Recommended Screenwriters
Tip 8: Kaizen. 1% Improvement per day = 365% per year.
- February 9, 2011
- Posted by: jennamilly
- Category: Interviews
Want to know the easiest way to become a professional? Kaizen. It's the Japanese strategy of continuous improvement, and it can get you to the top of any field.
Here's the logic. Improve by 1% a day, and next year, you'll be 365% better. Continue to improve every day for another year, and you'll be 730% better, etc.
Does it really work? It turned around the entire economy of Japan and made Toyota a leader in the auto industry. Since that success, Kaizen has been adopted by most major corporations throughout the world. It has also become a standard practice for sports coaches, business consultants, and life coaches.
How Does Kaizen Translate into Screenwriting?
This is about improving as a writer each day, not about improving a single screenplay each day (although you could use it there, also). Let me explain.
Let's say you've used the same rewrite process for the last four scripts. Over the course of 5 drafts, it naturally improves your script by 50%. So the script is consistently improving. But in using the exact same rewrite process, have you improved who you are as a writer? Probably not much.
Instead of that, let's have you improve your rewriting process (just attend our free Rewrite Teleseminar) and solve the major problem in your script — and that improves the script by 100% in one draft! The big change in your script comes from improving the writer's process, not the words.
If you learn a new way to write description, every line of description in your script will benefit. If you discover how to fill your characters with subtext, the entire script will suddenly gain depth.
Improve the WRITER, and every script you write for the rest of your life is better. Keep improving the writer, and you'll soon be one of the best in the World.
How Am I Going to Consistently Improve by 1% Per Day as a Writer?
Remember, the focus is on improving as a writer each day.
Just look at the problems you're having when you write or pick a component of screenwriting you'd really like to improve (subtext, terse description, meaningful action, character development, etc.) and do some research for how you'll improve it. That could include taking a class, reading screenwriting articles/books/professional scripts, joining a screenwriting critique group, or searching the web for information and tips.
BTW, ScreenwritingU classes are set up to naturally cause Kaizen. Each class is an "Expert Model" of how professionals write, and we only work with one skill set a day, so you are constantly applying what you learn to your own script.
However you choose to learn professional skills, systematically apply them to structure, character, action, dialogue, etc. of your script. Just make sure you use this process:
- IDENTIFY a skill to improve.
- ACQUIRE new knowledge (read script, book, search net, take a class, etc.).
- APPLY the new knowledge or improved skill to your script to cement the learning process.
Use this simple "Identify, Acquire, Apply" pattern every day to build your skills.
Add The Other Philosophies to This.
An immediate way to improve is at your finger tips: apply the philosophies. Are you engaging in this process, or are you just reading it? Each one of these philosophies gives you something you can improve today.
Consider how much it will improve your screenwriting career to…
- Become a master at finding Diamonds (Tip 3) and focusing your script on them.
- Constantly empower yourself (Tip 4) so you achieve more and take advantage of opportunities.
- Become better at deal making (Tip 5) so you naturally put together deals.
You can select any of these tips to instantly improve who you are as a screenwriter. And we have 12 more tips to come! If you take all of the tips on and turn them into action, you will succeed in this business in a big way.
Make Kaizen Part of Your Philosophy Now
The beautiful thing about Kaizen is that it is easy, and over a short period of time, you'll start to see big improvements in your screenplays.
And all you need to do is make the commitment and start taking action on it today.
ACTION: Make a list of the things you can improve in your writing, philosophy, and screenwriting business. Don't overwhelm yourself by thinking you have to do all of them today. Just pick one and improve it today. Then do it again tomorrow. Soon, you'll look back and be surprised at how far you've come.
QUESTION: What can you learn today that you can apply to your current script immediately? |
NOTE:
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