Soundtracking Screenplays

I have not made a movie, but I make soundtracks all the time. It's probably because when I was younger I used to make mix tapes (actually CDs) all the time, whether it be for friends (getting them into the good music), girls I had crushes on, or just myself for the car. So making a "soundtrack" is just a logical extension of that now that I'm trying to write screenplays. It's just how I work, and why shouldn't it? I don't believe you can make a great film without a great score/soundtrack to accompany it. All great filmmakers utilize great music, so why shouldn't screenwriters, right?

I started writing my first screenplay in Junior year of college. I had the idea, but I didn't know how to turn that idea into a 90+ page document. Writing 90 pages is kind of daunting, even in screenplay format which has very generous spacing, so I threw some tunes on my iPod which I felt would be part of the film's soundtrack, perhaps not lyrically, but in feel. Screenplay #1 was a romantic comedy with a bit of a twist so I used a lot of glitch-pop like Looper and Dntel (pre-Postal Service stuff) and while the songs might've not even been romantic or fitting, they helped me think of scenes.

Screenplay #2's plot takes place in high school so accordingly, I filled my iPod up with stuff that was popular in high school, actually no. I filled with stuff that I thought should've been popular in high school like Jawbreaker and things that I wish kids listened to in high school now like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I concede that high school is a time to be punk, I just wish they listened to the good punk at the time, since it's probably too much to ask for kids to listen to good old-school punk.

Screenplay #3 is about a Korean-American family and I obsessively listened to Danger Doom. I can't really elaborate on that or I'd give too much away.

I'm starting to re-write Screenplay #1 and I've hit a serious case of writer's block. I've been going to a Screenwriter's Group and I've gotten a lot of feedback on how I can make it better and I've actually ordered a book to also help me with the rewrite, but the problem for me has been finding the music to help me through the process. The music I used for the inital write can't be used again, so I'm searching for music to reinspire me to flush out this alternate universe that I've created. I hope whatever band/genre it is doesn't get offended that I think they make good "re-write music". It just means their music is cinematic and I know that I can't write a great screenplay without a great soundtrack.