Write Your Screenplay Podcast

Kicking off Season 9 of the Write Your Screenplay Podcast, Jacob Krueger explains the importance of the very first image in your script: how it captures your audience’s attention, introduces them to your main character’s journey, and sets the tone and feel for your film or show. He then shares how to use the concept of the first image to successfully reach your writing goals in the new year.

Does Your Writing Feel Boring?

Show Notes

Write Your Screenplay Podcast

Hosted by: Jacob Krueger

Do you ever feel disconnected from your writing? A sense that there’s a hidden wall or missing link between what you’re trying to communicate and what’s actually showing up on the page?

Believe it or not, this is a very subtle form of writer’s block. It’s not only impacting your writing, it’s probably also got you beating yourself up and believing you simply don’t have any talent at all. But nothing could be further from the truth!

“Getting a writer writing again is easy. Getting a writer connected again is hard.”

Why is that? Why do you struggle as a writer to share this part of yourself that so desperately desires to be heard? It’s because you learned at a very young age to hide parts of yourself behind masks that kept you safe from being judged, labeled, made fun of, or hurt. These masks taught you to:

Ignore your instincts

Censor yourself and speak only the “acceptable” truths

Avoid any original or disruptive ideas so as not to risk losing approval

“The first step in pulling away a mask is to make it safe enough for the person to start to remove it...to create a world where everything is acceptable, even if we’re writing something normal and boring.”

Writers are their own toughest critics. When you strive for perfection, you’re actually making your job that much harder because you’re judging every word you write. The harsher you are on yourself, the more your creative side will hide behind that mask and the less connection you’ll have to your story. To begin peeling away your mask and reconnecting with your writing, it’s vital you give yourself a safe space to do so by:

Acknowledging you are not your mask

Telling your editing brain to take a break

Accepting everything you write on the page no matter how it sounds

“The art of creativity is not actually about being creative and it’s not about making shit up. The art of creativity is about learning to look, listen, and feel.”

Breaking through this more complex form of writer’s block involves using your senses in a way that gets underneath your writing and helps you find the specificity in each line of dialogue, action, and structure. When you give yourself permission to be curious, to dig deeper, and to openly receive whatever ideas your inner artist shows you, your mask will slowly fall away and you’ll begin to uncover the unexpected in your story and your unique talent as a writer.

If you’d like a full transcript of this podcast or information on our screenwriting classes available in New York City and online as well as any of the other wonderful community events happening at Jacob Krueger Studio, please visit our website at www.writeyourscreenplay.com.

This week, Jacob Krueger shares some simple steps toward overcoming the common form of writer’s block and explains how creating manageable goals will reshape the way your mind approaches writing, making it easier to develop a writing routine.

In this podcast, Jacob Krueger analyzes the Season 2 pilot episode of Succession and shares how building a series engine from a personal place of truth will help you create the roadmap for a show that can continue to grow for several seasons.

This week, Jacob Krueger discusses Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and one of the most important skills a screenwriter needs: the ability to develop a distinctive take on historical material or a pitch for a work-for-hire project that makes your approach to a story unique from any other writer.

In this podcast, indie producer and filmmaker Ramfis Myrthil joins Jacob Krueger for a conversation on the business of self-producing: how to properly pitch your project, master the art of following up, attract financial backing and create the right team to make your movie a success.

This week, Jacob Krueger discusses Chernobyl as an example of how to write an essential and effective miniseries, what makes the miniseries format so unique, and how to determine whether your project has the epic scope, relevant theme, visual beauty, and character journey needed to become a miniseries.

In his final Game of Thrones podcast, Jacob Krueger discusses the series finale and the lessons it has to offer screenwriters regarding the importance of compression in keeping your audience engaged and on the edge of their seats until the very end.

This week, Jacob Krueger analyzes Episode 5 and discusses how the three levels of structure - plot, emotion, and theme - need to tie together to create a powerful journey for both your characters and your audience.

This week, Jacob Krueger analyzes Episode 4 and focuses on the importance of revision in keeping an audience connected to your characters by creating a structure that comes from a place of truth.