Becoming a productive filmmaker is about having clear goals, breaking them into small steps, and developing systems to execute them consistently.

In this article I share my personal strategy for doing this, to help you create stronger work in fewer hours.

This isn’t meant to be another generic productivity checklist. I’m not going to tell you to wake up 30 minutes earlier or hit the gym before doing creative work… Those type of habits certainly help, but today I want to take a more holistic point of view.

That’s why, in addition to exploring specific tactics like goal setting and building a weekly schedule, we’ll also look at the big picture. What are you working on, and why? What are you biggest goals as a filmmaker?

Because after all, it’s not about becoming more efficient at working on the wrong things.

It’s about having a crystal clear vision of where you want to be in the future, and reverse engineering how to best spend your time every day to achieve those goals.

Why Build A System For Creative Output?

Most aspiring filmmakers neglect their art. Some barely make time for it at all.

They feel too busy to work on their films on most days, and only end up doing so at completely random times. Instead of chipping away at their project a bit each day, they burn themselves out over a weekend to try to play catch up.

Some may find success working this way, but more often than not it is not sustainable and leads to lower quality output.

We want to avoid working in big random bursts, only when we feel “motivated”. In fact, we want to eliminate the need to be motivated all together.

This is how most professional artists work – at least the ones I know.

It’s never about pumping out a whole script in a weekend, or muscling through a rough cut by pulling all nighters. It’s about finding a reasonable amount of time each day to be creative, and using that time wisely.

Working this way not only makes it easier (and less intimidating) to execute a big project, but it tends to increase the creative qualities of that project too.

Personally, I would rather work on my film for 15 minutes every day than for 15 hours once every month or two. Spreading creative tasks out over a longer period gives you more time to develop artistically, and leads to more unique creative discoveries.

Write 1 page a day for 100 days, and I guarantee your last page will be better than your first.

Write 100 pages all in one sitting, and I’ll bet your last page is going to be a mess.

The strategy that follows takes this philosophy and puts it into action. It’s about doing more with less. And it can be used by anyone – even someone with full time work/family commitments.

Here’s how it works…

Start By Defining & Reverse-Engineering Goals

The first step is to gain clarity on what you actually want to work toward, so you can then map out how to get there. Do this by thinking about your longest term goals first, and then working back.

I learned about this technique in a book called The One Thing and have used it many times since. In a nuthsell, here’s how it works within the context of our productivity strategy –

You start by dreaming big and envisioning a highly specific 10 year goal. Where do you want to be with your career in 10 years? What milestone do you want to hit? No goal is too lofty at this point, so resist thinking too small.

Come up with your 10 year goal and write it down.

Next, ask yourself where you need to be in 5 years to reach that 10 year goal. What projects or milestones do you have to hit in 5 years to set you up for success in year 10? That becomes your 5 year goal. Write it down.

Now repeat the process until you reach the present moment. But work through it sequentially in these 5 stages, writing down one main goal for each stage:

10 years > 5 years > 1 year > Quarterly > Monthly

When you get to quarterly goals, you will create four – one for each quarter. And you will create 12 monthly goals for each individual month of the year.

This simple exercise is a great way to crystalize your long term vision, and determine which steps will be necessary today (and tomorrow) to get there.

Your strategy can of course change as time goes on. In fact, it should. But you have to be clear about which path to set out on to ensure you are headed in the right direction.

Convert Goals Into Action Items

The next step is to convert your goals into action items, so you can plan out your first month of creative tasks. You can start this process with your 1 year goal, and then work backwards.

Example:

1 YEAR GOAL: Complete Micro-Budget Feature Film

Q4 ACTION ITEM: Finish post-production

Q3 ACTION ITEM: Commence post-production

Q2 ACTION ITEM: Complete production

Q1 ACTION ITEM: Script development completed

Next, move to the nearest quarterly action item (Q1, script development), and break it down into monthly steps:

Q1 ACTION ITEM: Script development completed

MONTH 3 ACTION ITEM: Finish full script

MONTH 2 ACTION ITEM: Rough draft complete

MONTH 1 ACTION ITEM: Develop concept and complete treatment

At this point we should be able to draw a line directly from the tasks we need to accomplish this month, to our annual goal a year from now.

And we will understand how it fits into our long term plan, which will help keep us on track even when the going gets tough.

Turn Monthly Action Items Into Weekly Tasks

Once you’ve determined your monthly action items, the next step is to break your first month down into individual weekly tasks.

Example:

MONTH 1 ACTION ITEM: Develop concept and complete treatment

WEEK 4 ACTION ITEM: Revise treatment

WEEK 3 ACTION ITEM: Write treatment

WEEK 2 ACTION ITEM: Write logline

WEEK 1 ACTION ITEM: Develop concepts

Now things are starting to get really concrete and specific, which is what we want.

From here, you can break down Week 1 into as many sub-tasks/action items as you need to. For instance –

WEEK 1 ACTION ITEM: Develop concepts

WEEK 1 TASKS:

1. Brainstorm session
2. Free-write 100 ideas
3. Pick 5 concepts
4. Flesh out top 5 concepts
5. Pick top 1 concept

Now, you have the 5 (or whatever number) most important tasks that you need to get done that week. Next, you will build them into your daily schedule.

Create A To-Do List Template

At this stage, we want to build out a weekly to-do list that includes each of the Week 1 tasks we previously identified.

But we’ll start by first listing out all of the non-filmmaking tasks we are committed to, and factoring them into our workflow. This will help us accurately assess how much free time we have, and allocate the remaining time to our film projects more strategically.

For me, that means listing things like: writing blog posts, being on set for video shoots, business development, etc.

For someone else it might be: freelance commitments, teaching gig, staff meeting, etc.

It’s not that you have to put your art second, but if you don’t account for the inevitable day to day obligations you have, you’ll wind up with a creative schedule that can’t be sustained.

So plot out these unavoidable tasks on your to-do list, one day of the week at a time.

I like using Workflowy for this, but you can use any app of course, or pen and paper.

If you repeat the same tasks every week (as I do), you can just create a template and copy/paste it at the beginning of each week.

Here’s what my template looks like this week:

• Exercise (MON)
• Weekly planning (MON)
• Content strategy & review (MON)
• Commercial production meeting (MON)
• Exercise (TUE)
• Write blog post (TUE)
• Cinecolor email writing/send-out (TUE)
• Record podcast (TUE)
• Exercise (WED)
• Edit & publish podcast (WED)
• Website maintenance (WED)
• Cinecolor product development (WED)
• Exercise (THU)
• Edit & publish blog (THU)
• Schedule social media posts (THU)
• Cinecolor email writing/send-out (THU)
• Exercise (FRI)
• Weekly review (FRI)
• Commercial casting (FRI)

I like to bold the tasks for the current day, and then underline anything I think will take more than an hour to do. This helps give me a rough overview of each day, and ensure I don’t put so much on my plate that I can’t schedule in my creative tasks.

From there, all that’s left to do is copy and paste any weekly creative tasks onto the to-do list.

I suggest front-loading your week with more creative tasks, and leaving a buffer at the end.

For instance, if you have 5 tasks, try to fit all of them in between Monday and Wednesday. That way if you get sidetracked, you have the rest of the week to make up for it.

This is what my updated schedule might look like with the example creative tasks (in CAPS/ITALICS) added in:

• Exercise (MON)
• BRAINSTORM SESSION (MON)
• Weekly planning (MON)
• Content strategy & review (MON)
• Commercial production meeting (MON)
• FREE WRITE 100 IDEAS (MON)
• Exercise (TUE)
• PICK 5 CONCEPTS (TUE)
• FLESH OUT 5 CONCEPTS (TUE)
• Write blog post (TUE)
• Cinecolor email writing/send-out (TUE)
• Record podcast (TUE)
• Exercise (WED)
• PICK TOP 1 CONCEPT (WED)
• Edit & publish podcast (WED)
• Website maintenance (WED)
• Cinecolor product development (WED)
• Exercise (THU)
• CREATIVE TIME (THU)
• Edit & publish blog (THU)
• Schedule social media posts (THU)
• Cinecolor email writing/send-out (THU)
• Exercise (FRI)
• CREATIVE TIME (FRI)
• Weekly review (FRI)
• Commercial casting (FRI)

Note how I’ve also added in generic “CREATIVE TIME” slots on Thursday and Friday. If I don’t complete my creative tasks between Monday – Wednesday, I can simply move them into one of the available slots. Or if I do complete them, I can get a head start on something else.

With that done, the weekly schedule is complete! A bunch of small steps that lead to bigger milestones that lead to even greater long term goals.

Putting It Into Action

Even the best productivity strategy is only as good as the work you put into it.

The great thing about this system is that it doesn’t require immense amounts of unsustainable work. But it does require that you show up every day. The whole point is to make small incremental progress, but be consistent enough that it adds up to something truly substantial.

It’s common to create a plan and feel lost after two weeks. Know that’s normal, but resist the urge to quit. Give yourself at least 3 months of following your strategy, even if you doubt it at times.

After 90 days, look back on what you’ve accomplished and that will be all the motivation you need to keep going.

P.S. If you have a goal of making a feature film, check out my No-Budget Feature Film Blueprint here.

---

For exclusive filmmaking articles every Sunday, sign up for my newsletter here!