Why I Stopped Outlining And Started Writing (And Why It’s Terrifying)

I’ve always written all my TV scripts according to a very methodical screenwriting process. I break the story, do somestory mapping, write an incredibly detailed script outline (including lots of dialogue and jokes), THEN write the script. That has always been my creative philosophy in the writers’ room (where I’m working with lots of other writers), and I’vepretty much stuck to it when I have been on my own.  But I’m trying to write a feature, and I’m finding feature film writing a little different from TV script writing. I have a story, and I really like it, but it’s only part of the movie, and as I have tried to figure everything out I’ve felt—not necessarily writers’ block, but maybe writers’ speedbump. Like, you know those speedbumps that are the same color as the pavement and you don’t see them til you hit them? Like that. So I’m trying to just dive in.  Leap and the net will appear. We’ll see how it goes.