LET’S REVIEW

You want to master the craft of screenwriting.

You know that mastering anything takes about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.

That’s a big commitment, but you’re determined to succeed. Plus, you know that you can start earning money as a screenwriter before you reach the master level. And you know that if you’re smart about how you practice and avoid jumping around in search of shortcuts, you can dramatically accelerate your progress.

You also know that learning how to write screenplays requires watching movies, reading scripts, studying film and writing scripts. More than that, deliberate practice requires that you break your practice exercises down into focused, repetitive, tough tasks and spend more time training than actually performing.

But how much time?
How long should you spend on each activity?
And what if you only have a limited amount of time to begin with?

All good questions. Let’s look at the answers…

HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD YOU SPEND WRITING VS TRAINING?

First, there are no set percentages or easy answers. Sorry. But there is a clear and striking pattern when you look at top performers in other fields. From sports to music to art to chess to investing to comedy, the best of the best spend the majority of their time learning and practicing, not performing.

Take sports. A game may last several hours, although it’s likely an athlete only performs for half that time at most. They may take the next day off to rest, but the top performers are back training right after that. All deliberate practice is draining — physically or mentally — so 4-5 hours is about the max you can practice in one day. That’s about a 1:10 to 1:20 ratio between performing vs. training.

The same ratio holds up for musicians. Days and days of practice for a few hours in concert. And long concert tours often become weeks and weeks of training on new songs for a few days recording the next album.

In painting, Claude Monet was famous for destroying hundreds of canvases while trying to understand and master new techniques and subjects. In comedy, the film COMEDIAN shows how Jerry Seinfeld spends countless small sessions testing new material and practicing his bits before headlining  a large show. Seinfeld’s ratio may be even higher than an athlete’s.

So, how much time should you spend writing vs. training?

At a minimum, about 1:10. That’s 10 hours of training for every hour of writing on your final product. 20 hours of training is even better.

Of course, your training doesn’t need to be all vocabulary exercises. Like a musician practicing new songs on tour or a comedian testing new jokes for an upcoming show, a lot of your practice can directly support your final screenplay. (Note: that’s not a loophole to squeeze in more writing time; your practice still needs to be deliberate. We’ll look at many ways to do this in an upcoming post.)

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND ON EACH ACTIVITY?

You’re ready to invest 10 hours of practice for every hour of writing, but how much time should you spend watching movies vs reading scripts? Or studying film? Or practicing your writing?

Again, there are no easy answers because everyone is different. Where you are on your screenwriting journey also influences how you should spend your time.

• At the novice level, watching movies and studying film are more important. You need to develop a fundamental understanding of film and storytelling. Everyone starts at the same place.
• As you progress to the apprentice level, reading scripts becomes more important than watching movies. Practicing your writing supersedes studying film. Here you’re honing in on the craft and possibilities of screenwriting. Tailoring your practice to your particular skills at this level can really accelerate your progress. (And not doing so can kill your momentum, which is one reason why so many aspiring writers drop out here.)
• At the professional level, your script reading will shift away from analysis and move toward surveying the marketplace. Your practice will also expand to include business skills like pitching, treatments and adaptations. You’ll target your practice to correct your weaknesses and expand upon your strengths. At this point, your practice will be highly personalized.
• And back full circle at the master level. Tiger Woods has famously rebuilt his golf swing three times. When you get the top, it’s time to go back to the fundamentals.

Ultimately, though, the question of how long to spend on each activity is misleading. The real metric isn’t how long you study, but how hard.

WHAT IF YOU ONLY HAVE A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME TO BEGIN WITH?

First off, you don’t need much when you’re practicing deliberately. 4-5 hours a day may be the max you can spend practicing deliberately, but many top performers require less. If you give it your all and are smart about how you practice, you can accomplish a lot with only 30-60 minutes a day. You’ll also find that well-designed deliberate practice will allow you to work a lot faster and a lot better during the time you are writing. Win win.

Second, chances are you have more time than you think you do. Lots more. I’ll cover many productivity and time management strategies in upcoming posts. For now, you need only commit to practicing for a little while each day. Work on improving your focus before you worry about increasing your time.

LET’S REVIEW

You want to master the craft of screenwriting.

You know you need to spend at least 10 hours practicing for every hour you spend writing a script. You know you need to tailor your practice to your progress on your screenwriting journey. And you know building your focus is more important than freeing up your schedule.

Alright! This is doable. Let’s begin…