 Marfa going live now. I see some of you in places where it looks it looks dark Marfa, Texas is a dark in Marfa, Texas No, okay. You're muted. Okay. So we're just okay. Hey everybody. I'm gonna do my little preamble Or if ever has everybody been to watch me work before isn't there anybody who is it was relatively new Carla you're relatively new Gabby, okay So I'll do my little spiel so that we all have some kind of idea about what we're doing and if this is the one place Five days a week where you know what you're supposed to be doing It's okay, it's okay, okay. I'm Susan Park. This is watch me work watch me work is a show Where we talk about your work and your creative process. I'm a writer I write lots of things plays movies teleplays songs what all those kinds of stuff? I'm also the master writer at the public theater in New York City I've been doing this show for 11 years and Usually I do it in the lobby of the public theater with an assembled group of writers mostly and we all work together and since this Corona thing is going down. We're doing it live streaming Courtesy of howl around Audrey you sending me a message. Oh, yes. Okay, great. Okay, we're so I just wanted to give a big shout out Thank you to the public theater Thank you to howl around together. They're working together with all of us and helping this happen and we're very appreciative So watch me work is a show And it has two aspects of the show or maybe three aspects it has the audience We are all the audience the two other important aspects of it has action And it has dialogue we will create together the action of our show Right now by we will be doing the action together and what that means is we work together for 20 minutes When my favorite things 20 minute my little timer here, I'm gonna set the timer We're gonna work together for 20 minutes. You can work on anything you want Okay, and then when the timer goes off We're going to create the dialogue together by you guys asking me questions about your creative process Okay, we don't have the bandwidth of the time to for you actually to read aloud something that you're working on We don't have that kind of Time Or you know because we want to try to get to as many folks as we can so My husband and my son are playing chess at the other end of this dining room table Which is my office. Um, but um Anyway, we don't have time to critique your work specifically, but we do have plenty of time nine and nine Stay, stay by me. Yeah, we do have time to Talk to you about your creative process. Okay, which and that will be things we'll be talking about things that will help everybody Okay Anything else Audrey one of our one of our moderators with Miranda. We're they're gonna help us Hey, everybody. Sorry. We did something a little bit new today where you are all muted and we'll continue to unmute you But we've changed the settings a little bit. So sorry if that confused everyone It was a little bit of a different try But so if you do have questions to ask as before Please click the button that says raise your hand if you're in the zoom It should be under a participant tab if it's not immediately on your screen If you're watching the stream On howlround.tv you'll be able to ask questions via the public theaters twitter Or instagram and also via watch me works twitter, which is at watch me work slp Hashtag howl around versus h o w l r o u n d And that's it All right, um, so, uh We've all got something to work on even if it's just Random writing or thoughts you want to assemble or your great american novel or whatever i'm looking right now for a blank page In my very expensive. Ha ha not notebook Ha, there we go. All right, so i'm gonna set the timer and we've got 20 minutes. We're going to work together Okay, so here we go. I like your tone. So I All right, so now we we did the dialogue part of the show where um You guys asked me some questions anybody got a question about your creative process So we've got hasana. I'm gonna pull up right now All right, are you unmuted? Hi. I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name. No, no, that was great hasana um, so my question is this I have I have a play that's going to receive a workshop with a dramaturg and a director and actors And it's a it's a one act play it's about 60 pages um What would be your advice? What's a good strategy to make use of such a Luxurious amount of time. I have three weeks to work on it with this group of people Oh And I've never really been in a situation quite like that. I've had plays produced but not this kind of luxury of three weeks A luxury of a three-week workshop. Will you guys be gathering physically together or will you be? No, we'll be having to do it virtually Okay, do you it's well congratulations for getting a workshop because it's really really great and you You know the director you've worked with them. No, the director will be chosen. The dramaturg will be chosen Okay, and the and and with I'm sorry. Tell me again with actors. You'll be working with or yes Okay, so do you know anybody on the team at all? No, no and my in my submission for the workshop. I just said it's by myself So they get to choose the the organizing body will get to choose The rest of the team. Okay. Okay. Um, I would suggest since they're I mean they might turn out to be people that you know, which would which could be cool, you know But I would suggest As soon as you find out who they are, right? Yeah start a conversation You know Because it's such a wonderful opportunity that you have That you want to get as much of a sort of a common ground in there as possible. You know, does that make sense? Yeah, so so you wouldn't want to start on day one with like Hi, these are this is me and this is you and that kind of thing, you know, because they will have read your play And you will have probably, you know, seen their resumes and maybe seen pieces of their work or whatever but just to kind of You know, you guys are it's like Dating or so, you know, you kind of want to have a few conversations, right before you Get in bed together. You know what I'm saying? So I have as many conversations as you can And While you're talking to them, you know, enjoy the conversation but also listen to your Your your gut, you know, that small still voice within So if you have a director who says a lot, yeah, I don't know, Sonny. I don't know It's good, you know, someone who maybe doesn't have a really strong direction Just just be mindful of that, you know, just be like, okay So this is a person she he they are Are wanting me to do my thing, you know, just be aware of how they are interacting with you Okay, and how then you respond to that Because again, that's going to help you get as much it's so much like dating It's going to help you get so much out of the time when the workshop is happening I'm guessing that Maybe the actors won't be chosen right off, you know, you'll hear about the director first perhaps I'm guessing this is my guessing I'm not entirely certain of the of the exact procedure of the of this of this Because it's a new Organization and I haven't I don't I don't really know exactly how they do it But um, I'm assuming that eventually we'll have the whole team assembled and they will I just wondered if there were like exercises that you would suggest in the in the workshop Oh, I see I understand to get to get the most out of like to help me take it to the next level. I understand My favorite exercise in a in a workshop for a play That I've written or even a screenplay or a teleplay or even a song. I'm working out with my band Is to work on the material You know what I mean? So a lot of actors might come in or directors might come in and say wow Hassan, this is a this is a great play. Let's do some improvs around it and kind of discover what's going on And you're like, well, I've got 60 pages, you know My suggestion is to have them read the play Allowed and talk about it, you know Find places where you bump, you know or where they bump on it Have lots of conversations, you know if there if there are parts of the play that you just can't get your mind around Maybe those are places like, you know, scene three, you know Maybe you want really want to work on scene three and maybe you want to open it up and do some some improv Stuff or have you know have some conversation to open it up. But if you really like what you've got um I would say start By reading the play and talking about it and maybe if they need it filling them in On maybe some historical or cultural context if they need that if they don't you know if they're all on the same page as you You know, that's cool It's it's what you enjoy if you enjoy if you're a writer who enjoys giving an actor You're one of your scenes and having them do an improv around it then do that if you're A little more hesitant Then I would say let them work on the written page that you've provided initially Okay, you can get a lot out of just having people read your play to you And then talking about it You can get a lot out of that And then you go home and I mean you go home. You are home You sort of turn off your computer and you reflect on it or they give you questions I didn't understand why why josephine Did that Why is she doing that? I don't get it. You know, just to create a feeling of trust where you can talk freely about what's working. What's not working Right You know Feel free to rewrite you can rewrite a lot during these three weeks. You can bring in new pages every single day Yes Is there anything go ahead go ahead. Is it all right to to sort of say Okay, I want to pause the workshop a little bit I need to go and do a little bit of more research or I need to go and have a think time and come back A day later Is that sort of acceptable and of course, of course Yes, asani. It's it's very acceptable to say I want to I'm going to push pause for a day do some more research And come back. I mean provided, you know that they they have The kind of time maybe you can stop the clock on the research on the on the workshop and then And then continue it or maybe just take a day for a writing day I mean, I'm sure lots of people we do that all the time to take a day for a writing day or a research day You know and then come back. You're totally totally cool to do that. It's your workshop Right, they're gathering together for you Okay, I would say though, you know, you should get mad respect for having provided This beautiful play for them You know, remember that you remember that I mean there while they're doing you a genuine and beautiful service You were also doing them a service. You have done In my opinion, what is the hardest part of the job? You've sat alone in your office or your room and you've written this thing out of you know There was nothing and now you've written this beautiful play. You're bringing it to them and I Personally, I always like to see What actors and a director and a dramaturg? Do in response to the work So say if I've written a play that has like The civil war in it, you know what I mean? It's not necessarily helpful for me with the dramaturg comes in and she's a civil war scholar And she's going to tell me all kinds of things about the civil war If you know if they're not specific to my play Then it's not as helpful as it could be. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, no, um not to say that the this dramaturg isn't really smart, but she's not being helpful to me in my writing process Okay, so just try to channel everybody in the direction of the material that you have provided Right. Does anybody I know we've got um A director rob. I'm gonna call on somebody is rob here For marfa. He's a director. Do you have any tips? I'm calling on somebody called Audrey. Could we find Yes, give me one second. Okay I've clicked just to kind of tell so he's always got great tips for Play development. Oh, thank you. Do you have any uh, do you have any tips for hasani as he goes into his Play development workshop I thought your ideas are really great As far as hearing the play For the first time it may be the first time he's going to actually hear the words spoken Out loud so taking getting the most out of that opportunity because each actor Is going to bring something to a role that he wrote and the director So taking the most out of having that opportunity to be with all of those people And getting what they have to say about that thing that he made Is of great significance for that moment that workshop Great. Is that cool? And and you can always check back in with us, you know, we're your squad I watch my work So, um always check back in with us if it's happening, you know in the next Couple of weeks, you know, we can always give you feedback about something went down in the workshop that you were excited about or not so excited about Okay, great. Great. That's wonderful. It's been really great hearing you talk these last couple of days I've been interested. Thank you. We appreciate Everybody Who's here? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you All right, the next person we've got is vita Um, are you unmuted am I unmuted? Can you hear me? We hear you. All right. All right. Great. Thank you Um, okay. First of all, thank you, uh, susan lori. This is incredible really seriously Plus the best eyeglasses I've seen on anyone In a really long time. So thank you for that. It's a real gift We'll tell you after your question, but go ahead. Seriously. I mean, it's transcendent Okay, so um my question is a weird My question is a weird one um, but I guess they all are um I am self-taught as a playwright and I started in fiction way before that and I was really working hard like Full-time job getting up before in the morning doing my writing You know exhausted um and then uh long story short The there was this well, I'm trying to think how I can say this without getting in trouble But there were some very famous people who evidently were sitting in on rehearsals And ultimately what happened was they walked off with my play. I was at work Um, I didn't understand what was going on this so I was very exhausted and then this happened and That you know, I've had a couple of things like this happen with my work Where I didn't even understand what was going on because I think when you're self-taught you don't see it coming you know, you don't have like People who are advising you on What might be going on or what you can do and I did actually try to protect the work You know, like I did the things you're supposed to do But they were so big these people That it didn't really matter and um, they made millions of dollars off of this by the way I mean and it was a huge thing and it's happened to me also with some videos that Well with one video in particular Something similar happened. So I'm just wondering like wtf like what am I supposed to do? um, and it's also I What what I most upset about is it's really getting in my way creatively like it's really bothering me I did try to do something about it, you know, um And I'm just thinking like is this bad karma? I did something really fucked up Some at some other point in another lifetime or am I just not handling these things the right way or How do you stay in your own body and keep moving forward because I'm sure you've had experiences Where you had a similar feeling like I can't believe this is happening. What do I do, you know, so that's my question It's an odd one. That's well It's a it's a deep one. Um, first of all, I'll I'm sorry that it happened And while I didn't do it. I don't think I didn't do it, you know Um, somebody has to say I'm sorry And I'm happy I'm I can be one of the ones to say I'm sorry that that happened to you I'm also sorry that That it gets in a way of your process now That's kind of The worst thing. I mean those two things, you know, I mean stealing from from somebody stealing from you is horrible and then Having you question yourself Everything from is it bad karma? Which it's not Oh, thank you. It's not saying that it's it's not it's just not things things happen That are that are difficult. Okay, and it's not because you did anything, you know, in a path, you know, no, no But it did happen And I'm sorry that it happened and I'm sorry that it gets in the way the way of your working now because You know shit happens to all of us and if we go through, you know We've all got shit that happened to us whether it's specific to our work or our life or our Our relationship life or whatever, right? We've all been through we've all been in that Shit field, right? Right. I know and what's The the the challenges That we that we write ourselves literally, you know, you write yourself you you get upright again, right? And you you keep going and we write ourselves in this context And that's the challenge and That's Why I'm doing this show and that's what we're here for so I'm glad you asked those questions I You know what number one I wish there was some kind of way that you could get Reparations or some kind of you know from these people who who took something that you created And it sounds like cut you out of the creative process of it and and did not allow you to benefit in any way from the Gravy of what you so hard so worked on so hard. I wish there were a way to do that And in the meantime, let's get you working, right? So You need a protective Four shield around you and maybe it's the protective four shield that that says vita Be mindful Vita be watchful Vita when people say hey I mean, this is again. This is the workshop asani. You're going into the workshop, you know, sometimes Hey, come on. Let's have a workshop and before you know it, uh-oh You know, right? So just be mindful. That's another thing. I didn't think of be mindful going into these workshops Not everybody is like you or like rob or like, you know, the public theater Whatever who's going to honor you and and lay out the the red carpet for you as a creative person You have to be mindful That there are people in this business who are vampires And they are uh, they have um And it happens in all fields Right, not just writing and not just playwriting but in all fields. They have lost their ability to be creative And in the absence of creativity they have decided to grab for power and they often Approach you with a smile And a lot of niceties I've run into many of these people She like this is similar shit like this has happened to me Yeah, because I'm by nature trusting and generous I give look here. I am every day at five o'clock. I'm talking to basically a bunch of strangers going. Hey, how can I help you? You know, I got stuff to give and what I feel my belief is we have we have been gifted with each other Right and our our job is to give and share but in a respectful way And not to steal but not everybody believes that. Okay, so we got to get a protective shield around you. We are your squad Here, right? We are your squad Vito. We got your back And you got to do the work So You just have to know that uh next time you will be more mindful Okay, are you yeah, you you you will be more mindful you've got us to talk to every step of the way You've got, you know, can I get a witness? You've got at least a hundred today Who are watching out for you now? You got me Next time it happens Name names It's like the me too movement Vita Those assholes who get away with that kind of shit have to be named Yeah, they cannot they cannot Steal like that from hard-working artists. Okay So, you know, maybe maybe it's not in the appropriate for you to name names this time around but next time you got witnesses you name names This person did this to me Right. They're very powerful. Yes. And so is what's his name who's now got x number of years for You know assaulting raping those folks those women You know what I'm saying? Yes, I I know I'm not saying you you need to do it now, but I want you to feel like I want you to know that you're not alone in this Thank you in the absence of creative power. They just grab power Yeah, and they don't care. Yes, go ahead. They made a lot of money off of this. I mean, it's like it's it's uh incredible And I and I figured it out by watching a documentary about their project. I went. Oh my god Like I knew immediately, but it was you know, so anyway, what happened to your project? Was it just like shelled or what? Yeah, I was trying to get it up elsewhere Uh in san francisco and I was getting blackballed and then I realized it's a very small community And um, you know, it's a long story But anyway, I am afraid of naming a name because I could end up with a lawsuit But I also know that this happened So just in case they're all watching I do know it happened And um, I tried to do something about it. I mean I tried to talk to them and I'll you know They have a reputation for being wonderful people. So I did try But um, you know, it's never gonna they're never going to admit it but um Or even talk to me probably because they figure it all got buried But it's just interesting because it seems to be a pattern for me where I think on some level I'm not respecting my own work because it happened to me a similar thing Although not on the same scale that was huge, but it happened to me also with uh A video project where there were some images that were out in the public and then somebody else, you know So I'm doing something wrong like I'm not either not giving myself enough You know what I'm saying? Well, I think we I think you you you said I'm just going to repeat what you said You are not you said I'm not respecting my work enough. Yeah, but I don't know how how I don't even know that this is about to happen like I I love my work. So it's not like I don't understand that But somehow it's not good. I'm not getting protected. Well, then ask then ask for that Say to yourself as you write I respect my work And when it's out in the world people know it's mine. Yeah I respect my work. Can I just mention one thing quickly? I just have to tell you something A very long time ago. I had a job where they sent me to a Franklin Covey uh seminar This was like 20 years ago and if I was very unhappy about it because um It was not the sort of thing I wanted to do and I was at this job just to make money and in the group in the very front was this was susan lory parks and um And you were so exceptional in that class. I'll never forget it like you At the very end of the whole class They asked us to write a question like what are our objectives and everyone was like, oh, you know, I hope I can Finish my airplane models or you know, whatever it was people I do and then there was one person who had a line about world peace It was like this very complicated concept and I said, oh my god This woman is unbelievable. Like I knew immediately that it was you And so I just want to say you're really an inspiration. I mean you are incredible Human being and we all appreciate it. So thank you. Thank you come back and keep working. Okay. Vita. Yeah, thanks You bet. No, no, no. Yeah Yeah Yeah, okay, come on All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay All right, next we've got isiah Isiah, are you are you unmuted? I'm a Cool. Thank you. Um Question is so I've been coming this whole week and I'm taking a playwriting class and working on a play and I find myself And not just with the play that I'm writing but just in general I find myself Like I'll sit down to write just sort of blanket sit down to write like and and what I'm what I'm going to sit down to write isn't Isn't as important to like I just I just sort of find myself Integrating like journal entries into my play into like other projects that I'm working on and and there just doesn't there doesn't seem to be much like There's not like a clear delineation in my mind between like my experiences that I journal about And like the things I write about in my plays And and I find that sometimes that like creates characters who are like very real and it's helpful or whatever but other times it feels um Like I'm just trying to recreate Myself and I'm being somehow lazy I don't know. I'm I guess my question is like I'm I'm having a hard time like drawing that boundary of like when to When when it's productive to like Just sort of integrate whatever like events like there are moments where like a friend will say something to me And I'll say oh that would be great to put in a play and then I'll just like put it into play And sometimes that works and sometimes it feels lazy and I guess I'm wondering about like Like Where that line is Right, right. So how do you when should you incorporate? uh Your real life into a play and when or what is that just lazy? Sure. Yeah, sure sure if you're writing Uh every day Right or almost every day. Yeah, and you're working on something you're working on a play or a song or a novel or whatever musical whatever The word lazy Doesn't appropriately describe what it is that you're doing Right I'm just telling you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So so so um, you know Uh Something happens like you see a dog jump through a flaming hoop out in the middle of Washington Square Park. Damn. That'd be good in a play That's not lazy. That's being observant. Hello. Okay. It's being observant. You're looking. I mean samuel peeps, you know samuel peeps No, it's okay. He wrote a really famous diary, yo A diary people have been reading it was like, when did he write the diary like 1600 or something shit like that? I don't know when anyway, someone knows and people are just that's a diary, you know People write memoirs, you know, lots of like jone diddian, right? You know jone diddian You don't know her well look her up. Okay. She's cool, right? She writes about her her life and so many many many many many many people Those of us who say we don't write about our life do some Epic weaving you know what I mean? It's always about me, but it's never about me, right? Okay, so we all have different takes on that What i'm really interested in is your call the fact that you call yourself lazy Which is unnecessary Okay So replace it with something else like interested Like observant Like wow enraptured charmed Fascinated with what your friend just said. I guess yeah, I guess I just feel like this pressure to create characters not from like The thing that they just said but from some like composite map a map like a map that i'm imagining that like combines Yeah Okay, who taught you that? You know, is that what your is that what you guys are being taught in your playwriting class? I don't want to do you know no no no no no the class is essentially just like a place where I'm I'm held accountable to write 10 pages a week like and then we read the pages and sort of but um, so yeah, so do that Do what? Write the 10 pages a week and then read the play and then be accountable Okay, wherever you get them as long as you're not stealing them from vita That's not allowed, but as long as you're not stealing them from somebody. Yeah Then it's all good. I mean if you if you say to your friend, oh, I'm gonna use that line in a play of mine That's technically it's not like stealing their work If your friend has a line of that in their play or song or novel already, then it is stealing their work So you know the difference, but we can watch real life and we can We can we were catching butterflies, you know, you know, yeah, and that's okay. That that's all right um If you take it in and you like don't do this I'm just saying I'm making but if you stick it in it comes in and it goes look Right, it's gone through you right And by passing through you it has changed Right Yeah Okay, so You've had an effect on this line of dialogue that you kind of heard from a friend or on the street I see. Okay. That's what that's what we do Okay Yeah, but and then when like I take things from my journal It often feels like the sorry it often feels like the Like the material is somehow like too close to me You know that bad like it I guess that's just up for me to decide. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just like no Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, I mean, it's okay for it to be close to you. It's okay for it to be not close to you Okay Okay, just your job is to write. What is it 10 pages a week and be accountable for that? That's your job So whatever I'll use a bad word shit that you're putting in the way of doing your job It's just some bullshit Okay, okay. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Just clear the bullshit out of the way Stay focused on the task at hand whatever the little voices in your head. Oh, you're being lazy. Isaiah. Oh, it's too close to you Yeah, right You work, okay, and keep coming back in and we'll keep you accountable. Cool. Best we can okay We can go a little longer you guys because I Oh, you muted yourself. Oh, you're good. Okay Um, all right. Thanks, Isaiah. Um, we're gonna go to Catherine Catherine are you unmuted? Yes, I hope so. Yes Okay So you talked a bit first of all, thank you. Um, you talked a bit about this yesterday But I'm wondering if you sort of get to know How your characters speak through what they want which you referenced a bit yesterday or if you um If you get to know what the characters want through how they speak if that sort of Maybe more how you start out sometimes if it's something in the middle. Um, yeah, I don't know if that makes sense Yeah, I think it's I think it's both I mean, right if a character You know Josephine says, you know, whatever ball ball ball It either she wants a ball. She wants to go to the ball or she's you know, you know It is it does give us a clue about her desires Right. Yeah, if you have a character who keeps saying like Man, I gotta go outside, man I gotta go outside and they just keep repeating that then we can guess what it is that they want So it's kind of it comes from a listening to them Okay, and I mean if you I feel like right now I'm very much in the listening stage like I'm hoping they tell me What what they want to do and then I just kind of bow to their interest But is there a point when I should kind of step back and drop like, you know, what do I want? Maybe impose that more on them or you can ask them They might be kind of shy You know one of your characters, I keep the name Josephine keeps popping Josephine. Yeah, she doesn't talk much She's just sitting over here like, you know You're like, hey girl, what do you want? She's not talking to you Some characters have to be coaxed told invited Into the conversation that is your play or your novel or your song or whatever, you know Yeah, you can strike up a conversation With one of your imaginary friends Because that's what they are. Yeah I have a lot of time to do Yeah, we all do just sitting around talking to our imaginary friends Right, you know and making new ones Yeah, because we can't because we can't make any friends outside So I'll make some imaginary friends right here. Oh, it's it's the writer's paradise Yeah, right so you can talk to these imaginary friends these characters And say what do you want? Why are you here? What are you doing in my play or my novel? You know and some of them might be kind of aggressive and mean Don't let that stop you Okay, yeah, thank you. You're welcome Thanks captain All right. Next we have Danielle Danielle, are you unmuted? Oh, um, I hear you You do hear me? Yeah. Okay, cool Do you see me? We see you. Wow, okay Hi First of all, thank you so much for doing this Oh, thank you for being here I am moved everybody's questions and your responses to them and I'm embarrassed to be speaking up and and asking this question because I I don't know but I I just I have experience writing. I've gone to school for it. I've you know, I've read a lot of books and I've done it and I'm at a place where I you know, I stopped for a long time Because I was in a dark place and a lot of what was coming out I didn't feel like sharing with the world and I also Then I just like ran out of ideas and I feel like the voice that used to be playful in my mind and Give me access to things a little person in every room or conversation that used to kind of like be like Oh, this is a story. This is an interesting character. You know, that person feels like completely gone now And when you're talking about Vita about the people whose creativity dried up and I'm like, oh my god, like I I'm not a power person. I'm not going to go after anybody's thing But I I miss that part of myself and I'm wondering if I guess my question is is there a way to Resuscitate that part and that the writer, you know, that that loved it and was engaged with writing And how to kind of get away from this like this blank that I feel Wow, that's a beautiful question That's a beautiful beautiful question Daniel and I'm so glad you asked it But thank you. Thank you. Thank you So how do we? How do we invite That voice that person that writer part of ourselves or that creative part of ourselves Back into our lives the good news is I'll just call her a she that's okay. They I'll go there. That's better The good news is is they they haven't left They're still in your life I'm gonna write that down The good news is that that part of yourself is still in your life 100% you know why Because you're in this chat room or whatever it is You have asked us to be part of your squad You're talking to me Right So the good news is that that part of yourself never left They're just really quiet Maybe they're sad Maybe they're scared Not sure, you know what I mean and the why they left is not so Not as important right now as the how we can invite them back And you don't have to tell don't tell us the name of that person or that You know if you have a name for them or an image for them But try to formulate that if you don't have a name for them Think of one. You don't tell us because this is a big room, you know, okay, so think of the name for them Have you ever written them a letter? No Okay, because we talked with Catherine a minute ago about striking up a conversation with some of her characters So this this person this entity Um, this creative part of yourself is your ace boon coon number one imaginary friend, right? That's not their name That's just who they are Right. Yeah, right and they and behind them they have Millions and millions of workers like them who are working On your behalf to help you manifest and fabricate and make beautiful things But for some reason They're quiet So talk to them Okay every day. Yeah Because I know this is doing for me. It's like the 20 minutes is like, oh my god, you know It's helping me to I mean lots of times. I'm just writing nonsense, but at least it's like engaging my heart again, you know good Good. Can you write the can you use this time? To I mean here's an assignment any kind of thing, but can you use this time these 20 minutes five days a week and then? Work 20 minutes over the weekend saturday and sunday by yourself to write them a letter It doesn't have to be long. It doesn't have to make sense It doesn't have to be publishable and all those things we lay on ourselves to keep us from doing our work It just has to be high Uh, you know imaginary friend, whatever their name is I'm thinking about you right now Whatever they're your lover Yeah, you know not to this place or a real, you know You know so and your significant other in your life, you know, but they're your It's god, it's see I in the background. I have the hand of god. Can you see? Yeah I got it from a flea market. Yeah It's like golden foil and then behind him underneath that there's like something that looks like the sunshine That's a a thing I made with James Baldwin in the middle of it. He was my teacher and oftentimes I feel like I reach back And say hold my hand This person this entity in your life, Danielle wants to hold your hand and they can't quite reach it Okay, that's so beautiful. Thank you. It's true. It's true and you prove to them that you're willing to Do the work by showing up Every day or as often as you can Okay, I could do that. Yeah, okay and just keep coming back here because we your squad Okay Thank you so much. You're welcome so much. Thank you, Danielle Um, yeah one more we can go a little over today. Yeah, I'm All right. Next we've got Daniel All right, Daniel, you you're on Hi, am I on? Yeah, I guess you are. Hi. Oh my god. I'm so excited to speak with you. Thank you Thank you. Wait, did you just say James Baldwin was your teacher? Oh my this is not about me Daniel. So, okay I just wanted to mention it because there he is right there. Okay. It's just crazy because I Yeah, um, okay. Yeah, um, I summoned his quote today. It was very great. Um, but My question is I'm working on a screenplay With my sister right now and I am an actor and she is a poet and uh, We're you know, we're getting really jazzed about this pilot and we're we're in a space where we're ready to share some pages and this sort of connects to like How do you share your pages while also protecting Your content with strangers because we have two ways we can do it. There's this Film space that we're a part of that we want to share our pages too And then we also sort of want to just like curate a group of friends and close Artist community. Um, how do you listen to those groups differently? How do you know when you're ready to share your work? How do you protect yourself in process of like Starting to let it come out Great questions, Daniel. Um Here's the thing are you have you Written to the end. It's a pilot. So it's what 50 pages 60 pages Yes, so we have um, we have it outlined Okay, and we have about 20 pages like the first The first act second act Three four and five are still being developed. Okay Okay, I would suggest I mean I have a couple answers one. I would suggest that you finish writing it before you share it with people Okay, okay a lot of times we want to share our work before it's finished because we want some applause Or some patting on the back, right? We want to hear that we're doing a good job Right now Why don't you because you have these concerns about protecting your work? Why don't you seek approval and applause from your writing partner? Who is your sister? Okay, and those of us who are writing alone Why don't we seek approval? You can seek approval from your significant other, you know, someone who's not the writer, right? You can seek an approval from a very very trusted friend You can also seek approval from your imaginary friend That's another thing that imaginary friends are good for guess what they don't just they're not just like the muse, right? They can also be amused And give you like feedback. Yeah. Hey, that's really good. You can use them for that too Okay, so right now. Um, as we say in cooking, I don't really I well one thing I cook really well is popcorn My son will attest to that. Yes But keep the lid on it Okay, keep the lid on it daniel until it's until it's ready Don't be taking the lid off to show people look at my popcorn Right, it's it's not going to really be as effective as if you keep the lid on and shake it Right. I make it old school. I put the popcorn on the stove. Okay. Yeah, so I would suggest that finish it first Get to the end Okay, encourage each other along the way Okay, allow the work to encourage you. That's what I mean about your imaginary friend your imaginary friend starts to when you make a Work they they take up residents in that work And they shelter in space and they're right there and anytime you need encouragement Look to the work and the work will give you encouragement if if you don't have a writing partner in this case, you have both okay finish the work and then When you want to send it out when it's finished meaning when you have a first draft that's completed Not just an outline Then you show it to very trusted people Okay, you can if you have you an actor maybe you have an agent or maybe your sister does or a literary agent Okay, but I would start not by trying to go get an agent But by showing it to very trusted people who create a community of people who know that it's yours Okay, also copyright the material of course You can also register it with the writer's guild if it's a screenplay Okay or teleplay, you know, I mean if you remember the writer's guild, I'm not quite sure how all that works because Okay, but definitely look into Copywriting and yeah writers guild before we go into a space of people we don't know I would definitely say so Okay, I would definitely say and you sit and then you put, you know Your name as the writer at the on the cover page and you put copyright, you know, whatever 2020 all rights reserved You know what I mean? You just do that so that it's it's legally Visibly yours and your sisters. Okay That's very very important and it's not expensive or anything and you know um, I would Yeah, and I just would keep writing until you're done, but that's the main thing. Okay Write the damn thing Okay, all right. Thank you. Okay. We can do one more. We can go to 615 if anybody wants to talk great. Okay. One more it is Um chris. I'm gonna unmute you chris mignoli Are you here? Hi chris. Thank you All right good. Um, I um, I write narrative poetry and a lot of it is in dialogue and some flows out like it was all there just And then other parts of it are just stuck and they make like a knot And I keep going into that knot because I believe there's a lot in there But I wanted to ask you about that. Um, how you do you experience that in your own writing and then how do you deal with the The stuck bits that feel like there's something in them What I mean, that's so beautiful chris. That's somebody my my hair. I have dreadlocks. So everything you know Coming out of my head is a tangle It's all And I just work with it, you know what I'm saying Um, yeah, sometimes we think as as artists or writers that you know, if it comes out Then that's really good and the stuff that's Is not going to be so good, right? But we know differently don't we chris that sometimes the stuff that you have to Untangle is equally beautiful and valuable is the stuff that sort of just pours out um patience is a good tool When you have something that's tangled, you know, be patient with this Um, sometimes I patients is good. Also, you know change up sometimes I uh, Where I'll show you what I'm working on today. Look Sometimes I work on paper you saw me work on the notebook sometimes and that even works it works with all forms You put it out lay it out in note cards Like first this I mean narrative poach first this happens then this happens and this happens then this tangled thing happens Then this other thing happens You know You can take these cards. You write them down a little index cards. You can put them in your pocket You can go for a walk Right don't get too near anybody. Okay, you're walking You're thinking about it, right? You can set your timer. You can say i'm going to spend just 30 minutes rereading it and reading it aloud And then i'm going to put it away for the day You know to change up on it, right? It's like it is again. It's like we talked about in the beginning It's like dating you want to try a lot of different tactics to woo them, you know We are we are wooers of words, aren't we? come, you know um You know what i'm saying we have to we have to do a lot of wooing sometimes sure sometimes it happens instantaneously, but other times It needs effort there have been things that i've written very quickly There have been things that have taken years to write and I love them all the same You know, I think they're equally like beautiful Okay But thanks for coming here It's Thanks chris Shall we come back tomorrow? Let's come back tomorrow. Let's come back tomorrow Um as a reminder if you want to sign up to be in the zoom You can go to publictheater.org and there are sign-up sheets there and we'll release next week's on friday at noon Thanks everybody see you tomorrow. Thank you. Oh the heart. Yay. Thank you. Thanks mom Thanks, Audrey. Thanks, Miranda Thanks, SLP