[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Do you work on one script at a time or do you have multiple screenplays going?
Collin Watts, Screenwriter: Yeah, I have multiple things at once. I think in an ideal world you’re working on a new script, you’re rewriting something else and you’re kind of developing something else. I think it’s important to have those things going at all times.
They use a little bit of different parts of your brain. The rewriting and editing process is a little bit different than the free flow of I’m trying to write this new draft, which is also different from the ideation stage.
So I try to have a couple things going at once, at least two but also it’s sometimes when you’re working on too many things it can muddle it up.
I think it’s good to try to blast out. I was saying earlier, it’s important to keep your forward momentum going on a new screenplay and finish that thing. I feel so many people can write a great 30-pages or a great 50-pages but then it just kind of meanders and falls off.
I think for everybody it’s different but yeah to have a couple things going and I’m always trying to come up with new log lines or concepts just to think about what’s next.
Film Courage: When do you know when to put one away and start working on the other? Is it when you feel you can’t figure a way out?
Collin: It’s either I’m blocked on the puzzle, so I might put it away for a little bit or it’s okay finish the script you started showing some people or you’re sharing with people it’s Well what else? What else are you going to be working on?
I mean one of the biggest things, and you ask me lessons I’ve learned, is for me personally I think a lot of younger writers (newer writers) will focus on one thing, their big idea or their big script and they’ll keep rewriting it and they’ll keep tweaking it and they’ll keep fine-tuning it and they’re not working on other things. When they go to pitch it to somebody it’s What else do you got? Which will be you’re always going to get that question of What else do you have? And it’s important to have a lot of different things. One guy could be looking for a western, one guy could be looking for…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Collin Watts is a Los Angeles based screenwriter with a focus on creating genre films with a personal touch. Originally from Illinois, he is a graduate of Florida State University and the UCLA professional screenwriting program.
Collin began his career by writing several successful short films that premiered in over 30 festivals worldwide including “The Wretched” and “Sunnyvale” which both premiered at Screamfest Los Angeles. Four of his feature scripts placed in top screenwriting contests including the Austin film Festival, the tracking board top ten, and the Cinestory Foundation.
Collin wrote his first feature, “HOT SEAT”. The film was released theatrically in 2022, and starred Mel Gibson, Kevin Dillon, and Shanon Doherty.
In 2023, he wrote and produced “THIS LAND,” a topical horror film that was released on VOD from Terror Films.
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