How To Beat Procrastination in Filmmaking

Think about your past two weeks.

You probably had twenty things you wanted to do. Maybe you even ranked tasks by importance and thought about how your life would be AMAZINGLY better if you’d just finish that fucking script.

But then what happened?

You know full well what you should do — in fact you probably know exactly how to do it! — but yet you didn’t “get around to it.”

“I didn’t feel like it.” “There’s always next week.” “Urgh, I’ve had this on my plate for six months and still haven’t started. I hate myself.”

So what can be done about this? How can you follow through when you don’t feel like following through?

Firstly, realize that “the feels” will always win. Always. If you don’t feel like doing something, nothing will make you take action.

Now imagine someone puts a gun to your head and tells you to do your tasks (yes, like that scene with the Korean shop owner in Fight Club). You’re gonna get it done! So clearly it’s not because you lack the skills, or that you can’t because you don’t have enough funding, etc…

It’s deeper than that.

The thing is, you know there are top tier filmmakers who always get their shit done. And no one is putting a gun to their head (that we know about). So what’s their secret? Here’s a hint…

They don’t rely on willpower. They don’t rely on inspiration. They don’t rely on “jus’ getting motivated, bro!”

Instead, they develop unbreakable systems.

The “Why + Force” Method

The REAL reason you procrastinate is because it’s feels easier to leave things to the last minute then to do it ahead of time. Simple. After all, why bust your ass for weeks beforehand when you can do it all the night before, right?

Wrong!

If you’re like me, you want to be in charge of your Croc brain — not the other way around. Here’s how.

The first step is to DELIBERATELY focus on what matters most.

1. What are the 5 key things that you have to do this year in order to be your best self in film?

No, not the 100 things you have to do next month. What are the 5 key things you MUST do by the end of this year?

The mistake everyone makes is that they have a To Do List that is larger than an erect appendage. Not that I’m that large to begin with. I mean, I’m average. About average. Maybe just below average. I mean, it’s not like I’m not insecure about it… I mean…

Let’s move on.

Start with a blank page and aggressively think only about the 5 key things you must do; nothing more, nothing less.

2. Figure out your galvanizing “why” for each of them

You must have an unshakeably intense “Why” for your goals to work or you won’t follow through.

What are outstanding benefits of achieving those 5 key things? Not the mediocre benefits. Forget mediocre! We’re all about OUTSTANDING. How will your life EXPLODE and lead to the opportunities that you SALIVATE over?

Then, what is the worst possible outcome if you don’t achieve these goals? Will you still be in your soul crushing 9 to 5? Will your friends look at you like a failure because you keep saying you’re gonna finally make your feature yet you’ve put it off another 12 months?

These reasons should be enough to EXCITE you out of bed.

For ordinary folk, this is where they would stop. But you’re not ordinary. How do we make sure we follow through, even during the times we wanna give up the most?

3. Ensuring you’ll follow through with an unbreakable system

My friend Brad wanted to wake up at 6AM everyday. Brad even had a powerful “why.” He wanted to workout and meditate so that he could lower his blood pressure since he just had his second heart attack. He wanted to see his kids graduate. So he set his alarm daily for 6AM but what do you think happened?

He hit snooze every time.

Every time! Waking up a full hour later, leaving no time to achieve his goals. But he was smart. Brad knew he couldn’t just rely on the “why” so he thought about a system that would FORCE him to wake up. It was genius.

You can pause here and brainstorm ways but what he did was genius in its simplicity.

He set two alarms. One for 6:00AM and one for 6:05AM. Then he placed the second alarm in his kid’s bedroom.

Ah! Now you see! When he wakes up at 6AM, sure he doesn’t wanna get up, who would? But he also doesn’t want his children to wake up so now he has to get out of bed to turn off their alarm before it goes off.

F’ing genius!

What’s the lesson? Don’t rely on “motivation,” instead, think about the unbreakable system you can implement that will FORCE you to accomplish those goals.

Here are some ideas, but remember, it’s most effective when it’s unique to you.

Make a public declaration: that you’ll get that edit or screenplay done over the weekend or you tell whoever it is you working with to hold you too it.

Set up an account where you have to donate money to a charity you hate: You’d be surprised how well financial loss can motivate. In fact, stikK.com is known for this and right now the most popular anti-charity is the George W. Bush Presidential Library.

If all else fails, tell your girlfriend / boyfriend not to have sex with you: It sounds stupid but a potential month or two without sex will for sure get you off your ass and working. You might even finish that day.

Again those are really broad ideas and most likely what works for you will be really specific / geared towards your particular incentives.

How To Stop Procrastinating In Editing

This is a big problem for me as well. Getting to that final edit is one of the most grueling and humbling tasks.

“I can’t bare to look at my footage… How many more cuts should I make? I can’t even tell if it’s good or garbage anymore. And who has money to hire an actual editor?”

Even Louis CK does his own editing.



It’s hard but someone has to do it. It’s your movie, it’s your job. You gotta do it cause no one else will.

You know your “why”, now you just need the “force” (insert obligatory Star Wars joke here). Here’s how I forced myself to finish editing my first feature film, I’m Okay.

I told Norman Snider (Dead Ringers – Cronenberg) that the feature will be at final cut in 4 days and that I would gave him a Blu Ray copy.



But what Norman didn’t know is that I had been putting of editing just 4 hours of work for MONTHS and was using him as possible humiliation to force myself to finish.

I did what I needed to do to get it done and it worked.

How To Stop Procrastinating in Writing

The biggest reason for procrastinating in writing is NOT writer’s block. It’s that we expect too much of ourselves and want a perfect draft right out of the gate.

“How can someone like me not be perfect every time?”

The thing to remember is that what all professional writers know: Real writing is rewriting.

Allow yourself to write garbage.

Give yourself the freedom to be a fuck up because all great writing comes from constantly messing up and then fixing it later.

But how do you FORCE yourself to write, even if it’s just a “shitty first draft”? Here’s one method that involves public declarations of humiliation.

Copy and paste this in an email to ALL your family and friends:

Hello (insert name here) I am currently writing a screenplay and I don’t want to be a lazy idiot. Please, when you see me, constantly ask me how my screenplay is going and remind me that I said I would finish it by (insert date here). Don’t accept my excuses. Insult me if you need to. Thank you. No this is not a joke.

One of the people we’re incubating actually used that exact word-for-word script above and she finished her screenplay ahead of time.

Your next steps

Congratulations! You’ve read a long ass article on procrastination. You finished it because it’s important to you but that’s not enough. Everyone has to take action.

Below are the specific concrete steps to take so you can be the best god damned filmmaker you can be.

Action Step (total time 55 minutes)

1. Start with a blank page and write the 5 key things that you have to do this year in order to be your best self in film.

Don’t fall into the trap of writing 100 items, just boil it down to key 5. This will take 20 minutes.

2. For each of them, write your intense “why.”

How will your life look if you just took action in this area of film? What would your life look like if you didn’t? Intensely visualize every vivid detail. This will take 15 minutes.

3. Come up with your unique unbreakable system to FORCE you.

Now that you know you’re “why” you need your “force.” This is unique to you and your incentives. No one can do this for you. This will take 20 minutes.

Think outside of the box.

For example, my friend wanted to go to the gym before work everyday and tried countless things. He realized the hardest part was actually just getting to the gym, not the actual workout. He thought for a few minutes about what would FORCE him.

So he threw away all of his deodorant except ONE, which he strategically placed half a block away in his gym locker.

Ah, interesting! Now he has to go the gym before work since he doesn’t wanna go to work smelling like sweat all day. Genius in its simplicity.

What sort of system like this can you implement to make sure you finish that filmmaking goal you’ve been meaning to complete?

We want to give credit where credit is due. Most of this material comes from us testing for years on our ourselves and filmmakers like you that we are helping by incubating their films for free, however, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention The Power To Get Things Done (not affiliate link) which a fantastic book on this subject.

Here’s a great talk giving an overview of the book if you can’t order it right now.

So what’s something you’ve been putting off that you keep telling yourself you’re gonna do? How has it been affecting you and how would your life change if you could finally accomplish it?

Let us know below and we’ll respond to each comment.