Most of us are creatures of habits, and one of the biggest reasons for this is comfort. 

It’s comforting to know you’ve got a certain activity or way of doing something that’s a fixture of your life. In a similar fashion, many screenwriters get comfortable writing in a certain film genre or in a specific style, and stick with it. However, this mindset is not always the best strategy for screenwriting success. In fact, learning to write outside your comfort zone might be a smart thing to do for several reasons I’ll explain below, along with tips on how to learn to do it.

Rolling with the Changes

In general, the ability to adapt is a key component of success, but in the film and television industry it’s essential. This is because the industry is in constant flux and always has been due to emerging technology and evolving tastes. 

Whether you’re a beginner or professional screenwriter, it benefits you to be able to adapt to an ever-changing screenwriting marketplace. This past year, erotic thrillers have been making a comeback with a handful of big spec sales. Next year it’ll probably be another subgenre. This doesn’t mean you should be jumping on every new marketplace trend, but if a genre or subgenre you enjoy watching is having a resurgence  — one that you never considered writing in before — well, maybe it’s time to give it some serious thought.

Javier Bardem in 'No Country for Old Men' 

Becoming a More Well-Rounded Writer

Obviously if you’re finding success in a certain genre, congrats and keep it up! But if you’ve been slogging away for years — writing spec after spec in a certain genre without much success — maybe it’s not what you’re meant to be writing. You’ll never know the full range of your abilities if you never test yourself. At the very least, attempting to write in a different genre or style can help you discover what your creative limits are, and what you do best.

You’ll discover new modes of expression and become a more well-rounded writer. Over the decades, many of the most successful and acclaimed screenwriters have changed genres or their style, and it helped to extend their careers. Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment) was just as skilled at writing film noir as he was comedy. Adam McKay (Step Brothers, Don’t Look Up) shifted from absurd slapstick to social satire. The Coen brothers (Fargo, No Country for Old Men) never limited themselves to any one particular genre, tackling comedies, noirs, westerns and even musicals. Whenever you stretch your talent, you expand your world and grow as a writer. 
  
The next time you’re brainstorming ideas, consider different genres and write something like you’ve never written before. In addition to growing as a writer, going in a new direction can be exciting and inspire you to write more passionately than you have before. Being an artist requires a certain amount of reinvention, and embracing this will keep you in screenwriting shape.

Learning To Write Outside Your Comfort Zone

There are several things you can do to help you write outside your comfort zone. 

If you only watch one kind of movie or TV show, start watching different kinds. This doesn’t mean you have to watch everything out there, but watch a combination of classics and popular or acclaimed newer content. 

When watching classic films and TV shows, consider if there are new ways into these old stories. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of updating a story for our times.

Comparing old and new content, can you find any similarities or reappearing tropes? Think of ways to work with these tropes or even subvert them. The more you learn about a genre, the more comfortable you should be writing in it. Films and TV shows are never created in a vacuum. Like all art forms, these mediums are created by people with an awareness of what has come before, and they use it as a springboard for what will come next. There’s no reason why you can’t be one of these people and do the same.

In addition to watching movies and TV shows, read produced screenplays in genres you’re thinking of writing in and likewise read both old and new scripts. Not only will reading scripts from different time periods and different writers give you more ideas, it’ll help you to step back and see larger storytelling patterns. For example, a protagonist’s character arc and emotional through line is just as important today as it was 50 years ago and regardless of genre.  

A Screenwriter First and Foremost

Ultimately the most important lesson to learn is that there are fundamental elements to effective storytelling, and once you get a firm handle on them, it’ll be much easier for you to jump from genre to genre and style to style. Akin to Bruce Lee’s fluid method of martial arts, Jeet Kune Do, a screenwriter should “be like water” and be able to adapt to different periods and situations.

When you reach this level of screenwriting, you’ll create more career and job opportunities. You’ll no longer be just a “horror writer” or just “a comedy writer.” You’ll be a screenwriter first and foremost. And it all begins with that mindset. Once you start thinking of yourself as a screenwriter, it’ll open up your world and possibly lead you to writing the best spec script you’ve ever written.

When you write outside your comfort zone, you grow as a writer and create new opportunities for yourself, and you can learn to do this by watching and reading more varied content and by changing your overall mindset. Screenwriting is a skill and vocation. It can be learned, and just because you never wrote in a certain genre or style before doesn’t mean you can’t do it. The only thing that can hold you back is if you limit yourself.

Keep learning. Keep growing. And most importantly –

Keep writing.