Hey everyone! So I've been MIA from screenwriting for like a year and I'm just returning with a finished sitcom pitch I just rewrote for the first time. I was away bcs i couldn't focus on a script while getting divorced. Right now I just forced myself back into writing but I would like to know what helped you return after stopping for a while. Thanks in advance!
Screenwriting : Getting back to writing by Julio Torres
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Julio, I wouldn't have gotten back into screenwriting-TV writing when I did if it hadn't been for accepting a gift a codirector of a documentary movie I was in gave me.
In 2009 and 2010, Nick Holle teamed up with Michael Zimmer to shoot footage all over the United States and part of Mexico for a documentary called "The Entertainers." The film was about a competition that takes place every Memorial Day weekend...the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival.
I was a contestant for most of the 1993-2015 period...and Michael and Nick came to Omaha, NE to shoot footage of me. The movie got released in April 2012 (and won several awards at festivals throughout the US).
Anyway...in 2013, Nick stopped by and...gave me his 2005 Power Mac G5 computer, originally given to him by a couple who helped produce "The Entertainers," Brett and Jackie Watkins.
I let that Power Mac sit for the next three years...then in April 2016, I hooked it up...and found out it had a copy of Final Draft 6.
And I figured: "Why not take some of the screenplays I typed out from 1980 to 1994 and see how they'd look in Final Draft?"
Nick, I'm glad you got me to break my 22-year hiatus from writing scripts.
And Julio, I'm glad you've come back to screenwriting.
Here's wishing you all the VERY BEST.
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Oh man, I am so sorry to hear about the divorce. That is pretty much an atomic bomb going off in your life and the lives of everyone else in your family. I can see how you wouldn't be in a SitCom kind of mood during that.
I found that writing takes me out of the mess that is my day to day life. It lets me be in control of a world. When I am focused on my third act problems I'm not worried about my problems at work or my diet or anything else that is going on. I don't have a problem with not writing, I have a problem with writing to much and neglecting the real stuff I have to get done... because real life is a lot less fun right now.
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Welcome back. It’s tough. Keep going, it helps a lot.
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Welcome back, Julio. Sometimes stepping away from writing can change how you see a story when you return to it. Now that you’ve rewritten the pitch, what feels most different about it compared with the version you had before the break? Julio Torres
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Welcome back, Julio. I stopped for 2+ years and was worried I would never write again. The reason is a bit too personal to share in public, but I know what it's like trying to get back on the horse. Point is, I now write more (and better) because of that pause. I hope you find the same wind in your sails.
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Thank you all for your answers! I think I needed a bit of hope to get me out of the slumber and this forced me back into writing. I'll do my best from this experience and follow all your advice. As for the pitch, Alfred, it did changed quite a bit. Thessia began as a comedy that I wrote 3-4 years ago and now I'm making it a sci-fi procedural. Person of Interest meets the education system. It was quite the twist! I hope to finish it by the end of the month and showcase the first pages
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Honestly, I think finishing that rewritten pitch after being away for a year is already a pretty solid way of getting back into it. Sometimes the hardest part is just giving yourself permission to write badly again without expecting everything to flow immediately. I’d probably focus on small, consistent writing sessions rather than trying to make up for the time away all at once. And welcome back to the writing world.