Writing to the playlist
Several weeks ago John August put forth the notion of creating a playlist as a tool for writing.
Before you start writing any screenplay, make a playlist of music that feels like the movie. It’s a fundamental part of my process.
I’ve done this from the beginning. For Go, I had a mix tape with Christmas songs and rave beats. 1 For Big Fish, I burned a CD. In the age of iTunes, it’s vastly easier. Think of movies that resemble your movie, then click through their soundtracks, previewing tracks before adding them to a custom playlist.
Most of these songs would never be in your final movie. Rather, you are assembling music that reminds you of the feeling you’re trying to create. More crucially, you want music that reminds you why you’re writing this script.
A good playlist helps you get started. A great playlist helps you finish.
It is interesting. Amazingly, I’ve never done this. For me, listening to music--or anything--makes it near impossible to write. I think I’m too ADD. I find myself drifting into the music; letting it envelop me to the point that I can’t do anything else. It probably has something to do with spending nearly twenty years of my life deeply ensconced in the music business.
I can, however, listen to some music, let my mind paint a picture, and then use that as inspiration.
Maybe it takes practice.