Published on 12, July, 2020
I have been developing my own tv series idea since last April. I have already written a treatment and pilot script. Just before and after the New Year, I put lots of effort into improving both of these as I entered great screenwriting competitions. I am still awaiting the outcome of these competitions. While waiting, I was advised to not to look at my treatment and pilot for a while (which I haven't). However, I didn't want to just stand still regarding the whole project because I’ve always been afraid of my brain wandering and losing interest in an idea that means so much to me.
I can't stand the idea of not thinking about developing other parts of the story and characters for a specific period of time, but I'm now afraid it's got me scared to write. I have ideas for scenes in certain episodes I want to write, but I just feel like I don't have the mental energy to do it at the moment. I am also unemployed at the moment, so there is a lot of uncertainty in my personal life which I'm sure isn't helping.
It feels like the main light in the tunnel as far as the tv series is concerned, is I still get these little flashes of inspiration for certain episodes which I love, and always write them down in my messy notes document. It's just writing these scenes makes me feel so mentally anxious and exhausted, and I feel like I need to have mentally exhilarated energy to be able to do so. How would I write professionally if I can't even overcome mental obstacles now? All this in turn makes me feel bad about myself, making the points where I like thinking up new ideas become "I really want to write this as a scene, but feel unable to " etc. Sometimes I also like to send the existing treatment and script to other industry professionals (and I actually have a zoom call with someone who has a real-life experience that a character has coming up, which is exciting). However, even sending these to new people now feels exhausting, but I'm thinking that could help me feel more optimistic if they reply to me.
In other posts like this, I have heard conflicting responses. Some say to just keep writing, others say to forget about the whole thing for a while and take a break. Does anyone have any advice about what to do in the short-term, at least until I've heard the outcome of both writing competitions? Should I try and write little scenes of ideas I have, stop thinking about the whole thing, or keep playing to my strengths and try and think up new ideas then note them down, but not worry about converting these ideas into fully-fledged scenes for now? Also, should I keep trying to send my existing treatment and pilot to others if I feel less mentally exhausted by doing that?
I'm just an amateur writer and don't really have great tips, but wanted to say I empathize with your experience and exhaustion, and the fear that your passion for your ideas is dying. I've found that my ideas are only exciting in the beginning and just maybe interesting the more I spend time with them, I think it's part of the process to lose your primary excitement and it's ok.
If writing your ideas down is exhausting, how about recording your voice talking about the idea? You can listen to them later and make them fully fledged. Would that be better you think?