Planning for "What's Next"

One thing I have noticed through the other places that I have worked was a lack of vision for the future. Not that there was not a concern for it but there were not any plans really for it. In the entertainment field (but this is true in every field), you must be developing new projects. You must be thinking, “What’s next?”  Even if that “next” is 3 or 4 years away. Creating these properties takes an exceptionally long time (for some reason) and it is always great to have something in reserve ready to go.

I look at this way. I am not a huge fan of baseball but look at how teams keep bringing in fresh players. They do not just have the major leagues. If that were true when a player gets hurt, the season is over. They have farm systems that “grow” and develop players. When those players are ready, they get called up to the “show.”

I can imagine if a team did not do that, they would not do very well. May even lose their franchise.

I have seen that happen at a few places in the entertainment business. I am sure there are hundreds more.

You must always be thinking, “What’s next?”

I am too.

One must think what the next project is going to be. As creatives, we constantly fill our brains with ideas. We nurture the good ones and toss aside the bad ones. Some of us cannot let go of the bad ones because we feel that if given the chance, that project will mature into the funny show/feature it was intended to be. I have a huge backlog of such projects. Great idea but terrible execution.

That is an important part of developing your future projects. Make sure to give them a full chance. Figure out the angle that makes that project special. Research the heck out of it to make it authentic. Write and rewrite and rewrite. Then write some more.

And then give it time to breathe.

Too often we force the creative brain to do what we want and, as most of you know, it does not work that way. Being in the right frame of mind has a ton to do with how creative we are. If we are worried more about getting the project perfect to be able to be sold to some producers, we will never make it as good as it can be. It will feel forced because it is and people will see it.

It is okay to have a bunch of plates spinning. Projects at different points of development. That keeps the excitement going. Keeps the creative juices flowing. Do not be afraid to do that and keep them spinning.

I have various projects in various stages of development. Feature scripts, Series Pilots, Novels, Short stories, blog posts…

Come to think of it. I need to get back to writing one of them.