John Cleese on Creativity

As a screenwriter, I find creativity the life’s blood of my work, but it’s also difficult to tap into, especially when I’m anxious about paying rent, staying connected with people, worrying about my personal brand, wanting to watch movies or surf the web (all for research, you know) and/or simply commune with my refrigerator.

Fortunately, someone asked Monty Python alum/movie star John Cleese (A Fish Called Wanda, Faulty Towers) to speak on Creativity.

You should take comfort in knowing that creativity is NOT a talent, but you do need five things in order to develop and exercise creativity:

• Space: get away from everything else, apart from your distractions;
• Time: a set block with definite beginning and end, within which you establish a creative oasis.  Best length is about 1.5 hours but probably less than 4 hours without break;
• Time: a duration necessary to get the creative work done, past the simple solution model.  That is, you must be willing to tolerate the discomfort of NOT making a decision until you have had a chance to play, dream and ponder a more creative solution.  If you don’t have to decide before Friday, then a Tuesday decision is too early;
• Confidence: Be open to the “what if”.  Don’t be afraid to be wrong.  The wrong idea is a stepping stone or “intermediate solution” to the better solution.  As John quoted, “You can’t be spontaneous within reason”;
• Humor: this gets us in the creative mode faster.   And like comedy, great ideas are the collisions between two different frames of reference to establish new meaning.   A synthesis.

He then mentions collaboration and suppressing creativity in underlings, both of which are also important.   You may notice the latter in various parts of your professional and personal experience.

We at Epiphany Space hope to take the rest to heart as we pursue our dream of a creative oasis in Hollywood. check domain owner