Mickey Finnegan, Filmmaker: But I also did pick up a tip that I applied to myself and
it really worked for me as I was watching an interview with Taika Waititi I actually
and he was talking about his writing process.
Film Courage: How often have you been afraid to finish a screenplay?
Mickey: All the time. I feel like with every screenplay there's always stages you go through.
At least for me, this is my experience going through a screenplay and usually it's like
you have an idea and you're very excited about it and you start to put it all together and
you're thinking Yeah this could actually be good. You've convinced yourself that's going
to be good and then you start to write it and when you start to write it's really exciting
because you're like Oh it's finally happening and I’m setting things up and I’ve got
this character in here and I'm getting it getting it going and then you know when you
get to the end of the screenplay you're also very excited because you're like oh I'm so
close to the finish line oh like this is this is great but you know in the middle when you're
in that middle slog of getting through a screenplay that's the point when you're start to think
like like I don't know is this idea actually that good like I'm not sure if this is working
the way that I intended it to work and that's when you can start to have those fears of
like maybe not wanting to finish something or feeling like you know I think maybe this
isn't gonna be worth the rest of my time to finish so for me personally I think everything
I write I usually go through that like you know experience or usually go through that
that doubt but but I always try to remind myself to like you know trust the process
a little bit and think you know there's a reason why you were excited about this there's
a reason why you just start you decided to start this at one point you know a couple
months ago you felt like this was an amazing idea so just you know trust the process you
know just keep going get to the end and and you know hopefully when you do finish it and
you read it back you'll you'll get excited about it again so but yeah back to your question
I think all the time I'm always like fearful of finishing a script because I'm always like
oh is this thing going to be bad with the wrestling script that you had option with
your partner was there a moment where were there times when the two of you didn't feel
like was it really worth it yeah there were there were times where I was like oh I don't
really know if it was working or or not but maybe that one was a little bit different
because that one we were together so you have someone to kind of constantly talk talk it
through but other scripts that i've written are those ones are the ones where it's like
yeah you only have that internal conversation with yourself so those are the ones that are
sometimes that can be a little harder to push through are there unfinished screenplays at
your house there there's two types of unfinished screenplays there's the unfinished screenplays
that I started way early in my career when I just started writing and and didn't really
know what I was doing so there's those and then there's the ones that I'm currently working
on that are unfinished but they will be finished so I think now I'm at the point where if I
really do start to write something I definitely will finish it so i've kind of tricked myself
into into getting into the routine of of making sure that I get across that finish line what
do you find time to write since you're doing these music videos is it between each project
I know we've had some time off with the current pandemic but yeah yeah I think writing is
just something that i've just kind of built into my schedule it's something I just try
to do a few times a week I mean if I'm if I'm busy if I'm directing something or I'm
on a project like you know the week gets away from myself and yeah I don't I don't I don't
get mad if I can't write that day it's okay but typically you know if I have a day off
I'm definitely in the morning writing for a few hours every day so it's just something
I kind of just build into my routine what does the inner dialogue sound like when doubt
creeps in about finishing a screenplay oh it sounds like oh this is you know all the
things this is terrible this this this is not working you know this idea is really stupid
you know you can say all those things as you're writing and working on something and feeling
like well like why am I spending my time writing this thing like no one's gonna read this or
you know it's it won't be made or whatever it is but you know they're they're just they're
just voices they're just it's just noise so you have to always kind of battle through
that and you know if you're really struggling with something you can always get you know
people to read it or you can talk to your friends or whoever about you know the idea
and usually you'll get back you know positive feedback or if you or if you're getting if
you think your your script is going astray or it's not working you can talk talk to people
about it and if it actually is doing pretty good and you're just kind of creating this
own you know self-doubt in your head you'll get realigned by your friends who are like
no no this is pretty good so far or like maybe they'll read the first you know whatever first
act and they're like nah I really enjoyed it and so that that positive feedback can
help sort of reset you can you talk about a time when fear won out and you did not finish
the screenplay I think that there has been times that yeah I think I have had time for
I'm writing something and working on an idea and for whatever reason you know you just
get to a point where you you maybe it's not fear necessarily you know because I don't
know if I'm like afraid of the potential of this idea or if it's that I'm afraid of of
this idea not being well received but but for whatever reason you're you might be working
on something you're just like yeah I just I don't know I'm just not as passionate about
this screenplay as I used to be so so maybe it's not fear specifically at least in the
example that I'm thinking of for myself but yeah I don't know
is finishing things no matter what not not just a screenplay is that something that's
always been instilled in you I don't know if I don't know if it's like necessarily like
an adage that I subscribe to I think i've just probably I don't know where I got it
or I got this sound bite but you know i've heard someone say that it's like you know
you know anyone can start writing a book or a screenplay or whatever but it takes you
know real dedication to finish something and that's not to say that I'm like you know the
the pillar of that you know platitude that you know I'm I'm I always finish everything
that I start but but I I found that quote to be you know inspiring to myself and so
I'm like yeah like that is true like it really does take a lot of work to actually finish
something and that alone kind of makes it worth doing because not a lot of people can't
sit through it all the way so I try to try to remind myself of that from time to time
as I'm working if that's the thing that helps motivate me to keep going then i'll definitely
channel that idea how did you develop your writing routine it took a few years to figure
out what kind of worked for me I used to be someone who would just power like you know
do like eight nine hour sessions and just keep going or I would right in the middle
of the night because I felt like I was more creative then or whatever it was but over
time to me I found that the most productive thing for me to do was to have it be scheduled
at the same time and to just do it for you know three or four hours max because after
about three or four hours if I'm actually doing the work correctly I'm pretty spent
after that like or I feel like there's diminishing returns after a while but I also did pick
up a tip that I applied to myself and it really worked for me as I was watching an interview
with taika watit I actually and he was talking about his writing process and he was being
you know a reverend you know towards himself and self-deprecating is talking about how
he has add or whatever and he was like you know what really helps him is that he actually
sets a timer on his desk and he writes in 20 minute windows so he will do a timer that
so like you have to write for 20 minutes and there's no internet there's no checking your
phone there's no whatever and then you get five minutes after that 20 minutes and you
can do whatever you want you can browse reddit you can go on youtube you can go watch a film
courage video whatever you want to do and then the clock goes back to 20 minutes and
you got to write again and then you can take another five minute break and I actually started
doing that for myself and it was super super effective because it just it just forces you
to either stare at that blank page with a cursor blinking or you or you have to or or
you just you know start typing it's like you know because there's always that instinct
to like pick up your phone when you don't know what's right next or you know you're
hung up on a word or a sentence or a line of dialogue and you know it can become very
easy to tab over to a web browser and start you know looking up cat videos but when you
have this feeling of a timer that's telling you this is your time to write and you're
not allowed to do anything else that little added pressure is really helpful for avoiding
distractions so that was something that he mentioned that he did and ever since I tried
it out i've definitely built that into my routine and it's worked really well was that
his ted talk you know it might have been okay I'm not really sure it was it was definitely
an interview of some kind that I happened to catch and maybe it was a ted talk or maybe
it was just a you know talking behind the scenes or a promotion for a film that he did
I'm not really sure where it was that I saw that it's interesting too because it almost
reminds me of how some of these tech companies give people like an hour free time to be on
the to to surf the net and just just so they don't feel like they have to be stuck at their
desk and I'm wondering if we almost need that like because then we feel too like okay this
is a chore you have to do this yeah actually that's a great point because there is that
sensation of like you know we all do it we all like go on whatever facebook or instagram
and you all kind of noodle around while you're working and then there's this feeling of a
little bit of a guilt that you're procrastinating but if if you have these windows these time
slots where it's like okay 20 minutes work and then now five minutes you can do whatever
you want you can watch all the you know cat videos you want in this five minute time it
actually is very freeing and you get you know you give yourself that permission to procrastinate
in that little window and yeah I find it really helpful.
Question For The Viewers:
What helps you finish your screenplays?