Writer's block officially sucks. You know you're talented. And you know there are stories all around you. But you sit down at your computer or typewriter and the communication between your brain and your fingertips just isn't there. I've gone through periods of MONTHS where I couldn't come up with anything worthwhile.
I use a couple of the techniques to get rid of writer's block -- and it's just kind of random whether they work or not.
First thing's first, I have to write everyday. Even if it's not a script. Keep a journal, keep a blog. But just get things down. Get thoughts out of your head. One of the worst causes of writer's block is having too much going on in your head. Keep a journal and do nothing but purge everyday. Did you see something different, new, cool, bizarre, weird, horrible? Write it down, and detail it exactly how you saw it and describe your thoughts about it -- no rules, just free write. Was your day totally boring, nothing happened at all? Write it down. Just because nothing "happened," doesn't mean you didn't have thoughts during the day. Write those down. Once you get all the junk out of your head, it might be easier to sit down and write your script.
Also, at least try to work on your movie projects a little each day. Even if it's just outlining one or two scenes. Then, when you get done with those, re-arrange, re-write, start expanding your scene lists. Write character biographies. Again, just get it down on paper. Write them out by hand. Don't be limited by using a computer. Create flow charts, manic run-on sentences, doodles!
Third, and this is what's been going on with me lately. I found that it became suddenly VERY difficult for me to just sit down at a computer and type. I had a hundred times before, but it just stopped coming to me. I had ideas, notes, notebooks full of ideas but nothing was getting done. It's gotten easier for me to tell a story than it is to write a story lately, so I went out to Radioshack and bought a small, hand-held voice recorder with a couple of hours worth of memory. Now I can walk around, pace back and forth, and multitask while I "write," which was what was getting in the way of me writing in the first place -- I'd sit down to write, decide I needed something to eat, then I needed noise to break up the silence and I would spend an hour downloading music, then creating playlists, then turning on the television, picking out a DVD, cleaning my room, walking the dog to "clear" my head (yeah right). This way, I could just run with it.
Lastly, I finally stopped writing just screenplays. I got so caught up in "will it sell, what do people want to see, boy these characters suck." So I've been working on a book, a couple of plays, some short stories, even poetry every now and then. While it's not screenwriting, at least it's writing and I get some sense of enjoyment out of it the way I used to enjoy just sitting down and punching out a script in eight hours.
Anyway, these are just a few things that have helped me. I'm still working through a writer's block right now, but it gets a little better everyday.
