Joshua Williams's Lounge Discussions

Kinda scary that there aren't...

Anyone doing this for money better have bucket loads of overriding Passion for this craft. It Isn't easy to get paid work.

As a Christian filmmaker, I gotta give the cred to God. He brought me a Christian thriller script that hopefully I will finish this week. I've been working on this thing, which will as I see it be a pilot for a series, since 2008. God works best when man is at rest, so I let Him give me the ideas. And everything is falling in place as it should. God is good...all the time!

I tend to wake up in the middle of the night and write. I'll just go to town till sun up. That's when the best stuff happens for me.

Whenever the inspiration, story idea, element or component comes to me I pen/pencil it down. I am currently writing 2-3 hours every other day for a project. I use several coffee shops. Quiet or not, doesn't bother me, and I prefer using a notebook with Final draft.

I mostly write wherever I can. Inspiration most often strikes when I'm at work or when I'm in no position to write...I take a lot of notes. On anything. At any time of day or night. I can play with an idea in my head for several days/weeks before getting around to write down a rough outline, and then I go from there. Separating every idea, every scene on different pieces of paper really helps since I'm a visual person, which is why there are dozens post-its and notes glued to a wall right now. That way I can see the whole story, and it's easier to edit see if there's anything wrong with the plot, etc.

I prep for it. Like Kelta said, I use music to keep me on track. The very first thing I do when starting a new screenplay is I put the score together. As I think about the major scenes in the script, I carefully research the music that tells the story without writing a word. I put this together in an iTunes playlist that I modify as the scenes reveal their true direction. It's a great way to stay on track if you have to take a break from writing to earn a living.