History Main / WritersBlockMontage

* In ''Series/{{Millennium}}'', author Jose Chung is shown suffering from this.

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* At the beginning of ''ThrowMommaFromTheTrain'', Larry just can't come up with the right word to complete the first sentence of his new novel. He struggles even harder with it after seeing his book-thieving ex-wife on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''.

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* One alternate-universe [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] had writer's block while writing a novel. Frustrated, he picks up the typewriter, crumples it into a ball, and hurls it through the wall of his lunar Fortress of Solitude. It smacks into a hillside miles away, which is shown to be pockmarked with craters, each containing a crumpled typewriter...

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[[MostWritersAreWriters When a character is a writer]] and [[WritersBlock his creative efforts are stalled]], his torment is invariably displayed as a montage. The sequence inevitably includes shots of ashtrays slowly filling to overflowing, bottles of booze (or pots of coffee) slowly emptying, a ticking clock, typewritten letters appearing one at a time to form words on a page, and a series of shots of the author at his typewriter: putting in a fresh sheet of paper, typing, pulling out the sheet to crumple it up and throw it away with a disgusted look, and shots of the trashcan overflowing more and more. Other possible shots include his worried agent or publisher, everyone in the house knocking on the door one at a time wondering if he's still alive, the writer sitting in various positions on his chair, and the despairing creator punching a hole in the wall. See also WastebasketBall.

[[MostWritersAreWriters When a character is a writer]] and [[WritersBlock his creative efforts are stalled]], his torment is invariably displayed as a montage. The sequence inevitably includes shots of ashtrays slowly filling to overflowing, bottles of booze (or pots of coffee) slowly emptying, a ticking clock, typewritten letters appearing one at a time to form words on a page, and a series of shots of the author at his typewriter: putting in a fresh sheet of paper, typing, pulling out the sheet to crumple it up and throw it away with a disgusted look, and shots of the trashcan overflowing more and more. Other possible shots include: his worried agent or publisher, everyone in the house knocking on the door one at a time wondering if he's still alive, the writer sitting in various positions on his chair, and the despairing creator punching a hole in the wall. See also WastebasketBall.

* ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' plays with this trope. Our first shot of Will sees him busily and confidently scribbling away, and we cut to his paper to see that he's just [[HistoricalInJoke trying out different signatures over and over.]] However, he ''does'' crumple up a sheet of parchment and toss it away moodily - only for it to land next to a very {{Hamlet}}-esque skull.

* It's not really a ''montage,'' per se, but ''[[SeventeenSeventySix 1776]]'' shows an 18th-century version of the process with Jefferson's inability to write the first draft of the Declaration of Independence -- right down to the discarded blank sheet.

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* [[IrregularWebcomic Writer's]] [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/374.html block]].
** [[JustForPun At least it's]] [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/376.html something he can build on]].

* ''{{Spaced}}'' has a version where Daisy stares at a blank piece of paper in the (yes) typewriter and keeps glancing at the clock, apparently seconds apart, yet every time she does an hour has passed.

* In ''{{Film/Julia}}'', Lillian Hellman goes through one while struggling to write ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour''.

* ''BlackBooks'', in the episode in which Bernard and Manny try to write a children's book, plays this one straight.

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* ''BartonFink'' is essentially an entire movie based on this principle, down to Fink typing the exact same establishing shot and nothing else every time he sits down. Supposedly, Creator/TheCoenBrothers wrote it while they were blocked writing ''MillersCrossing''.
* ''ShakespeareInLove'' plays with this trope. Our first shot of Will sees him busily and confidently scribbling away, and we cut to his paper to see that he's just [[HistoricalInJoke trying out different signatures over and over.]] However, he ''does'' crumple up a sheet of parchment and toss it away moodily - only for it to land next to a very {{Hamlet}}-esque skull.

* In ''TheWestWing'', speechwriting can be difficult for both Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler. The way the latter deals with writer's block gives good comedic fodder, as when he sets sheets of paper on fire and when he gets drunk on Air Force One trying to write a eulogy for a Republican President he loathes. There's also the pink rubber ball.

** [[IncrediblyLamePun At least it's]] [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/376.html something he can build on]].

* In ''FoxTrot'', Roger wants to write a novel. There are a few strips where he's struggling to come up with an idea and Andy gets annoyed at how long he's taking, and then he names the trope HerCodeNameWasMarySue (not literally, but he writes the TropeNamer).

* One alternate-universe ClarkKent had writer's block while writing a novel. Frustrated, he picks up the typewriter, crumples it into a ball, and hurls it through the wall of his lunar Fortress of Solitude. It smacks into a hillside miles away, which is shown to be pockmarked with craters, each containing a crumpled typewriter...

* In ''TheWestWing'', speechwriting can be difficult for both Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler. The way the latter deals with writer's block gives good comedic fodder, as when he sets sheets of paper on fire and when he gets drunk on Air Force One trying to write a eulogy for a Republican President he loathes.