The entertainment industry can be a challenging environment. The ever-changing nature of the business and market trends can make it tough to stay motivated when writing your screenplay. How can you keep that scriptwriting energy going when it feels like the odds are piling against you and your pursuits as a writer? 

Here are nine tips on how several professional film and television writers keep themselves motivated and energized through the ups and downs in the film and television business.

1. Unplug from your writing

“Sometimes it’s necessary to clear pockets of time to give yourself a break from the news, from the tumult of the industry, from the craziness of your life and all the responsibilities we all have in our lives. Find ways to recharge your batteries with goodness: family, friends, interesting strangers, good food, travel, art, great films, tv shows, podcasts and books. Anything that can get your creative juices flowing. There are stories EVERYWHERE. Big and small. Cries and whispers. And only when you truly take the time to sit down and listen can you really hear them.” - LaToya Morgan (Duster, Into the Badlands, TURN: Washington’s Spies)

2. Embrace your writing community

“Stay in community, especially with writers! Attend a mixer. Or reach out to a colleague for coffee. This industry is challenging on a normal day, and it’s doubly so right now. Other writers will commiserate with you. They’ll remind you you’re not alone, you’re talented, and there’s only so much you can control. Let them build you up, and then return the favor!” - Megan McNamara (All American: Homecoming)

3. Re-examine your writing portfolio

“When work is slow, it’s a great time to evaluate your current portfolio. Think about what kinds of jobs you would love to get. Do you have ready-to-go samples that will help you to get those eventual jobs? If not, plan out some new samples that are similar in genre and tone to the types of things you’d love to be hired to write. Then write them.” - Susan Bridges (Monster High)

4. Spin all the plates

“This writing journey is fraught with setbacks and rejections. It’s a numbers game of pursuing as many opportunities as you can. It also helps cushion the emotional blow of a project dying when you’re busy and hopeful about the next thing. When we were starting out it seemed overwhelming to work on a bunch of things at the same time, but it’s all about having things in different stages – doing the final revisions on one thing while outlining another while generating a list of loglines for your next spec. 

Hollywood requires perseverance and versatility. You never know where the next opportunity will come from and you have to be prepared for all of them.” - Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin (Spellbound, Mulan)

5. Focus on the fun

“If you’re not feeling motivated then whatever it is you’re writing has a flaw in it somewhere that’s sapped the fun out of it. Sometimes going back to outline or brainstorming or just skipping to a part that feels exciting and fun will get things unlocked and maybe give you a clue where to take things.” - Tilly Bridges (Monster High)

6. Work on new writing projects

“Keep moving forward. Keep working on new things. Stretch and try new avenues. Because lots of doors are closing and have closed so we all need to learn how to climb into windows.” - Jamarcus Turner (Bob Hearts Abishola)

Read More: The Bricks of Breaking In: Jamarcus Turner On Breaking In From Outside Los Angeles

TV writer Noah Evslin

7. Write what you love

“Even in boom years, you can’t predict the marketplace or chase trends, this downturn just reminds me to write what I love and hopefully the rest will follow. I just had a script come back to life that’s 10 years old. You never know when somebody will respond to something. The market might suck now but the thing you write today might get you work in five years.” - Noah Evslin (NCIS: Hawaii, Rescue: HI-Surf)

Read More: The Bricks of Breaking In: TV Writer Noah Evslin On The Power Of Advocating For Yourself As A Writer

8. Remember you are valuable

“Don’t believe the lie that your only value is in what scripts you have written, or what job that you have. You are valuable to your friends, your community -- to the world in general -- because of who you are, not what you have done. 

I also think it’s helpful to have specific projects that you are working on that are NOT Hollywood connected. Might be playwriting (as I am now doing) but it might be longer-term projects around the house, or even day-to-day activities like cooking or cleaning or organizing. I like to be able to get to the end of each day and say I accomplished something, even if it was something that’s insignificant. At least I can say, ‘I did that.’” - Dean Batali (Destination Heaven, Good Witch)

9. Create your own opportunities

“We have to find new ways to sell screenplays, just like writers have done for decades. If the studios are only buying projects based on IP (intellectual property), we have to either find IP that can be adapted into movies that are contemporary and fun, like I’m doing with Stranger Comics on Brown Sugar Fairies: Saroja’s Quest, or we have to create our own IP, like I’m doing with Legion M on my new graphic novel, Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls. 

The line between independent and studio production is getting thinner, so get to know the independent producers and financiers who are doing the kinds of movies you want to make and introduce yourself. While you’re at it, you might want to slip your screenplay to a kindly actor, preferably one who is as frustrated with the process as you are. The worst thing that can happen is that they turn you down. 

One of the greatest things about being a writer is that we can imagine scenarios and play around with them in our minds. Lean into that superpower.” - Rob Edwards (Captain America: Brave New World, King of Kings, Sneaks)

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It is important to stay motivated when pursuing a career as a writer or screenwriter. Taking this valuable advice from professional screenwriters on how to stay motivated will help you achieve your script goals and keep you on track for screenwriting success.