John and Craig open the 36th Scriptnotes with a brief discussion about contracts, and then face writer’s block head on.
“Writer’s block” is an overused term. When a writer claims to be suffering from it, he is usually wrestling with some combination of three common problems: procrastination, perfectionism, and fear. “Writer’s block” is a romanticized catch-all that distracts from these real issues.
Screenwriters can use a range of techniques to get over the hump, from setting a kitchen timer, to breaking work down into manageable chunks, to writing in an order that makes sense for the way you work.
They then take two quick listener questions before closing out the episode with this week’s One Cool Thing (TM).
It’s Tuesday! So head over to Panda Express and get yourself a celebratory meal to enjoy with episode 36 of Scriptnotes.
LINKS:
* [Jajangmyeon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jajangmyeon), Craig’s Korean noodles
* George Lucas, Seven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan’s [Raiders Story Conference](http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/03/raiders-story-conference.html)
* [Old Jews Telling Jokes](http://oldjewstellingjokes.com/)
* Charlie Seibel, [Giving a Bull an Enema](http://oldjewstellingjokes.com/post/22190142833) on OJTJ
* [iScore](http://iscorecentral.com/baseball/)
* INTRO: [Simon & Simon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDhz_mVcVCQ) theme
* OUTRO: [Umbrellas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9qF1W5xX8Q) by Fredo Viola
You can download the episode here: [AAC](http://traffic.libsyn.com/scriptnotes/scriptnotes_ep_36.m4a).
**UPDATE** 5-9-12: The transcript of this episode can be found [here](http://johnaugust.com/2012/scriptnotes-ep-36-writers-block-and-other-romantic-myths-transcript).