This Can Change A Writer’s Life But Most Will Never Do It - Corey Mandell

Previously we touched on the notion of you control  your process or the process will control you. How   will we know the difference? Can we revisit  this idea and yeah so writing process is   how you write. So you have this idea, you have  something, you know, maybe it's a story idea,   maybe it's a concept or a character, whatever  it is, whatever your initial inspiration is,   and it's could be anything. And then you know  what the finish line is. You want to end up   with a script that has, you know, great concept,  great story, great characters. If it's a comedy,   it's funny. If it's a thriller, right? So you  know, you're here and you want to get there. Now,   how do you do that? And that's the process. What  do you navigate toward? Um, what do you do when   you get stuck? Uh, when do you evaluate what  you're writing and how to evaluate? All of this   is process. And novel writers are taught early on  to develop and improve their process. Athletes,   it's all about process. I um I had these two  writers and the minute they came into my class,   I didn't know anything about them, but just  like the first thing they asked me, I'm like,   "These writers are going to be superstars. "  And they did. They these writers went on and   they wrote an Academy Award-winning film um  All Quiet on the Western Front um which won   the Academy Award for best foreign film and they  won the BAFTA for best screenplay and they were   not mean major writers, but I just knew by their  question and their attitude. Now, I didn't get   to know who they were for quite a while, but when  I got to know who they were, it was obvious. Um,   Leslie uh is a world champion athlete. I forget  it's where you run a marathon and then you swim   a marathon and bike, you know, these incredible uh  endurance competitions. I forget what it's called,   but it's crazy. And she competes against the top  people from all over the world. And what you as   an athlete, what you learn is you got to start  with your process, you know. So if you want to   be a professional golfer, you work on your golf  swing for like a year, you know, before you golf.    Um my wife runs marathons and I got inspired to  try to run a marathon. And I was like training   and I'm like, "God, I run slow. Um and I don't  run that far because I get tired. " So I went to   a I had a friend who's a sports scientist. I go,  "Should I work on my endurance or should I work   on my speed? " And he goes, "Neither. Work on your  process. If you don't get your process right, you   won't get speed or endurance. " So, it's like work  on your steps, your gate, how your foot strikes,   like, you know, and I'll help you with that.   So, that's how Leslie was programmed. and her   husband and partner, writing partner, Simon, uh  was a world-renowned sports psychologist working   with top athletes. So, of course, they came in  with this attitude of can you help us refine our   process? Can you get us stronger at process? Most  everyone comes in focused on product or outcome.    I know I did. You know, when I was starting out,  I wasn't like, "Can you help me with my process? "   I'm like, can you help me sell my script  or how do I write a script that, you know,   it's all about I know what I want. I want to sell  a script. I want to sit in a movie theater with   people and watch it. I want to know I can make  a living doing this. Um, that's everything that   I want. It's where I want to get to. But no one  was telling me here's the process to get there.    So what's really important with writers is they  have this process and it's usually like automatic   like they it's not conscious. They're not really  aware of it. So one of the things I do especially   when I work one-on-one with writers is I slow  them down. I ask them a lot of questions and I   want to know what their process is. So, I might be  working with someone and um their process is   um they've got to figure out the concept and  they story and they got   to have it mapped out before they write. And  I might work with a different writer who's the   opposite. They're like, I can't be thinking about  the story until I know the characters. And I just   spend a lot of time with the characters.   And I just write and I write.    Right? And it just hopefully the story will  start to emerge. Okay? These are very different   processes. Right? So the writer who's got to  work it all out before they write, I'm going   to suggest an exercise or suggest they write a  script where um they don't do it that way and   they do it the opposite way. And I'm interested  in how much push back I get. And the writer said,   "I can't do it that way. " they're rigidly locked  into this process and this process is controlling

them. The reality is to control your process what  I when I'll work with a writer it'll be okay. So   when you are going to start from here and want to  end up here there's a lot of different processes   you can use. Maybe based on that writer I'll  map out seven different processes. So, you know,   we'll go for two extremes. One is you're going  to figure it all out story-wise, lock it down   before you write it and stick to it. On the other  end is you're just going to dive in with certain   prompts and write and explore and let the story  start to reveal itself to you. But that that's   just two. There's going to be five other different  processes. And what I always tell them is I'm not   smart enough to look at you right now and hear  how you write and know which of these seven or   10 processes process is going to be the best  for you. And I don't think you're smart enough to   know. Um I don't think anyone we gravitate  towards the process that is in our comfort   zone that plays to our strengths and maybe hides  our weaknesses. Um, so what I tell everybody is if you want to work with me, I'm gonna have you  try out all these different processes processes.    Um, I'm dyslexic, so I have a problem with  that word. Um, and we're going to find out   which of these process processes, if that's the  way you say it, is creates your best product.    Now, I don't have them write seven or 10 scripts  because that would take a very long time. So, what   I've done over the years is figured out a more  contained writing exercise that they could do. Um,   and maybe it would be two weeks. So, they could  do, you know, seven of these in 14 weeks. Um,   and what's really interesting, I learned this  the hard way, is I realize that if I have a writer   and I have them try out these different processes,  I c and then I let them decide which is the best   which is their best pages. They're always going  to pick the pages that were created by the process   that's in their comfort zone that they like to do.   and the pages they created with the process that   like was really scary or uncomfortable for them,  they hate those pages. Um, so when I was worked   with writers, I would and I still do, I'll create  like a group and I'll say, "Okay, you're going to   be trying out these different processes and then  you're going to be bringing in 15 pages with   this process and the group's going to read it and  they're going to give you feedback on it. " Um, and   what always, not always, but what often happens is  the writer, um, they'll say, "Hey, can I   talk to you before class? It's really important. "  I'm like, "Okay. " Um, and they're like, "Okay,   so I like what you're saying. Uh, I think  it's great. I that's when they say that, you know,   they have a real problem with it,   right? and they're like, "So, I agreed to do   these different process these and I did this one  process and I created these pages and I know it's   scheduled for people to read it today and give me  feedback, but uh I'm not No, no. Like, trust me,   these pages suck. This is embarrassing. I don't  want anyone to read it. And I'm not mad at you,   Corey, that you had me do this, which means they  probably are, but uh you know, lesson learned.    This is not my" And I'm like, "No, no, it it's you  have to let everyone read it. " And they're like,   "No, no. " And I'm like, "Well, I can't force you,  but I won't keep working with you. " And so they're   like, "Oh, all right. " And what always happens  is when people read it, they're like, "Oh my, I didn't know you were this amazing. This blows  me away. " And it's really interesting to watch the   writer. Um, initially they're really upset.   Like no one wants to be told that you can't   evaluate your own writing, but we have certain  processes that it's just we're comfortable and   we're natural. You know, it's like when you think  about life, there's things we do on autopilot   um without really thinking about it and we  do it over and it becomes habitual   and some of those things are not necessarily  the healthiest. you know, some of those things   aren't always serving us. And it's important  sometimes to have someone point it out in,   you know, in your life to go, "Oh, yeah, I always  react this way in the situation or I handle this   in a this way, but maybe there are other ways I  could try. " So, I remember this one writer, Gary,   um I wish I had recorded this, but um his I was  going to say wife, I think fiance at the time,

um who becomes his wife. She was a development  executive at a big company. And um so he wrote   these pages using so what I do is when I lay out  the seven processes let's say for you if I was   working with you I'd say of these seven like which  one or two would you most want to do which one or   two would you least want to do? Is there anyone  that you think I don't think I could even do   that process or is there a process that you think  just kind of terrifies you? And then, you know,   depending on the person, how much courage they  have, you know, if they're like gung-ho courage,   like they're they're down for this. We're  going to start with the scariest one. If they're   maybe they want to do us, but they need to ramp  themselves up, we'll start with one of the easier   ones. So for Gary the this particular process was  the one he was like I don't think I could do   this. I I don't I'm terrified of it. But Gary  was very courageous. So before I could say   it goes so I should probably start with that  one. Like I love it Gary. I love you. Yeah. So   he did it and he's like no one's going to read  these pages. People read it. They loved it. And   I remember he came up to me after the can I talk  to you? Can I talk to you after class? I'm like   yeah. And he's like can you move me to a different  group? I'm like why? He goes, "Well, these people,   they don't know what they're talking about. You  know, these people, they think it's great. It's   not great, you know. " And I'm like, "Gary, did  have you shown your fiance these pages? " He goes,   "Oh, no. Like, I don't think she'd be my  fiance if she saw these pages. " I'm like, "Oh,   come on. " You know, he was like an  insecure writer. He thought these pages were   so terrible. Finally, I got him to  show her the pages. And she like swacked him   over the head and like, "Gary, I didn't know you  could write like this. how come you haven't been   writing like this for, you know, and  uh and she actually showed these pages to um uh   to Brian Glazer at Imagine and it was just like  15 pages. It wasn't even a script and he showed   it to Imagine. They loved it so much they brought  Gary in and they're like, "We want to work with   you. " And the point is he would never have shown  anyone these pages. So our habitual process of how   we start a project, h what we navigate toward, how  we evaluate it, what we think is good or not good.    We do this on autopilot over and it just  becomes reality. And that means that process   is controlling us. to control your process, you  have to first say there's other ways I could do   this. There's other ways that writers go about  doing this. You have to first accept that there's   different paths. There's different processes  that I have found to be a pretty easy thing to   get writers to see. The next one not so easy to  get certain writers to see, which is this process   that you're using. Maybe it's the best process.   Maybe it's not. maybe there's a better process and   the only way to know is to experiment and try  different processes out. Half the writers are   like, "Yeah, let's do it. " The other half writers  are really resistant to that. And so if you really   um accept the fact that I can always go back to  this way that I work and the more someone says   I have to work this way or this is the way you do  it. everyone does it. This is the   way you should do it. They're really locked into  this mindset. They're really locked into this.    Now if they're really lucky, the process they're  locked into is a process that allows them to   create great scripts. I've seen that. You know,  if you're lucky enough that this default process   really works for you, that's great. But it's rare  because usually the default process, it plays to   your strengths and it hides your weaknesses and  it's not your best material. And so you have to   try different processes to find the one that's  best for you. And often, not always, but often,   it's one of the processes that the writer is  most resistant to doing or most terrified to   do is the one that allows them to write their  best material. Not always, but it is so common   that when I work with a writer, I definitely  insist that they're going to try a process, the   process or two they're most terrified of or the  ones they most are confident won't work for them,   I'm going to make them try it. If they try that  and it's like, yeah, this process really didn't   work for me, you know, and the pages confirm  that, okay, great. Cross them off the list.    But I don't know if I had to put 70% of the time  one of those process that's the promised land that

is going to get you the life as a writer that you  most want. Thank you for watching the video all   the way to the end. Here is a complimentary  question from our book story questions.