Greener Grass

Why is it that the project you are NOT working on is the one you most want to get stuck into?

A few weeks ago I was finishing up an outline for a TV two parter. I was passionate about the story, had been thinking about it for a long time, and was happy to get it done. But all the time I was itching to finish it to get to my next project which will be a TV series pilot. And now, having got there and been working on that for a while, and still really believing in the concept etc, I find myself eager to move on to what I think will be my next project, another TV pilot idea.

What's all that about?

I know a lot of writers work on more than one project at a time, and fair play to them. But if I can help it, I tend not to do that. I work better when focused and immersed in one, from start to finish. And it worked. I enjoyed that process. But lately this tendency to want to be working on the thing that I am not, is really annoying me! I'm sure it's some kind of psychological displacement activity. I accept that I procrastinate. I email, facebook, ebay, surf the net, etc, etc. That's fine. As long as the work also gets done, I don't beat myself up about it. But this itchy eagerness to move on to the next project when in the middle of the current one is not okay.

Because that way things don't get finished. And you end up with a lot of half baked stuff in your drawer that is no good to anyone.

I think it's because I hate writing outlines. I just hate them. They always, always look crap. Even if the idea is cool and I know I can pull off a good script, the outline will nevertheless look rubbish. I seriously admire writers who can write brilliant outlines. It really is a whole skill in itself. And I realised that apart from a short film at the beginning of this year, I haven't actually written script for a while. So am gonna bloody well finish this outline, and then just gonna write the two TV pilot scripts. And maybe that will release this mind wandering tension!

Anyone else going through this nonsense??

By the way, next week, the plan is to do a series of posts analysing each episode of the Moving On series that was stripped across BBC 1 this week. Writers, especially new writers, should absolutely be watching this sort of stuff anyway. But if you haven't, and you want to know what I'm going on about next week, you've got a wet Bank Holiday iplaying to get up to speed.

Have a good one!