When seeking motivation for your next project, never forget that while movies and TV shows are entertainment, they can also be much more. They can spark conversations, expose corruption, they can speak to people and inspire and motivate them. If something you’ve written inspires water cooler chat at the office, you have done your job.
And we’re not talking only about movies with a social justice theme. Any well-written movie with something to say can change lives. Look at AS GOOD AS IT GETS. How many people has this movie motivated to improve themselves? Heck, if Melvin Udall can be a better man, we all can.
Think about your message. Your theme. What do you want to say? What do you think NEEDS to be said? Anything you are passionate about. What, in your mind, sucks in this world? What’s great? What’s the lesson you wish someone had said to you when you were young? There’s a movie idea there.
And why is that your power? Because you’re unique. Nobody has your life experience. Nobody sees things in the exact same way you do. Nobody cares about the things you care about in the exact same way and for the exact same reason. In other words, it’s the thing that will make you stand out from the crowd.
Strangely, despite us being in a business that’s all about the spotlight and getting the applause, everyone is terrified to be themselves. Afraid people might not like them. Afraid someone might disagree with them or just look at them askance. Afraid to try something new because people might not like it. In other words, we lock ourselves into a box and throw away the key. As you can imagine, this tends to have a detrimental effect on our creativity. Most of all, though, it also deprives us of the strongest arrow in our quiver: our uniqueness. Why should anyone give you the time of day if you’re just going to produce the exact same thing as the person next to you?
Let us know how you see the world through your writing. Yeah, it comes back to the old adage: “be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
