly! I feel superstitious about getting my hopes up, haha. I’ve been alternating been watching highly rated 2020 films and re-binge-watching shows I’ve seen before, so comforting!

 

[imenergetic]

After my UGA interview I realized I got back into my "ugh, why am I even doing this funk" so I went and bought some equipment today to start trying to film stuff at home. Nothing fancy- just want to start with my phone then as I learn I can upgrade. Which, if I end up not making it into any of the programs I feel like this is what I should be doing anyway so a helpful distraction in many ways.

 

[hugofaraco]

After my UGA interview I realized I got back into my "ugh, why am I even doing this funk" so I went and bought some equipment today to start trying to film stuff at home. Nothing fancy- just want to start with my phone then as I learn I can upgrade. Which, if I end up not making it into any of the programs I feel like this is what I should be doing anyway so a helpful distraction in many ways.

Yeah, something similar is happening to me. So I bought 2 screenwriting books yesterday. Going to school or not, I'm gonna be a better writer.

 

[Abbey Normal]

After my UGA interview I realized I got back into my "ugh, why am I even doing this funk" so I went and bought some equipment today to start trying to film stuff at home. Nothing fancy- just want to start with my phone then as I learn I can upgrade. Which, if I end up not making it into any of the programs I feel like this is what I should be doing anyway so a helpful distraction in many ways.

I'm always in this funk haha. Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I decided not to puruse this crazy screenwriting business. But then I'm reminded that storytelling is what I want to do. And like a sane person, I raise my hands to the sky, scream into the abyss, take a few deep breaths, and tell myself "you've got this." Thankfully, I have some good writer friends that can tolerate me. And of course, this awesome community! Wow...I feel much better

 

[kcgam]

Yeah, something similar is happening to me. So I bought 2 screenwriting books yesterday. Going to school or not, I'm gonna be a better writer.

Do tell!! Which screenwriting books did you buy? I keep looking at all the options. SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!
P.s. i love your point...regardless of what happens, it's about being a better writer So True.

 

[hugofaraco]

Do tell!! Which screenwriting books did you buy? I keep looking at all the options. SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM!
P.s. i love your point...regardless of what happens, it's about being a better writer So True.

Thanks! I bought the classic Screenplay by Syd Field and also an exercise book by him.

 

[imenergetic]

Adding a couple: I've heard a lot of good things about The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri- so it's waiting for me on my bookshelf. I'm currently reading Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It's been a bit of a slow read for me, but boy is it chock full of information when it comes to the collective consciousness of storytelling.

 

[JasperJohns]

I suggest "The Writer's Journey," which uses Joseph Campbell's "Hero w/a Thousand Faces" as its jumping off point. However, it makes Campbell's tome, which I only made it through a few hundred pages of, more practical.

As well, a book with a terrible title, "Writing a Great Movie," by Jeff Kitchen, has been really indispensable to me. With its title, I do not want to be seen reading it in public, but it is immensely useful. Using 10 or so known films, it analyzes how the scripts employ various tools Mr. Kitchen talks about.

The tools are not all of the typical things you get in every other book. He has a genuinely novel approach to writing, in many respects. The book actually helped me to fix a piece I had written that went on to win some awards. Some of it, of course, can be found everywhere, though.

Also, I recommend reading screenplays. It's fun this time of year to go to The Golden Globes nominations and pick a few of the screenplays to read. (You can always find them online by googling, for example, "JOJO RABBIT FULL SCRIPT PDF"). (I don't actually know what is nominated for The Globes this years. So I reached back for JoJo...)

Those are my 4 cents...