Screenwriting 101 -- Jim Uhls

"That [writer's block] happens a lot. Or else before I start something, which is really kind of worse, because there's nothing that you're blocked from, that you need to get back up. You're blocked and you're not starting something. In either case I try to do experiments, like doing 'interviews' with the characters. Or if I pretty much know the idea but I feel blocked about how to shape it, I start thinking about key scenes that would be in this project. I write those scenes first, out of order. I call it 'the scent of blood.' You didn't start on 'fade in,' but now you're in the script. It can grow out from inside, instead of page one.

I find a lot of blocks happen sequentially, while you're going in linear fashion. You just can't figure out what the connective tissue or the transition is at this part of the story. I say, skip it! Go to the part where you really have some feeling, and write that. That's a good way of staying in it."

-- Jim Uhls (Fight Club, Jumper)

From The Dialogue Series