Writing something perfect - writer's block

I'm just watching an episode of The Prisoner, and I'm noticing flaws in it all the way through. Characterizations that are bad, bad plot, bad writing, bad acting, bad stunts, bad direction...lots of naff stuff in it.

But oddly, it's still entertaining, and still somewhat thought provoking.

What I can glean from watching it is that my own project really doesn't have to be perfect at all.

But it brings up an interesting conundrum: how much has my artistic block been related to my own state of mind, self expectation, fear of "failure" etc?

The Prisoner has a lot going for it: much to do with its success, apart from the original idea, is the setting - a spooky village - and the ambiguous nature of the storyline.

Ambiguity is great to fall back on when telling any story. I don't think I necessarily need to know exactly where I'm going to go with my own story/film/screenplay. I think, perhaps, I've taken the whole idea of it rather too seriously. I don't really need to do the impossible in order to get something watchable.


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Spent another day on "Strings" yesterday. Shot a scene at the dam. Very hot!

One way they approached making the film has been to use whatever's been available to them. If they know someone with a plane, they've used it. Someone with a nice car and they've used it. If they've found someone with a nice house, location, stuff...they've used it. So in essence they've created an entire film around what was available to them.

This is an interesting approach, and something I like to explore myself.

When I came to America 11 years ago I was intending to do something similar: explore the whole, wonderful business of improvisation. As an actor I've always enjoyed improvisation: it's the key to creativity. Applying improvisation to one's own life is even more exciting, once the idea's fully embraced. I know that as I made to with what I had, did what I could with it, created what I could, expanded, grew, and began to thrive as a person, my own sense of self reliance and confidence grew.

This same attitude can be applied to any project, I believe.

Even more exciting, perhaps, is that I can sit in front of a blank piece of paper (or, more likely, a program such as Final Draft) and create something from nothing. And the idea of making things come together out of nothing really is at the heart of creativity.

So it's time for me to explore some more stuff creatively. It's time for me to collaborate, too, perhaps, to make something really fun to do.

But I have an idea I'm already in a creative loop that's leading to bigger, better ones.

Got to do my own stuff too, though.