Oz-imus Prime

My advice? Fuck a deck. I'm all decked out. Write an outline and sit down and write the script. The average script page is 225 words. Four pages a day for 12 days, you have a television script. Add another fifteen days, you have a feature. And you're not done. Writing is rewriting. Put it away for another week, and come back with new eyes. I'm not saying it will be any good. Not yet. But it's a start. Not telling you anything I'm not also doing. If you put all that energy into a deck and it doesn't sell ---and trust me, most don't, all you have is a nice brochure. At least with a spec, you have something to show for it. Something you can build on. Stop making excuses. Rip the band-aid off. Working full time? Toni Morrison got up at 3:45 am., wrote from 4 to 6, and then took her kids to school, and then edited books full time. And still managed to write Song Of Solomon, the Bluest Eye, and constant other classics while waiting for her shot. Don't have a computer? Tarantino, Spike Lee, and Stallone all write by hand, which is something I've gone back to. Moleskine and Paper Mate markers. No distractions, you can do it a anywhere, and when you retype, gives you a second bite at the apple. (Photograph your pages. If you lose your notebook or spill coffee on it, that's all she wrote.) Don't start with four pages. Start with one. Fifteen minutes -- you spend longer in the shower, brushing your teeth, and scrolling. I wish I could give you a shortcut, but I can't. Writing sucks. No way around that. If you box, no one else gonna put in the roadwork, skip rope, hit the bag, or get punched in the face for you. That's your job. Everybody wants a hug, and to be told it's all going to be okay, and I can't tell you that. But what I can tell you is no unwritten script ever gets sold. As for me? I've got miles to run and pages to hit. Keep going....Always Forward, Forward Always...