Is it time for a change...

     You've received feedback and have done your rewrites but something still feels wrong about your script.  Has the creative well gone dry?  Am I a terrible writer?  Probably not.  Perhaps we just need to look at some alternatives for your script.

     Have you considered different formats?  Maybe your script would do better with the five act television format.  I know your thinking, "But I write features not television!"  I thought that way as well.  Until I realized to be a truly well rounded screenwriter I should know how to write all of the different formats for cinema.  I had this script I struggled with for over a year.  I'd pick it up then put it down.  For months at a time.  Something never quite felt right. That is, until I converted it into a TV pilot.  This made me rethink the entire story.  I could flush out the characters more, develop an even deeper plot, and come up with fun new conflicts that connected to a larger macro arch.  That is one possibility.

     You can also try breaking it down into  a web series.  This is a bit more difficult.  At first glance a web series seems simple enough to write.  I mean come on, it's only a 5 page script.  How hard can that be?  Well, let me tell you from first hand experience, it's crazy hard.  You see, a web series still has to have 3 acts. Each episode has to have its own arch that should lead into the overall series arch and you only have maybe 8 pages tops to do that. Confused?  Good.  So was I.  But I did it, and I created a pretty cool story.

    If neither of those work for you then perhaps you should consider writing it as a stage play, novel, or even a comic book.  Perhaps the script isn't the problem.  Maybe you struggle as a screenwriter because you are writing in the wrong field.  What if you are actually an amazing novelist?  I only say this because the great author F. Scott Fitzgerald tried his hand at screenwriting and failed miserably.  Because he didn't think as a screenwriter.  He thought as a novelist.  Screenwriting is a different medium that requires a very visually dominated mindset to work with in it.  What ever the problem is, don't quit.  Make sure that you find your voice as a writer!

     Then again it may just be a script that needs to be put down and looked at later with fresher more experienced eyes.  As always these are just the opinions of a random rambling blogger.  Till next time....