In the mean time....

"What do I do in the mean time?" Right, all of us at one point or another are waiting for something. Either a call back, a meeting, a script to be written, or and executive to care(snowball and a hot place). So what do you do while you wait for the inevitable "no" that you've been waiting for to shut the door on this project so you can emotionally detach yourself and move on to the next one. The answer I am afraid is not simple or easy.

Like so many things in this industry there are copious layers to getting things done. So, if you have a pitch that is supposedly "out" and your waiting for Monday so you can harass the PA at the production office some more. What do you do with the intervening hours? By the way this is not just for the weekends it more often than not speaks to months of dead time in which you have no major projects and no major money(if you had the money you could "play" like the people who do do. I think I just typed dodo.)

Moving on, staying busy with some sort of Entertainment Industry anything is usually the first best option. If it is in the industry and will not threaten your current project obligations I say it's a "must". The only cure for being "on-the-set" is being ON THE SET!

It does not matter which set, just being on one usually does the trick for me.

The real problem comes when being on a set is not an option. Now what...this is the tricky part.

If you have vices, like you drink too much, or you smoke pot a little more than a little, or you go clubbing 3x per-week not including weekends. For me I have done most of these at one time or another and none of it fills the void. Some people are fortunate enough to be able to figure out how to manage a family and/or a serious relationship in the middle of the career chasing and can occupy them selves with that.

If that is not the case, or if you've done that already and your freaking out waiting.....then this next part is for you.

There is no perfect answer because every person is just enough different even though we got bit by the same but that this is VERY subjective.

The best thing that I have found, is to exercise(like running, nocturnal activities with another person don't count) something that gets your cardio up and allows you to be in your own head.
Then, I work on pre-production or the grand finale write.

Writing is the real answer, or taking some sort of writing class(which kind of is in the industry work category, that is part of any education which usually takes some time and money so I count it as industry work for this example).

But really, writing, story-boarding an existing script, working on a new pitch for a project. These are all things that keep your juices flowing and help keep your mind off of "THE project" of the moment.

Keep in mind that I am writing right now.....yes this is keeping me sane.