I spent Monday moping. And then I did the same thing on Tuesday. The reason for my sadness is that Hollywood is in a completely unprecedented time and work has totally fallen off while things reset.

Execs who I met with last week have been fired, development funds have dried up, and now, more than ever, it feels like a complete slog.

It's a real bummer out there!

So, how can you keep going and not spiral?

You have to focus on what you can control.

Control is a funny word in Hollywood. So many decisions are completely out of our grasp. But we forget that many important ones are left up to us.

When times get tough like this, I like to make a list of all the things I actually control.

Things like:

  • Writing new specs
  • Watching films and TV shows I've never seen
  • Reaching out to execs to catch up
  • And taking the extra time to complete tasks around my house

When you focus on what you can do, instead of spiraling about what you cannot, you can be much more productive. And also, you have less time to sit there and worry.

Preparing for what's next.

I find that the more I write, the better I feel. so I'm using these down months to finish new specs and set up new ideas.

When I'm tired or writing or waiting for notes, I spend time around the apartment, fixing things and doing chores. I watch movies in the same genre as my specs to see if there are any lessons to glean.

I'm really bad at relaxing, so I'll also spend time at museums, looking at painting for arresting images I could write into my screenplay.

What the future looks like.

Anyone who tells you they can predict what the future looks like in Hollywood is just speculating. We're figuring out every day what the future looks like, and we won't really know until 2025.
The biggest concerns are how we can continue to build out new generations of writers and directors when we're making fewer movies at the level where someone can break in.
We also need to figure out how much money things should cost, and how many jobs this new Hollywood can sustain. That will all take time, and largely be out of our control.

But if we continue to create the ideas we believe in, using the skills we're learning, we can showcase why we believe to stay.

Let me know what you're doing in the comments.

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