I was just talking to a great TV comedy writer, who was stuck in the middle of a feature film script. He was bored of the characters and had lost touch with the excitement and momentum that got him started on the project in the first place.

Kubler-Ross famously ennumerated the stages of coping with death (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). Writers face these stages when finishing a project too, but before you get to that there are other stages to be aware of. Each one has their challenges, and it's really helpful to know which stage you're in because that helps you focus on the right challenges instead of getting caught up in problems you don't have yet - or anymore.

A screenwriter friend shared this piece of oral tradition that lays out the stages of a Hollywood project:
1) Unbridled Enthusiasm
2) Total Despair
3) Desperate Search for the Guilty
4) Punishment of the Innocent
5) Promotion of the Un-Involved

Don't let another season slip through your fingers!

Greg is offering a SPRING FORWARD SUPER SALE on his creative consulting. Get 12 hours for the price of 10 and commit to weekly check-ins for the next 3 months while you...
Draft your script
Write your show
Outline your book
Finish a book proposal
Create your online profile
Transform your standup act

Veteran screenwriter, story editor, teacher and writing coach Greg Miller will get your creative work on track with concrete suggestions, fresh perspective, strategic planning and regular deadlines.

"It's like magic!" - Parker (outlined and drafted article)

If you have material you've already generated, e-mail your pdf or link(s) or mail to: 137 N. Larchmont Blvd. #107 LA CA 90004. Greg is an expert reader and will help you focus the project, re-ignite your excitement for the material and chart a course to a finished draft (or performance).

"Terrific insights!" - Noah (re-wrote a script)

If you don't have any material generated... then you really need to saddle up and get started. Call Greg directly at 323-717-4731, explain your particulars and schedule your first session today.

The deadline for the Other Network Comedy Contest is Dec. 15. That's soon. But you still have time for one more rewrite.

Based on several years judging this contest and working with many talented writers privately as a writing coach, I promise that your comedy script will benefit from these 8 rewrite notes:

1 - Put at least one solid laugh on every page. Not witty banter or zany behavior. A laugh. Not just your opinion, but based on other people’s reads. You are having other people read it, right?

2 - Double-check your story structure and make your act breaks strong to keep an audience interested (and surprised) to the very end. Don't just coast through the last half of the script.

3 - Make sure every scene has a a comedic high point (character-based) and a dramatic high-point (story beat) that advances the plot, hopefully in a funny turn.

4 - Let your characters have clear distinctive vocabularies and rhythms. Check by reading it out loud. You are reading it out loud, right?

Over the years, we've developed a number of techniques to take some of the pain out of the rewrite process. It's inevitably going to be a little painful,  because you have to confront the fact that you're writing isn't perfect. Yet.

Beth just sent me this quote about the creative process from Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Easy reading is damn hard writing".

I use these techniques when I work as a writing coach for private clients. We also use them, and others like them, at The Comedian's Way Workshop for Writers, Performers and Other Humans (next class this Sunday, Nov. 1, 1-4pm at M Bar in Hollywood).

There's nothing magic about any one of these. The point is to make a game of the rewrite to keep yourself from taking it so seriously that you get blocked. I realize some of these are going to be way too cutesy, or too woo woo, for some of you serious writer types. Maybe you'll feel differently the next time you're in the middle of a pit of rewrite despair and considering slitting your wrists.