How To GUARANTEE COMPLETION. Of Your Production-Ready Screenplay

Transcription

1

2 How To GUARANTEE COMPLETION Of Your Production-Ready Screenplay by Jeff Bollow Readers are permitted to republish excerpts from this report provided any excerpts are accompanied by an attribution which includes the full title of this report, the author s name, and a link to Copyright Embryo Films. Some rights reserved.

3 2 Not Just Screenplays Production-Ready Screenplays Before we get started, I need to make a distinction. Anyone can complete a screenplay. As submissions to the Embryo Films website will attest, people slap together screenplays all the time. They see how sparsely written the screenplay format is, and then jump to the conclusion that it s easy... that anybody can do it... that all you need is some formatting software and a half-baked idea. They whip out 100 pages of text and submit it to a production company like mine for consideration. I m not talking about those screenplays. Those could be completed by a five year old. You don t need a report showing you how to complete one just fill in 100 pages and you re done. Rather, I m talking about production-ready screenplays. Production-ready screenplays are a different breed. A production-ready screenplay is: a screenplay a producer could use right now to mount a viable production. a screenplay that needs no further development as is. a screenplay that s both a tight, solid story with engaging characters... and a document that fulfills its technical purpose effectively. a carefully crafted, meticulously polished screenplay that helps a producer do his or her job. a screenplay with a clear position in the marketplace that offers something original to its audience... etc. The job of writing a production-ready screenplay is considerably more complex than slapping together 100 pages and hoping for the best. And that s why the vast majority of writers will never COMPLETE one.

4 3 Dreamers in the Dream Factory The film industry is filled with dreamers. That s not a bad thing, mind you I m a dreamer, too. In fact, I believe the ability to dream is a requirement for long-term success in this industry. Storytelling is an exercise of imagination so the industry needs us imaginative/dreamer types. But there are two kinds of dreamers in life: 1. Those who talk about their dreams, and 2. Those who act upon them. Since I ve spent the past 10 years teaching screenwriting (not because I wanted to, but because I couldn t find any screenplays to produce), a lot of my time has been consumed by people in the first group. There are shockingly few people in the second group. And yet, they are the only kind of writers producers can work with. Here s the good news: You can move from the first group to the second group easily. All you need to do is stop talking about it... stop thinking about it... stop dreaming about it... and start doing it. And then don t give up. And there s the real reason so few people are in the second group because the vast majority simply give up. They don t get all the way to production-ready. I ve seen it happen over and over again throughout the years. And I m tired of it. So I ve created this report to strip away your excuses once and for all. You have in your hands a way to guarantee you will complete.

5 4 If You Read This Report Carefully You Will Guarantee Completion PLEASE NOTE: I ve designed this report very carefully. I know it s free, but that doesn t mean it s not valuable a lot of careful work went into it. If you use this report the way it s designed, this may be the most important step you ve ever taken. Sounds like hype I know. But it s not. It s true. I need you to trust me on this. And if you read every page, I ll prove it to you. DO NOT SKIM THIS REPORT AND DO NOT READ AHEAD. I know you want to cut to the chase. I get it. But in order to get into the second group the group that acts upon their dreams in a way that s consistent with what producers need you can t skip the most valuable part. Knowing the information is not enough. You have to apply it. And this report is designed to help you apply it immediately. Here s how it works: Over the next few pages, I m going to tell you exactly how to guarantee completion of your production-ready screenplay. And then I m going to show you what works and what fails. And then I ll give you a step by step process. But I need to warn you. You can t just read it you have to act on it. We think that if we know something, we can do it. But if you haven t yet written a production-ready screenplay, then doing the process I m going to describe is required. Reading this report will NOT guarantee completion. DOING it will.

6 5 The Screenwriting Challenge Screenplays exist for one reason only: To serve as the blueprint for the production of a movie. There s no point in writing a screenplay that s not production-ready. A producer may want to change or adapt your production-ready screenplay to align it with their needs, but a screenplay that s not production-ready has no purpose. The general public doesn t read screenplays. And that makes writing on spec a very unusual creative pursuit. When you write a spec screenplay a screenplay no one s paying you to write you re writing something you hope will be purchased and turned into a film. Completing one is very achievable by anyone with an inclination to do it. But there s always a risk that it won t be purchased and turned into a film. So you re creating a story that an audience will never see unless you do your job successfully. Here s the problem: Since no one s going to die if you don t finish your screenplay, writing it will never be your first priority. Your first priority will always go to those things that are more certain paying the bills, caring for your family, doing the day job, etc. In other words: Life will ALWAYS get in the way. And then when you face the inevitable challenges getting lost in a sea of story details, or facing the infinite array of story choices with no clear idea of which one s right the cost of the challenge will outweigh the reward of the effort. And sooner or later, before it s production-ready, you will give up. Unless you guarantee completion before you start.

7 6 How to Guarantee Completion Guaranteeing completion only requires one simple action. Ideally, you should do it as early in the process of writing your screenplay as possible. (Once you ve written one production-ready screenplay, writing more is a breeze.) Here s how to guarantee that you ll complete your production-ready screenplay: Define the REASON you MUST complete it, and then COMMIT. Not why you d like to, or why you should complete it, or why it would be really awesome. Those are not enough. You need to find a reason WHY YOU CAN T NOT finish it. And then you need to write it down and commit to it. Think that s too obvious? Think I m oversimplifying the problem? Think it can t be as simple as that? Consider this: Less than 5% of writers DO this. Even more shocking is this: Less than 5% of the people who read the words on this page will do it!...even AFTER reading this statistic! How do I know this? Because 95% of writers quit before they complete a production-ready screenplay. I ve dealt with a lot of writers over the years some with extraordinary talent. And no matter who they are, if they ignore this lesson, they don t succeed. So let s take a closer look to make sure you re in that 5%.

8 7 Why 95% will Quit, and Why That s Great News for You Over the past 10 years, I ve noticed an alarming statistic: 95% of people who start to learn screenwriting... will quit before they even complete a production-ready screenplay. It s alarming to me because I ve wasted devoted so much time and energy to teaching skills writers can use to make a professional career for themselves. (And I ve done it because I couldn t find screenplays in the first place!) But for you, it s actually great news. Because 95% of the people you re competing with are not actually your competition. Most of them will fall away if you just stick with it. Think about that. 95% of would-be screenwriters will quit because they won t define the reason why they MUST complete it and then commit to doing so. That s it. All you have to do is find your reason. But wait a minute. How can it be that simple? Here s why it s exactly that simple: Because if your reason for writing outweighs the challenges you face, you will not stop until you succeed. Stop for a second. Think about that. It s really not as hard as you think. In fact, I m going to show you a simple 11-step process to find your reason and guarantee your success, a little later in this report. All you have to do is DO those steps in this report, and you ll have what 95% of writers never will. How you proceed will determine your results. It s worth 15 minutes, isn t it?

9 8 Persistence Lives in the Must You ve heard it before: If you want to succeed at something, you must persist. But most people think persistence means work hard. They re not the same thing. When you work hard, the work is the objective. But if the work you re doing is flawed, you won t notice. You re too busy working hard. It becomes too easy to spin around and around in circles until you burn out. At which point you quit. Persistence is when you continue on a course of action despite difficulty or opposition. The outcome is your objective, so you ll adapt when you face challenges and keep adapting until you succeed. And you ll persist only when you have a reason why you must. Some screenwriters love writing. They love playing with the written word and creating an emotional cinematic experience for the reader. It s pure joy. There s no effort required to sit in the chair and get the work done. If that s you, you ll naturally persist, because you don t perceive it as being difficult. You ll just have fun and you ll keep moving forward until you succeed. But for most of us, writing takes some effort, and some commitment. We know we should write, and we really want to write that movie. But if we work our butts off and don t see any results, eventually we ll give up, right? The key to tapping into your persistence is to turn the want and the should into a must. There s a difference between something you must do, and something you d like to do. And because screenwriting is more complex than it seems, when the going gets tough, should and want will not be reason enough to push through. So let s look at some example of reasons that work, and reasons that don t, and help you find your own personal must.

10 9 Types of Reasons that Work Firstly, I have to warn you: I can t give you the reason why you must complete your screenplay. I can tell you that producers need screenplays. I can tell you that the industry has a voracious appetite for content, and that with the dropping costs of production and distribution, your opportunities have never been better. I can tell you that 95% of the other writers quit. I can tell you that there s no greater thrill than seeing something you ve written on the screen. I can tell you how much fun it is to give an audience an emotional experience. But I have no idea if any of that makes it a must for you. Every human being is unique, and what motives you may be completely different to what motivates me. So as you read these examples, consider them for you. For each reason, ask yourself if it applies to you. Could this be your reason why you must complete your production-ready screenplay? If not, ask yourself why not? When you identify why a reason doesn t work for you that can lead to the reason that does. So here are some reasons that may give you enough juice to push through any challenges and complete your production-ready screenplay. You have something to say that NEEDS to be said. I believe every human being exists to share their experience. We each live a unique life, and discover lessons and insights that we can share with others. If you ve tapped into something that must be shared, you can use that as a motivation to never give up. It s a KEY part of a larger plan. If completing your production-ready screenplay is a step on the road to a larger objective, then by not completing it, you eliminate the possibility of that larger plan. If the larger plan is important, then not letting it down can be the motivation that will get you through all challenges.

11 10 It s BURNING inside you and it always has. We all have things we would like to do. And some of us get extremely passionate about things we believe in. But if you have an idea that has been burning inside you throughout your life, it can be sufficient motivation. The requirement here is that it must always have been burning inside you. You want to HONOR someone you love. Human beings won t always do things we know are in our own best interest. But when we genuinely love someone and want to honor that person through our project, we will often take the most challenging obstacles in stride. The requirement here is that it must be to honor them, and it can t come from a place of obligation or to win their approval. You have a BIG OPPORTUNITY waiting for you. If you knew that the head of a major film studio had heard you were a great writer and wanted to meet with you during the next meeting cycle in three months, you would have a clear target you re writing for, and the upside would far outweigh any challenges that arise. You need to be PREPARED for the Moment. The previous reason might not be real for you but if you genuinely believe that one day you will be presented with your Moment that spontaneous and unexpected moment where you re face to face with someone who can open the doors of the industry for you you can use that as sufficient motivation to keep moving forward. (Truth is, you must be prepared for the Moment it would be a waste if you found yourself in the Moment but were unprepared and had to watch it slip away.) This reason isn t enough for most writers because they don t believe the Moment will happen. But I m here to tell you that it can and will appear if you push forward and act on your dreams. What all of these examples have in common is that when you internalize these reasons, they make COMPLETING your production-ready screenplay a MUST. This is not an exhaustive list. It s not even the tip of the iceberg. The most effective reason is the one YOU define. Why MUST you complete your production-ready screenplay? When you define it, you won t stop until you succeed.

12 11 Reasons that Aren t Enough If you start writing your screenplay for the wrong reasons, it will lead you to quit sooner. And the wrong reasons typically boil down to one thing: It doesn t hit you in your gut and spark your passion. People start writing screenplays for all the wrong reasons and then wonder why they don t follow through. So here s a quick look at a few reasons that are NOT likely to help you through the challenges almost every writer faces along the way: You love movies. We all love movies, and we ve all seen a lot of them. That doesn t automatically translate to success. You must love screenwriting, too. A love of movies is a great start, but is it enough to sustain you if the whole thing gets challenging? You saw a crappy movie and thought, I can do that. Just because a movie is terrible doesn t mean the screenplay was terrible. You should never start a craft with the goal of doing it poorly. Once you see that it takes a lot more skill than you think, will you still be convinced you can do it? Because of the money you could make as a writer. Yes, there are exceptions, but the vast majority of writers who make money at it have spent years learning their craft. You can make money at it, but are you still as passionate about it if the money doesn t happen for five years? You hate your current job. When you pursue a dream to save yourself from your current situation, you will almost always give up, because you re seeing the target through distorted glasses that make it look closer than it really is. Are you willing to persist alongside your current job until you re ready to succeed? People always tell you you should do it. Never jump into a craft that requires years of honing a skill because other people think it s a good idea. Your desire must come from within. Your ideas may make brilliant movies, but do you want to do this? Enough to never give up? You ve seen screenplays, and it doesn t seem so hard. Screenplays look deceptively simple for some very specific technical reasons. If it turns out to be more difficult than you thought, will you keep at it?

13 12 Convert Any Reason Into a Must The truth is, you can turn just about any reason into a must. All you have to do is make it real, and make it important. When something starts out as a dream, it s not real. And the further you are from the reality of that thing, the less real it seems. For example, I grew up in Los Angeles. The film industry has been all around me since I was a kid. So movie-making as a professional has always been real to me. When I got to Australia, I noticed that few people ever gave it any serious thought it just wasn t something anyone considered. Hollywood seemed so far away. It just didn t seem real to them. But to my reality, that seemed bizarre! Movies get made every day. Lots of movies get made. All around the globe. And technology is making it accessible from anywhere. So the industry is very real, and it has a very real (and absolutely voracious) appetite for good stories. Producers need screenplays. Movies don t get made until the screenplay gets written. That s real. Once you make it real, the dream can come to life. Then, all you need to do is make it important. Typically, people chase the fantasy the money and/or the fame. But neither of these is truly important, and pursuing either of them is the quickest way to disappointment. The best screenwriters are not driven by them. The best screenwriters are motivated by art, by expression, by purpose, by meaning, by the thrill of creating movies, and by the joy of storytelling. If these elements aren t fundamentally a part of your reason for wanting to write a screenplay, convert your initial reasons to make them a part of it. Make it real, and make it important. Then you ll have a reason to persist.

14 13 A Simple 11-Step Process to Always Guarantee Completion Until now, you ve been reading. And it all makes sense. I know it does. But no matter how much sense it makes, nothing you ve read will change a thing unless you act on this information. So let s see if you ll really DO what it takes. Are you a dreamer who talks? Or a dreamer who acts? On the following pages is a simple process for guaranteeing completion of your production-ready screenplay. But this process will ONLY work if you actually DO the steps. You can t commit to an end result by thinking about it. You have to take action you have to write it down. So please follow these instructions carefully: 1) READ ONLY ONE STEP AT A TIME. If you read ahead, you ll intellectualize the process. Your brain will say, Yeah, that makes sense or Oh, that s stupid. But either way, there is NO ACTION. It only happens in your brain. And you re NOT committing. 2) DO EACH STEP IMMEDIATELY. Each step will take between 10 seconds and a few minutes. Don t think about it. Just DO it. Some steps will seem painfully simple. Doesn t matter. Do it anyway. Take out a blank piece of paper right now and write #1 #11. 3) DO NOT MOVE FORWARD UNTIL YOU VE COMPLETED THE STEP. Writing is about taking action. Trust the process and let each step build on the previous step. Take the action. DO the steps. See the results. This is how you will guarantee completion. So. Will you be one of the few who act?...or one of the many who talk?

15 14 STEP 1 Identify your reason for writing. The first step is simple just identify the original reason why you wanted to write this screenplay, or why you wanted to become a screenwriter. Be honest. We all have a reason that kicks us onto this train of writing a feature film. It could be the paycheck. Or it could be that you ve had this idea since you were a kid. Or it could be that you think it would be cool to see whatever special effects you imagine this story to have. There are no right or wrong reasons that spark your interest in this project. Even if it s a weak reason, it s important to identify what initially prompted you to start this project in the first place. Maybe your reason is simply that it would be fun or you want to see your name in lights. Those are fine, too. It doesn t need to be any more than that. By identifying your original reason before you move to the next step, you have something to work with and a reference of where you started. NOTE: This is not a reason you have to think about. Just be honest. STEP 1) Write it Down NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. C mon it ll only take a minute.)

16 15 STEP 2 Turn that reason into a must. The next step is to make it real and make it important. Most writers (especially newer writers) start with reasons that are only wants or shoulds. The problem is that those are intangible. You will only persist if you have a reason you must write. This is the most important single step toward guaranteeing completion of your production-ready screenplay, because if this reason isn t a must, then the challenges will get the better of you, and you ll join the 95% who quit. If you love writing so much you don t care about the outcome, the must could be that you can t think of anything you d rather do you write because you must! But if the challenges get bigger, you ll need a must that s big enough to fend them off. And if you don t know how big the challenges might become, my advice is to assume they ll be BIGGER than you think. That way you can prepare yourself, and you can conquer them. Your reason is what will keep you pushing forward even if you think what you re writing is terrible (and that s when you need to keep going). With a strong enough reason, the outcome is more important than the road you take. And that will give you the flexibility to change course to ensure you get where you re trying to go. STEP 2) Turn it into a must NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Seriously. This is it.)

17 16 STEP 3 Identify the consequences of quitting. The problem with screenwriting is that it s rarely a life-or-death proposition. I don t know of anyone who wrote a screenplay in order to save someone s life, or because a studio executive was holding a gun to their head. As a result, there are no natural consequences to quitting. Particularly a spec script. If you quit working on your script, nobody s going to notice or care. And that s a problem. Because if you run into challenges along the way, it will be very easy to simply stop. It will be easy to join the 95%. So you need to identify personal consequences of quitting so that even if no one else cares, you still can t quit. Identify consequences that are important to you. They could be things like: You ll be a quitter. You ll never truly give this dream a chance. You ll let down the people you love. You ll be a dreamer in the first group forever, which means you ll always be full of hot air. You might miss a golden opportunity by being unprepared. Whatever it is, make sure the consequences are serious to you. STEP 3) Identify consequences NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Make them important.)

18 17 STEP 4 Write down why those consequences are unacceptable. Did you really push yourself in the previous step to identify the consequences of quitting? (Or are you just reading? If you re just reading, GO BACK AND DO IT!) If you pushed yourself, let s bump it up a notch. Just because there are consequences to quitting even if those consequences are serious that doesn t mean you won t accept those consequences if you truly run up against a wall. If we face insurmountable obstacles, we will accept negative consequences. But what if the wall isn t half as scary as it looks? Imagine quitting simply because you don t realize how simple success really is. The next step, then, is to make sure the consequences you ve identified outweigh even the insurmountable obstacles you could face. And you can do that by giving yourself some reasons why the consequences of quitting are unacceptable. If you simply cannot accept the consequences of quitting, then you will push. STEP 4) Write down WHY they re unacceptable NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. They must be unacceptable.)

19 18 STEP 5 (Optional) Exaggerate the consequences (if it helps). This step will depend on your own style and sensibilities. If, for example, you don t work well under pressure, or if you love writing so much that you would be happy to spend all day and all night writing screenplays even if no one ever read a word of them... then you probably don t need this step. But for some people, the natural consequences of not finishing your screenplay aren t enough to motivate you to push through the challenges. If you struggled with Step 4 and I mean really struggled to find an honest reason why your consequences are unacceptable, then try this: Exaggerate the consequences by making them worse than you re ever really likely to experience. The simple fact is that screenwriting is not life or death, and you may not have an earth-shattering reason for doing it. It may just not be a big deal to quit. So make it a big deal by creating consequences. For example, you could give yourself something horrible you must do if you don t complete your screenplay like giving your car to a random stranger. Get creative. Remember: The goal is make your reason for completion a must. STEP 5) Exaggerate the consequences NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Get creative here.)

20 19 STEP 6 Find the urgency in your reason. If you ve really DONE each of the steps so far, you ve got a pretty solid reason. Now we need to take it one step further. Because without urgency, you will never start. Since screenwriting isn t life or death, and since selling your screenplay is not guaranteed, if you don t find or create urgency for doing it, you will put it off forever. And if you put it off indefinitely, you re in the 95%. Some examples of urgency might be: You ve got a meeting with a producer coming up You re going to an industry party and you want to be prepared There s a funding window coming up Any reward scenario on a specific deadline If you don t have urgency, create it. Ideally to guarantee completion on any time scale you want to find the urgency within your reason. When do, the urgency is inextricably linked to your reason, and they ll synergistically work together. Time waits for no one. The days of our lives are passing by right now. Please take tomorrow out of your vocabulary when you think about your screenplay. Tomorrow never comes it s a figment of your imagination. All action happens today. When you find the urgency in your reason, it will propel you to completion in a way nothing else can. STEP 6) Find the urgency right NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Dig deep on this one; make it urgent.)

21 20 STEP 7 Make an external promise to push through all challenges. So far, all of this has been very internal. You ve come up with great reasons. But there s a problem with making a promise to ourselves: There s no one to hold us accountable. Human beings are social creatures, and we can use the social fabric to help us, particularly with big goals we hope to achieve. This step has two parts: 1) Make an external promise. Let other people know exactly what you re committing to. When other people are aware of what you re trying to achieve, they will hold you accountable, both by encouraging you when you re running low on energy and by castigating you when you try to give up. 2) Promise to push through all challenges. It s not enough to commit a goal. You need to commit to pushing through all challenges that may confront you. Then you re committing to completion rather than just an attempt. If you don t make an external promise to hold yourself accountable publicly (even if it s only a sympathetic family member or friend), it s too easy to quit when you face challenges. So this step is vital to your success and you need to make sure your promise includes both parts. STEP 7) Write down who you ll promise to NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Don t let yourself off the hook.)

22 21 STEP 8 Identify a clear path to completion. If you start writing your screenplay without a clear sense of exactly where you re going and how you intend to get there, you ll end up spinning in circles. This leads to frustration, which continues to mount until it eventually outweighs the reasons you defined in Step 2. This is a huge problem, and one of the primary reasons 95% of writers quit. With a clear path to completion (such as FAST Screenplay), you have a roadmap to guide your journey. Even if you go off the rails or lose your way, the clear path to completion will enable you to re-orient yourself to your target as challenges arise. Now, before you get cynical and accuse me of creating a thinly veiled attempt to get you to sign up for FAST Screenplay, please note that you don t have to use FAST Screenplay. You can use any clear path the completion. The point is not even to succeed on that path for now, all you need to do is identify the path. You will grow and change as you face obstacles on the way to your goal. That s life. That s natural. (And it s usually what movies are about). But identifying a clear path gives you focus. So whether it s FAST Screenplay or some other approach, give yourself the clearest focus you can find. STEP 8) Identify the path NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. What will get you to production-ready?)

23 22 STEP 9 Begin. At some point, you have to stop talking and start doing. And once you ve identified a clear path to completion, that time is now. You can t learn how to do it by reading about how to do it. You can only learn how to do it by doing it. Sounds obvious, right? It s not. Writing is an action. It s different to thinking. You can think all day and never write a word. And you ll be no closer to your screenplay. Writers constantly put it off until I have the time. If you don t have time right now, you will NEVER have time. That s because screenwriting is NOT a life or death activity. The time you think you ll have in the future that ideal moment where you ll be ready to start is a part of your imagination. Whatever details are stopping you today will stop you later. It s like exercising or eating healthy. There s NO excuse for not doing it today. If you ve done the steps up to now, you have a reason why you must. If you ve done these steps, you know that there is no tomorrow. So it s time to begin. STEP 9) Write down your start date NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Put a start date.)

24 23 STEP 10 If challenges arise, review your reason. This is the step writers don t plan for. And if you haven t done the first nine steps, this is where you ll fall over. Challenges are part of any journey. In fact, movies are often about showing characters who face challenges on their journey. Don t resist them embrace them. They re the fodder for your work! But when you face challenges in your screenwriting efforts, review your reason. If it was strong enough (which you should have ensured before you got here), you ll use that reason to move forward to Step 11. You can t predict right now what problems or challenges you ll face. None of us knows what s around the corner. But with any approach you might take whether it s FAST Screenplay or some other approach everything changes once you begin. When you take action, it changes from theory to actual. It goes from what you read in books to what you see on the page. And that s when the challenges arise. Plan to review your reason if challenges arise. When you re prepared, you won t give up. You ll simply move on to Step 11. STEP 10) Commit to reviewing your reason NOW: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Give yourself a tip.)

25 24 STEP 11 Adapt to your new reality, and push forward to completion. When things go wrong, or when a goal proves to be more challenging than you thought, it s this step that makes the difference between dreamers who talk and dreamers who do. Very few people in life have success fall into their laps. If you re one of those people, I envy you. Be kind to the rest of us because most of us are not so fortunate. Most of us have to continually check the results of our efforts and adapt to our new reality. You wrote something that stinks? Okay. Fine. Whatever. Let s analyze why it stinks and avoid making the same mistake on the next attempt. I firmly believe that anything you ever dream can be yours. But it may not take the shape it took in your dream. Are you willing to adapt to new realities? Are you willing to change course and try something new? Are you willing to do what it takes to get where you re trying to go no matter what it takes to get there? If your reason is strong enough, you will. And if you re not 100% convinced yet, simply go back through this process until you find the right reason for you. STEP 11) Commit NOW to never give up: (Do NOT read further until you complete this step. Imagine in, and do it.)

26 25 Be Honest: Did You DO It? The secret of how to guarantee completion of your production-ready screenplay is dead simple. And like all great information, once it s pointed out to you, it will seem obvious. But because we re talking about you and how you handle your dreams, you re going to have one of two reactions to this report: 1. You ll dismiss it because of its simplicity. or 2. You ll embrace it and act upon it. The first reaction will keep you in the first group dreamers who just talk. The second reaction will enable you to join the second group those who act. And I guarantee your reaction is determined by whether you read the steps or whether you did them. Did you physically DO each step? If you didn t please go back and DO each step. It only takes a few minutes. The information itself is not a huge surprise of course not. But whether or not you acted on it will determine which group you fall into. I need you to understand this because how you react to this report will determine the results of your entire career. If you ve already got enough reason why you must complete your screenplay it s a simple matter of writing it down. Take a few minutes and seal your fate. If you need to find a strong enough reason, then your success will be determined by whether you do this simple 11-step process or not. Even a clear, step-by-step approach like FAST Screenplay might not be enough if you re not committed to a reason.

27 26 This Report is the Decider Believe it or not, you have already decided your outcome. If you simply read this report and DIDN T physically write your answers to each of the steps above, you re a talker. You re a dreamer who doesn t act. I m sorry if that sounds harsh, but I ve seen it repeatedly over the years. You can change your fate by going back and DOING the steps but if you close this report without doing it (and you re not already a professional), that outcome is unlikely to ever happen. It s not hard. It s never hard. But screenwriting requires action. One simple step at a time. That s all. Now, if you did do the steps above, be honest: Isn t it empowering? Think about it: You ve just given yourself a reason why you won t quit until you succeed YOU WON T QUIT UNTIL YOU SUCCEED. Screenwriting is not a life or death experience. If you don t give yourself an urgent reason why you MUST work on it TODAY... you will never complete it. Life will always get in the way. First, a couple days will go by. Then a few weeks. Then several months. And then several years. If you don t have a reason, nothing will compel you to write. Not tomorrow... or next week... or next year. Create your reason NOW. Do it TODAY. Make it URGENT. If you don t do it through this report, how will you ever do it? What s going to change later? Why will next year be any different? It won t. Nothing will change unless and until you give yourself a reason why you MUST.

28 27 Get Excited. Write it Down! If you took the time to do the steps in this report, congratulations! It seems like a very small thing. But it s not. Here s what you ve just done: 1) You ve just found the reason why you can t NOT complete your screenplay. 2) You ve create consequences to quitting. 3) You ve given yourself an urgency to do it. 4) You ve made an external promise, and committed to beat ALL challenges. 5) You ve identified your path and set a start date. 6) You ve prepared for the challenges, and made a plan to adapt. 7) And you ve written it all down. Now place the sheet of paper where you ll see it EVERY DAY. If you ever start to feel like it s all too hard like you want to give up review your reasons and re-affirm your commitment. And if your reason ever feels like it s not enough, then simply go through this process again. Most people who read this report will NOT take the time to do this. You know why? Because they believe that READING SOMETHING gives them the same knowledge and understanding as DOING it. They re wrong. Would you be an expert screenwriter after reading some books? No. You d only be an expert after doing it taking action, and writing. Action is the only way.

29 28 Use a Roadmap In Step 8 above, we talked about identifying a clear path to completion. Now, you don t have to use FAST Screenplay to guarantee completion. Plenty of screenplays have been written without it, and I m sure plenty more will be, too. But if you haven t already looked at it, check out my free report called FAST Screenplay: The Screenwriting Roadmap, which is available on the page you downloaded this report from. I m not trying to sell you something you don t need. But I just want you to be aware of why I created FAST Screenplay. It s available as a clear path to completion if you want one. I believe it s the clearest, most effective path that exists. (I believe this because that s exactly what I designed it to be.) And the people who are using it now simply cannot stop raving about it. Here s the thing: Screenwriting is a complex craft that looks deceptively simple because of how sparsely it s written. But it s easy to get halfway into it, and then the complexity suddenly overwhelms you. To combat this, I created a roadmap. I spent 10 years trying to teach writers how to write screenplays producers could actually use simply because I couldn t find any screenplays to produce. I hope you ll have a closer look at it. I also believe it s the greatest value (the best deal) in the screenplay development world. But the point is this: Whether you use FAST Screenplay or some other roadmap, you need something that s going to help you navigate your way through the trouble spots of the process. And if you take action with a roadmap in hand, you ll get where you re trying to go.

30 29 A Word to the Cynics If it sounds like I m presenting FAST Screenplay as the answer to whatever problems writers face well, that s because I developed it to be the answer to whatever problems writers face. My goal is not to sell you on anything. Naturally, I would like it if you joined us in FAST Screenplay. And yes, it s the proceeds from FAST Screenplay that enable me to take the time to write reports like this. But please make no mistake about this: I developed FAST Screenplay because writers kept quitting! I never wanted or intended to teach screenwriting. All I wanted to do was find production-ready screenplays I could produce, because the budgets in Australia were too small for me to be able to pay for development. I ve worked with thousands of writers over the past decade, and all of them rave about what I ve taught yet only 5% ever did anything with it. FAST was designed to cure that. But I realized something as I approached the end of the process with the Charter Group it s not enough to know that you ll end with a production-ready screenplay. It s not enough to have a process that works. You still need a reason to do the steps. If the reason is in you, congratulations. Completion is achievable for you. And if the reason is not yet in you, simply go back and do the steps in this report. Because whatever path you take, I want you to complete the story that s in YOU. Thanks for reading. Now back to work!

31 30 About This Report About halfway through the Charter Group of FAST Screenplay, one of the participants asked me how I have so much energy, even in the face of a massive workload and a steady stream of obstacles. I explained that I have a big vision, and it doesn t matter what obstacles get in my way I have no choice but to finish, because if I succumb to the challenges, what I want to do after I ve finished can never happen. I began to consider the writers in the Charter Group. They fell into roughly four groups: 1) The non-starters that percentage of the Charter Group that never even started FAST. They joined for the unlimited lifetime access so they d be able to use it in the future. 2) The faders that percentage that started strong, but faded away quickly. These were people who got distracted by life or whatever. All have indicated they like what they see, but need to put it off for now. 3) The pushers that percentage that pushed hard and got about two-thirds in, before stopping. They re just like the second group, except they pushed a bit harder. 4) The front-runners those who have continued to do each step diligently every day, no matter what obstacles they faced in life. This last group has had absolutely extraordinary results every single person is seeing results exactly in alignment with what the system was designed to deliver. And I began to think about those who ve stopped, however temporarily. If FAST delivers the results (as those who are doing it are demonstrating), why isn t everyone doing it? What s the difference between the front-runners and the other two groups (I don t worry about the non-starters; they ll join when they re ready.) The difference is their reason. FAST is meticulously laid out. Anyone can have success with it. But any worthwhile project will challenge you along the way. And when you face a challenge, your motives are the deciding factor. Is the effort worth the reward? It will only be if you have a reason that outweighs any challenge you might face. I wrote this report primarily for those who will be starting FAST Screenplay now or in the future. A writer can only see the complete picture of FAST Screenplay when they reach the end of the process. So my job is to get those writers to the finish line. And the way to do that is to help you define the reason why you must get there. I firmly believe that anyone can write a production-ready screenplay. All that s required are the skills and the practice. I ve seen too many people with great ideas and enormous potential quit and disappear. And their amazing stories disappear with them. If this report helps bring just one person s dream to life, it will have been worth creating.

32 31 About the Author Jeff Bollow is an award-winning director/producer, best-selling author, screenwriter, film festival organizer, and international speaker. He started in Los Angeles as an actor at age 12, with appearances in movies, TV, commercials, theatre, and radio. Credits include Don t Tell Mom the Babysitter s Dead, Columbo, Lost Valley, Ann Jillian, Gabriel s Fire and many more. As a teenager, he worked every job in film production, on features, shorts, and music videos, from production to AD to camera to sound to lighting to editing to distribution. Companies include Universal/MCA, Castle Rock, Propaganda, DNA and the Oxygen Network. His first production job was as a PA on then-6-year-old Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen s first music video. He later worked on 5 films in 4 months for legendary B-movie producer Roger Corman. Jeff began making short films, including IFC New Filmmaker Award-winner The Duel, among several others, before migrating to Australia in 1996, where he wrote and co-produced 6,000 Miles from Hollywood, an indie feature abandoned in postproduction. It was then that he began seeking screenplays to produce. Unable to find any, he began teaching, eventually offering his FAST Screenwriting Workshop over 80 times to nearly 1,200 participants in 9 cities in 5 countries. In 2002, he founded Screenplay.com.au, and is internationally recognized as a dynamic and passionate speaker and teacher, in addition to being an accomplished script editor. He has done rewrites (KNIFE), and dozens of consultations. Jeff is also the author of two books: Writing FAST: How to Write Anything with Lightning Speed and the Apple Training Series: ilife 08 for Apple Computers. Frustrated by his absence from production, Jeff produced and directed the ATOM Award-winning educational DVD Making Fantastic Short Films in 2006, and cofounded the Big Mountain Short Film Festival in New Zealand later that year. He has directed television in New Zealand ( Pacific Beat St for TV3), theatre in Australia ( Five Women Wearing the Same Dress for PGT), and sci-fi drama in the US ( ONE ). He is currently writing a new book and developing several film and television projects. FAST Screenplay is the culmination of 10 years of work to create a screenplay development system to generate screenplays producers can use.

33 32 More Information To learn more about the people and projects mentioned here please visit the websites below. FAST Screenplay A step-by-step systematic approach to screenwriting that focuses on the writing process. By combining the FAST System with specific skills and techniques focused at the right times in the process, FAST Screenplay is designed as self-guided move-at-your-own pace complete screenplay development system. Launched in November Screenplay.com.au Founded in 2002, Australia s Screenplay Development Centre has been home to the very best workshops, software, and services intended to develop commercially-viable feature film screenplays in Australia. Embryo Films Independent production company based in Sydney, Australia, devoted to feature film, television, and non-broadcast production. Writing FAST: How to Write Anything with Lightning Speed Best-selling book by Jeff Bollow that first introduced a simplified version of the FAST System approach to writing, applicable to any form of writing. FAST is an acronym for FOCUS, APPLY, STRENGTHEN, TWEAK, and is a streamlined approach to the four phases of the writing process. Jeff Bollow Personal bio website for producer/director and author Jeff Bollow. Since we can achieve anything we set our minds to, let s focus our minds on our greatest imagination.