Sometimes we lose our passion — the fire burning inside that pushes us through adverse and difficult times during our screenwriting journeys. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner learning the ins and outs of writing a screenplay, an experienced screenwriter with some major contest and fellowship wins, or a seasoned pro earning money and seeing your name on the screen. Sometimes the passion dims, the words don’t come, the cursor blinks back at you in quiet judgement on an empty page, and you begin to question if you’ve lost it for good — or, if you ever really had it at all.    

Don’t worry. Breathe. You haven’t lost your fire. It’s still there. 

The key to any successful run at a career in screenwriting is to learn how to get the fire back — how to reignite those creative and inspirational flames to a point where the ideas, visuals, words, and story/character solutions come flowing out of you through your fingers, onto those keys, and onto the pages. 

Here are some tested, implemented, and proven ways to reignite your screenwriting fire!   

Write the Movies YOU Want to See

Screenwriters trying to break through those Hollywood doors can find themselves spending too much time chasing trends and writing movies that they think executives want to see. 

Yes, there’s truth to making sure that you are writing movies that studios, networks, streamers, production companies, distributors, and financiers want to buy, produce, and distribute. There’s no escaping those realities. 

However, to keep yourself invested — and to keep that screenwriting fire burning — you need to make sure that you are marrying that notion to your own desires. 

One of the best and most straightforward words of screenwriting wisdom is this lesson — ”Write movies you would want to go see in a movie theater.”  

When you do this, you’re immediately accomplishing two things:

• You will be writing something you’ll be more passionate about (the fire)
• You will be catering to a demographic that Hollywood needs

You are a member of the audience. You represent a demographic that Hollywood is trying to make movies for so they can get butts in the seats (or fingers clicking “play”) and reap the profits. 

Don’t focus on what you think Hollywood wants. Trends change. Wants and needs evolve. It’s pointless trying to keep up with Hollywood from the outside because much of what you take months to write and months to market will always fall behind those already on the inside. 

Yes, you want to do your best to cater to the general wants and needs that are fairly evergreen and never changing — but shift the focus away from writing what you think the powers that be will buy, and instead focus on what you, the movie lover, would love to see. 

When you do that, Hollywood will be catching up to you when you give them what they didn’t know they needed.

Al Pacino in 'The Godfather Part II'

Watch the Movies That Made You Want to Become a Screenwriter

What were the cinematic seeds that made you want to write movies? We all have our favorites. What are yours? What do you love about them? How did they change your life? What about them made you want to become a screenwriter?

When you revisit your cinematic roots, you’ll feel the fire start to burn again. Nostalgia plays a big part in our lives. It’s a survival tool that we can all go to in times of need. It relaxes us. It balances us. It resets us from within. 

When you revisit your favorite movies, you’ll remember why you wanted to become a screenwriter in the first place. 

Take the Pressure Off Your Shoulders

Screenwriters tend to romanticize suffering in the industry. 

• We grind. 
• We hustle. 
• We force ourselves to write through misery.
• We brag about that misery. 

If every time you sit down to write you’re thinking about having to get a decision-maker to read it, nab representation, win a contest or fellowship, or sell a script, there’s no wonder why your fire has burnt out.

When you’re writing, you shouldn’t be thinking about that stuff. Put yourself in the zone. Put on those blinders that force you to see nothing but the task at hand — telling your cinematic story. 

Forget about having to sell something. Forget about how much you hate your regular job. Forget about the trials and tribulations beyond the writing — and just write.

There are a lot of uncontrollables you’ll come across on your screenwriting journey. 

• You can’t control who will love your script. 
• You can’t control who will hate your script. 
• You can’t control who will or won’t even read your script. 
• You can’t control who will buy it. 
• You can’t control if it even gets produced if someone does buy it. 

Instead, focus on what you can control. 

• Your concept. 
• Your story. 
• Your visuals. 
• Your plot. 
• Your characters.
• Your dialogue. 

When you start a script, look upon the process as you saying to all of the uncontrollables out there, “I’m going into the tunnel (writing the script). I’ll see you on the other side when I’m done.”

Challenge Yourself

Maybe the fire is no longer burning because you’re creatively bored. Whether it’s because you’ve been trying to please everyone else or because you’ve only been doing what you think you are good at — or what you’ve been told you should be focusing on. 

Maybe it’s time to challenge yourself, take some risks, and think outside of the box. 

• Tackle that script that you’ve been too scared to attempt.
• Write in a genre you’ve never written in before. 
• Find some public domain stories you can adapt in creative ways. 
• If you’ve only written movies, try writing a TV series pilot. 
• If you’ve only written for TV, try writing a feature.

When you take on any kind of new challenge, those embers left over from your screenwriting fire within can be doused with creative fuel. Before you know it, you’ll once again be inspired, enthused, invigorated, and more alive as a screenwriter than you’ve ever felt. 

Change Your Screenwriting Process

Shake things up a bit. Remember, many screenwriters want to be screenwriters because they don’t want to fall into the routine 9-5 life found within other career choices. Don’t let that happen to your screenwriting journey. 

• If you write every day for X amount of hours, try taking some days off (more on that below) in between. 
• If you write in the same place, venture somewhere else for a change. 
• If you write during the same time of day, switch it up a bit. 
• If you outline every script, try one where you don’t. 
• If you’ve never outlined, consider giving it a chance.  

Whatever the change may be, try something new. Maybe that switch will spark something in your screenwriting. 

Revisit Old Scripts You Put on the Backburner

Many screenwriters do the work and get scripts written, only to discover that things just aren’t working out for them. Or maybe they spent so much time and effort on writing and marketing them, to no avail, that they had to move on when things didn’t pan out. 

• Some are rough. 
• Some are outright bad. 
• Some just weren’t ready for the industry.

If you have spec scripts you’ve set aside or given up on, consider trying to revisit them — not as a critic, not with judgemental eyes, but as a time traveler looking back to see who you were when you wrote those stories, and how the industry has changed since you shelved them. 

Sometimes time buries stories we’ve told in the past. We forget about them. We forget what drove us to write them. Reconnecting with not only your old scripts, but with your old self, can reignite those flames by helping you to remember your roots. 

It’s like reconnecting with an old friend you haven’t seen in years. One of three things happens:

1. You remember why you disengaged from them many years ago.
2. You start exactly where you left off and have an amazing renewed connection and appreciation. 
3. You realize that you forgot why they were so special to you, and want to never let that happen again. 

The same can be said for revisiting an old script. 

1. You remember that it was a pretty bad script that you needed to get out of your system and learn from. 
2. You instantly remember why you loved the script and what you learned from it.
3. You realize that the script is special and it may be time for it to go the distance. 

If your fire is gone, try to revisit the past by reading some of your old work. 

• Maybe there’s a chance for a rewrite with a more evolved set of creative eyes?
• Maybe you see a different take on the same concept that you could reenvision?
• Maybe you realize the script was ahead of its time and may be more relevant in today’s market?

Issa Rae in 'American Fiction' 

Leave Yourself Wanting to Write More After Every Writing Session

Here is an insider tip — always leave yourself craving to write more. This process is all about not letting your fire go out in the first place. 

Screenwriters read a lot of misdirected or outright bad advice. 

• “Do a vomit draft where you just spew it all out as quickly as possible and fix it afterwards.” 
  
• “Force yourself to write X amount of hours each day.”
  
• “Write until you can’t write anymore.” 

Forget all of that. Try this instead: 

With each writing session, stop at a point where you’re at a climax of an act, scene, sequence, plot turn, twist, story arc point, or character arc point. 

• The killer is about to reveal themself.
• The big payoff to the joke in your comedy is about to happen.
• A revelation has been revealed and your characters need to react. 
• Someone is about to potentially die. 
• Two love interests are about to kiss or profess their love.

Stop. Don’t write the moment you’ve been building up to. Close the laptop. You’re done for the day.

How can this possibly reignite your flame? Why would anyone stop right at the good part they’ve been building up to?

Leave every writing session not just wanting to write more — but needing to write more. Before you know it, you won’t be going into another writing session with the weight of the world on your shoulders. There will be no negative apprehension. You won’t be “pulling teeth” to find something to write. 

No, you’ll be aching to get back on those keys! 

Do this with every writing session and you’ll never see that screenwriting fire diminish. 

Take a Hiatus from Screenwriting

Everybody needs a break from their work. Sometimes you just have to take a nice long vacation. 

The truth is that the fire never goes out. It’s always within you. And if it’s not, you’ll quickly realize that maybe screenwriting isn’t your thing in the end. But for most who begin a screenwriting journey, there’s an eternal fire that can never be put out. 

Writers are inherently driven to create. When the writing process stops, the want, need, and desire to write builds and builds. Make no mistake, the writer within you will find a way to write again. 

Take a break. Walk away. Reset. Recharge. 

You’ll see the fire return — because it was never gone in the first place.