Deadlines: Treat them with tender loving care
I do love deadlines - call me nuts, but I do. They give me drive and a clear frame, they are challenge and goal - and always delivering on them is key to becoming a trusted go-to writer.
I may have mentioned it a few thousand times in past blogs (and I’ll continue to do so) - screenwriting is part of an industry, a business. Just like good writing, deadlines, too, are chances for us to prove our worth. If we want to be taken seriously in that business, we need to be reliable, we need to deliver, always.
I’ve been hired a bunch of times. Some of it was produced, much of it never made it that far. But that’s part of the gig, you get hired, you deliver, you get paid - and the fates decide on the rest. In addition, I’ve also written numerous spec scripts, of course. All of them had deadlines, and I delivered on all of them. With twenty years of deadline experiences, I thought I might put down a few thoughts:
Personal deadlines: Yes, getting hired is tough - call it luck, call it the right moment, call it what you will - most writers never manage to get paid for the passion they put to paper. But passion it is, it’s all you have - keep at it and give yourself deadlines - stick by them, no excuses. They force you to train your writing muscle, every day. The personal deadlines prepare you for the moment that business door opens.
Business deadlines: There’s no standard, period. Proposals, treatments, first drafts, etc. - there’s all sorts of time frames - deadlines vary greatly. In my experience producers are by nature pushy - they hire you and want something soon. But they also want something good. So, whether alone or with the aid of an agent - push back, politely and firmly. Demand the time you need to deliver good work - but at the same time, push yourself. Settle on deadlines that are both possible and challenging.
Delivery on deadlines: Do-not-deliver-early. I’ve done it a few times when I started out. You know what happens? You end up doing more rewrites because heck, there’s all that extra time all of a sudden. Too much time is bad for both the writer and the producers - it doesn’t focus the mind, it allows it to meander. So stick to the agreed deadlines, deliver 2 or 3 days early, sure - but no sooner.
Producer pressure: The production side always wants it before they can have it. Professionals deserve to be treated like professionals. That cuts both ways. This is about the usual hurry-up-and-wait. You know that’s going to happen - you’ll bust your balls to beat the deadline - you deliver on time - and then you wait. A week later you’ll make a call and find out that the person who wanted the script that urgently is off on holidays for three weeks. Basically, don’t buckle under pressure, stick to your deadline - nothing else matters.
Don’t forget life: I’ve had to learn that the hard way - goes with what I’ve just mentioned about the holidays. You have a life, you may have a family, places to go, things to do. Don’t forget to figure those into the deadlines you’ll suggest. Just as producers will take their vacation when they’re good and ready - so should you. Plan them into your deadlines and you won’t only have the time to write a great script and come out looking like a pro at the end - you’ll still have the time to be a human being between now and then.
That’s about it on the topic. Well, maybe one final thought on the actual word. The term “deadline” may go back to the Civil War. The deadline was a real line drawn in the dirt and prisoners would get the warning: “If you cross this line, you’re dead.” Luckily, the deadlines we’re faced with these days are slightly less existential - odds are, nobody’s going to kill you, should you ever miss one - not that you ever will, right?
Finally, you might be wondering why I’ve not written about the ‘how’ you should go about it. The simple truth is that a) we’re all different and b) there’s ample how-to material online - browse away, folks! There are plenty of good tips and tricks that’ll help you figure out your instrument and how you best work it to deliver on deadlines. For a bit of inspiration, visit here. Nicely curated, you’ll find insights about the writing process by fifty well-known screenwriters (Kaufman, Sorkin, you name it, they’re all there. You’ll see what I mean about all of us being different.
In line with the above quote by Stephen King, I particularly like Akiva Goldsman’s thoughts on the subject: “I start in the morning and write all day. Successful writers don’t wait for the muse to fill themselves unless they’re geniuses. I’m not a genius. I’m smart, I have some talent, and I have a lot of stubbornness. I persevere. I was by no means the best writer in my class in college. I’m just the one still writing.”
Hi Daniel,
Fab post! I am a planner and working backwards from deadlines, I think, comes as second nature to me (or maybe I developed the habit an eternity ago during my University days). The 'how' is something I am fairly comfortable with, too.
Where I struggle -- and one might argue I am, therefore, not that perfect at deadlines after all -- is the balance between my day job and writing. I am sure I have seen a post where you mention you have always written alongside keeping a day job; I will read it in due course.
For example: I have worked out my schedule and I should be sitting down to write between 6pm-8pm on Mon. Unfortunately, my day job meetings overrun; I am still on the phone at 630pm. By the time I am done, I am a. tired and b. not in the frame of mind to write (something I am working on, i.e. you have to get it done regardless of your frame of mind).
Sorry to ask, but do you have any tips / insights about combating this? Do you push through, do you re-organise next day's plan? Do you - and I am not very good at this! - say no to your work and insist on a hard stop at 6pm? How easy is it to deprioritise the thing that pays for your mortgage for the benefit of the thing you enjoy doing and which gives you happiness?