 You're kidding. No, no, no. So we just did an action, and I wanted to work longer, so I think about what time it was to say my name. Did anybody have some really good writers? Always come to this show with some really good extra writers. And you can't get extra credit, you guys. So now, if you have questions about your work or your creative process, and now it's the time, ask away. Adam, walk him back. I was just thinking about how they say that you should write what you know and all that kind of thing. But what if I wanted to write, say, from the point of view of an elderly Hispanic woman? Obviously, I'm not any of those things. But if I really wanted to, because I feel like there are so many stories about a young white man in New York, what advice would you give for writing outside your own skin? Well, good question, Adam. The first thing I would say is that in my, well, this is obviously my opinion. I would like to never suggest that one writes, quote, outside one's own skin, unquote, because, to paraphrase, there are so many stories already about my particular group, right? Because that answers the question, how much skin do you have in the game? And if the only skin you've got in the game is the skin of, yo, I want to write something that might be more interesting to people looking at work, because there are so many stories written about my particular group, then that's, like, no skin. And if you don't got no skin, I would say, like. I just meant, because I'd more like to kind of add diversity in literature. Well, I would, well, it's all, it's the reason why. I'm really, this is a real answer. I'm saying, like, you have to get to know the reason why you want to write that. For example, I've written things about people who aren't myself. Top of the road, two men, real brothers. Okay, great. But it wasn't because I sat around going, hmm, I'd like to write something, but of course not. It comes up from the ground, from that deep place and it sort of forces itself through you and then you know you're writing with real, what I call, skin in the game, okay? And that, you always, no matter what you write, even if you write about someone from your group, oh, she's a black woman who's, blah, blah, blah, the kid, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know what I mean? Still you have to say, how much skin do I have in the game? Okay, so you always have to ask that question, but especially when you're writing someone who you think isn't like you, right? Especially, especially, especially, because what you all know, and whether you watch the Oscars or not, we live in a time where people's shit is being appropriated big times and they're not being invited to the party once it starts to go to the bank. So nicely, isn't it? Right, you know what I'm saying, right? People should do appropriated big time. And when the stuff goes to the bank, they're not being invited to the party. And so I feel like it's up to those of us who are still able to think and feel, to go, hmm, what's my part in that? Not will I not do it or whatever, but what is my portion of that bullshit, basically? Because we're all in the bullshit. We live in this country. We're part of the bullshit, okay? So what is my part in the bullshit and how do I do something about that lest I just continue it without thinking? So you're, I'm right, somebody who's not like you, and you think, what is it? What story is it that you wanna tell, that you can't tell from where you are right now? You know what I mean? And then you, if you have to, every time you ask those questions, it has to be a yes. And if you get your own yeses, you better all find someone close to your home. Writing someone who's not close to your home is a really specific skill, okay? So I would suggest, and this is different from writing what you know, I would suggest write someone close to your home and dare to write something that might look like one or a lot of your writing. Don't just jump out of it, you're the bone of yourself because, okay? Go ahead, write someone who's not like you. It's okay, you know? I mean, how many plays, novels, movies, screenplays, TV shows, poems, songs are written? A hundred? No. One a day for a whole year? I'd like to say so, but no. Okay, seven, seven, okay. So this would be number eight of the entirety. I mean, like, there are short stories that have been started, stopped, followed. I don't count, I don't count. It's like a, you know, if you go to the bathroom and the shit starts coming out of your butt, it's gotta drop bitch in the toilet to count. Right? I mean, I'm sorry. I know, you guys have heard, see? You know, you know, yeah, the plot is like a cold, you know, the plot is like a cold and you just gotta keep moving along. I know it's true, but you know what I mean? Just gotta land to people, okay. Or maybe be born. There's, that's a better one, I guess. Okay, so go ahead and go ahead and write about me. Okay? And when you grow out of that, you don't grow out of it, maybe if you're that inclined that way, and then you'll think, wait a minute, I'm writing stuff about an 85-year-old man from Saskatchewan, you're not from Saskatchewan, but damn, oh my goodness. And it's set in 1816. Oh my goodness. And then you sort of make your way and not go on to it just because you think it might be remarkable. Which is what you're saying, I know. But that is the business we are involved in. That's what people do. That's heavy. I'm glad to be back. I'm glad to be back. It's good to be here with us, thank you. Anybody else? Dave, I didn't even know your name. Okay, you're right. I should have said everybody's name. No, it was just, I was nervous. My name is Jessica. Jessica? Jessica? Yeah. Okay, Jessica, cool. Okay, oh, I didn't know I was gonna be on camera. Oh, but you have an early piano. It's cool. It's cool. No, it's cool. Committed to look at a mess today. So, no, I don't, but it's cool. I committed to it. So anyway, my question was, I kind of forgot it now. But it was like, how do you, you mentioned it and I wanted to parlay. How do you like find a balance between trying to create something that is marketable and is going to be profitable? And I know that's, a lot goes into trying to determine that. And then also staying true to like, what you want to create. Like as a writer, writing is art, right? So it's essentially you're creating something and in writing there are a lot of different rules and you know, things that you have to adhere to for anybody to take it at, you know, face value. But still like, you know, as a freelance writer or you know, aspiring freelance writer, how do you, you know, still stay true to that? But you have to eat too. Or should I just like commit to like having like a side career or a job or work in retail while I try to, you know, bump my way around in the dark until I come up with some gold or something. Like, if that makes sense. I hear you, I hear you. It's really hard to guess what's going to be marketable, okay? It's really, really, really, really hard. So I would suggest just stay true to yourself. Now this is what happens. You just, what could happen, what happens for a lot of people, you stay true to yourself and then you have kind of a couple of different tracks that your career starts to run on. You want all this stuff, you stay true to yourself track where you're writing your thing just for you, okay? And then you get maybe a work for hire. Someone hires you because based on the quality of work that you've exhibited in your stay true to yourself stuff. They say, wow, Jessica's a good writer. We're gonna hire her to do whatever, work on a TV show or have a commission or write this article or whatever. They start hiring you to do things. So based on your excellence in your stay true to yourself, feel good. You can hire to do work for hire. And that's a way to make the living. And also you recognize the prizes and awards and that can give you an opportunity to do other things. So I would say if you're trying to kind of like, I mean, stumbling around the dark, right in the mind, trying to find gold is a lot better than shooting in the dark, trying to hit a target. Oh, baby, it's over here. I mean, that's even worse. That's so bad. So I would say, stay true to yourself, do your thing, get better and better and better at it. And people will begin to notice you and you'll get hired to do things that are more profitable. Okay, we're gonna be invited into those meetings where you'll say, who's just some ideas, Jessica? What do you want to write? We'll commission you. Or we'll hire you to write a TV show or create a TV show or something like that. Okay, is that? That's just personal, but you know, well, everyone deals with it. So it's just something we have to get through. But sometimes I feel like I want to kind of step up the box and I remember having a debate with a past professor about it because, you know, she had her ideas, but at the same time, she was like, I don't really want to critique you like that because I feel like this is, it shouldn't be, you know, totally creative, but it's just so confusing sometimes to decide whether or not I really just want to present like what I feel is my true work and my true, like my voice within the different writings, poems, plays, you know, screenplay ideas, things like that, or, you know, that versus doing research and figuring out, you know, what's going to appeal to producers or an audience or a certain demographic or, you know, trying to find all that. I'm gonna get, and we draw, and it's as if we've gotten splits in our mind and I was talking with some of my students because I teach at NYU on Monday, so I've had some students this morning and the distinction would be made between being a writer who writes good characters and being a writer who writes good plots and how, oh my God, it's either one or the other, right? It's either financial glory or it's creative. See, you've got these separations in our mind who talk these things. There's actually, it's not either one or the other. You can start to remind yourself that what is creative can also be financial and rewarding. Why not? Well, you could, I mean, the thing is, you, what your job is to say, to remind yourself that what is creative is also financial and also can be financial and rewarding. That's your job. If someone on the corner wants to talk some bullshit to you, let them do their job, but that's not your job. Your job is not to talk bullshit to yourself. Your job is to tell yourself that what your creative work can also be financial and rewarding. If you tell yourself that, then things will start to line up that way. Sounds, you know what I'm saying? So you start to say, my creative work can be financial and rewarding. Now, your teacher giving you notes, your professor might have been giving you notes to make it better, to make it sharper, to make the dialogue crisper, to make the characters more effective, to make the scenes really pop. That's good writing. It's not trying to make it financially rewarding. It's trying to make it good, you see? So when you get notes like that, like you have to make the scene really work. Jessica, I gotta really be like this to make it so I can understand what the character's going through. It's not, man, she just wants to be determined to learn to work for higher people. You know she wants to make it better than writer. And so we have to take those notes in that context, you see? When they start saying, oh, cut all the black people out of your work, because no one black people don't get nominated for awards, so let's not write them. I mean, really, if you wanna do the algorithm or whatever it's called, add the algorithm. The algorithm that's gonna tell you don't write black characters, probably give you those nominations. So what, you know what I mean? I don't have to write black characters, I'm not, I'm not gonna stop. So what, fuck y'all, I'm doing my thing. You got what I'm saying? We can't just stop because the marketplace is not gonna invite us in. It's the line of the sand right there. They want us to back down, shut up, go home, and quit. Or they want us to turn us into those people who are gonna write in only the way that they are going to allow us to represent ourselves. That's what's going on. And that's on a big level, that's on a Hollywood, Oscar level, you know what I'm saying? So we're not talking about that necessarily, we're talking about you at your desk having to make the decision, I'm gonna write for my heart, I'm gonna write for my guts, and I'm gonna be the best writer of Jessica's stuff that anybody's ever seen. That would be amazing. And the money comes or not comes, it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, I'm gonna go and say, I did a great job. That's a really good and really good question today. Yeah, Siobhan, who's got a question? What is your decision process? How do you decide when to cut a scene? Cut a whole scene? Whole? I thought that you asked me this question. I remember your work a lot. So cut a whole scene? Yeah, just cut a whole scene. Just like, um, yeah, just like, if that's your impulse, what is the decision making process to go through whether to do that or not? Well, sometimes we get notes from people who read our work and go like five people in a room and everybody hates the scene. That, sometimes that would be good to cut it. Maybe. Okay? Sometimes every time we read the scene, we go, nah, this isn't just bullshit. This isn't working. This is so not working. I really like it because this is a scene where she gets to wear a big dress, I'm wearing a big, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. It's time to cut the scene. Ask yourself, is it helping the story? Is it telling the story? Is it, like we said earlier today, is it generating the next scene? Whether it's a novel or a play or a TV show or whatever. Is it pushing the story along? Is it telling us something about the character, what I call vertical plot? It's not just this way. Sometimes plot is developed vertically, right? Yeah. Is it telling us something that we really need to know that will pay off somehow in the relationships that we will see later? Vertical plot. That's what I call it. I don't know, like I told you I'm going to go to school, so I just make sure that I'm just... I can't. You know what I'm saying? So is it one of those scenes? Like, oh, we will never understand her if we don't see her in that pink dress. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Oh, then you might say, well, we need to see her in the pink dress. Let me find another way to show her in the pink dress. Oh, look, she can wear the pink dress and see number 45. Ah, great. You see, so you find the most important thing about the scene, and you might be able to transplant it into another scene instead of having a whole scene. Okay? But I tell you, is every time you... So does that help? I won't go over. Yeah. Okay. Oh, I'm glad to see you guys. Yeah! Anybody else? Oh, yes. Milena. Hi, Milena. Um, and my question is, we're catching it about a subject or a topic, but there's so many swirls where you start putting it down. Oh. Paper. Oh. Right, for an energy. Right, right, right. What's a good way to start? So Milena says if there's a subject that you're really excited about, but there's so much swirling information, how do you get started, right? So it's like, I think it could be the same thing for every project. You start by putting the time in, right? Do you have a writing time, period, during the day? Okay. Do you have a time, a work time, a creative time during the day? You do. And it's every five days a week or whatever. Six days a week. And so you go to a certain place, tell us about it. What is it like? Okay. Okay, so it's at the beginning of your day, it's a block of time in the morning, okay? And it's vocal work, some movement. It's a movement, meditation. Meditation. Okay, in prayer. So you're, and that's your creative time. Okay. Okay. Great. So I would like you to, in that block of creative time, get specific, carve out a specific piece of that time. You're not in that aspect, or is this something you already do? No. Because you've already made the time. So it gets a specific piece of time in your creative period, in your creative time during the day to sit down at your wherever, right? With a notebook or whatever. And write long hand your dancer so you move. You're a kinesthetic learner, I'm guessing. So movement is good. So you can even stand and write if you want. And you can do 20 minutes a day of every creative period. 20 minutes, it's a magic number, I think. I don't know, I'm not gonna do this to John, but 20 minutes. Use a timer, not your phone. Everyone knows your phone is cracked. Your phone is cracked, yeah. It's, yeah. Okay, because your phone has all these wonderful things on it that wants you to chance you. Okay, so you're gonna use a timer for 20 minutes, each writing, each your creative period, or you're gonna be with your notebook writing on this topic, okay? So we're gonna focus it in and move, I don't know where I hand it or left it, right? 20 minutes, six days a week. See what happens, that's where you start. You start by making the time. And you've already had that time period, you start to get more specific with your time, okay? I'm just blah, blah, I'm just going blah, blah, blah. I want to write about a uniform, you know, whatever, right? Whatever it is, 20 minutes on the topic, right? And if you want to pick a designated notebook, so it's not a notebook with everything else in it, because it seems like you put a lot of things together at once, yeah, get a designated notebook, pick a color that you like, doesn't have to be expensive, okay? Last, they keep nom-joking. We should nom-joke. Congratulations again. Thank you. So I'm starting with another one of those plays that have a lot of things I want to say in it. I want to fight the man and all that stuff, and I'm catching it early this time, though. You're catching you desire to fight it early? Catching it early, yeah. And so what I want to do is actually make it a story. You want to make a story? First, and then see, because the thing is, when I do work, when I did, when I carved out my creative time for it, to look, to see what these characters really actually wanted, who I thought was the protagonist was not the protagonist at all, like my person who was gonna drive the story and take it to the man, well, actually he was the man. It's not the man's story, so it's like, I know this now, but now I'm kind of 30 pages in, which isn't terrible, but it's like page one rewrite, which I'm not mad at, but I'm contemplating whether or not I should just start all over, knowing what I know now. 30 pages isn't so much in. How long is it? I wanted to do a couple one acts around the same topic, so I'm saying as a one act, it's probably gonna be about 60, 65 pages. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So they're two things. They're two things, because you're really smart. I know. You come and you ask me whether you should, you've written 30 pages and whether you should start all over again, because you're really smart. So you're asking like a trick question, because basically you're halfway through and you're nervous. And you think, if I could just have Susan or Park tell me to start all over, and I'll start all over. And I'll get the first 30 pages perfect next time, because now I know what my play's about. I know. I know. To go forward, I know. Go forward. And all the things you know now about your story, write them on post-its, not the big post-its, but the little ones, write them on a series of post-its and put them in a notebook. Actually in the notebook. Yeah, I think it might be fun, right? Whole lot of yellow post-its, yellows are good colors, kind of relaxing, you know? I mean not neon, you know, blues, you know, yellow. So you're writing, first you do this, this happens, and then this happens, and make sure that, and stick them in an actual notebook, actual pages, like those cheap composition books, and stick them all in there. And then on page 30, this happens, and then you go, keep going. Or you write the whole play and the rest of the play on post-its, you keep going. Maybe you like post-its. So keep, so like, say don't change anything about the first 30. No, I'm saying change it, but don't change it like, xing out all the pages, yes or no. Change it, but change it on all the post-its. Like, this is why I know it has to happen in the first 30. This, and then this, and then this, and then, so change as much as you want. But don't. New document. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You see, we're trying to get that, so change, I think you need to change, just make little notes to yourself on post-its, non, yellow legal pad, non, yeah, in a notebook writing long-hand, on post-its, these little things that are cute and they can stick out. And go forward. And then when you're done, on page 60, write with all those new things in mind, and when you're done, then you get to go back. So in the beginning. And that's called second draft. And the sword of discernment, and the song. The sword of discernment, so. Well, maybe, or maybe you just gonna write it all and see if it holds together. And then all this new information. Yeah, because it'll probably by that time be something. Right. Something else too. Right. So you will have at least gotten a draft. Yeah. So the desire to turn back to the beginning and make it all perfect is, you know, it's some sort of illusion, someone's like, wow, your voice, like, carried all the, an illusion, that's a, it is an illusion. It's just a, yeah, yeah. Well, the specifics actually don't matter. Which is why I'm not asking Stacy about the specifics. They actually don't matter. What's mad, I mean, they are your important question, but what really matters is her mind and the way she's thinking about what she needs to do to make it right. See, and that's why it's an illusion. Cause to fix, she really probably does need to fix it. Sure, we're not discounting that. But the desire to cool back and rewrite the first three pages because what happens is they keep hearing the loop and most folks will go back and they'll rewrite them again and then they'll have another great idea and then we'll write them again. And at the end of this year, they'll have 30 interesting pages and about 120 set of drafts. Ryan, I'm looking at you. I'm not gonna mention your names. I'm just looking at Ryan right now cause he's wearing such a cool leather jacket. Ryan, Ryan, Ryan, you know. I'm just saying. Oh, today, by the way, it's leak day. It's so exciting, leak day. I'm gonna like do something extra. So I jump over there, there. It's just this. This is that? It's just this. But does that help? Try that, because what happens is, if that doesn't work and I'll get it, but really, if you get to the end, then you'll have so much more of an understanding. Like just stopping and doing the exercise because there's so, there was so many moving parts and there were some things that I just couldn't say maybe in this particular play of the series that could maybe live in another play. And so, the turning of things I need to cut out maybe think, well, it's all entrenched in the earlier shit and instead of just keep going. Just keep going. Because I feel very unsure. Rico, what did I say? Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. That's right. Just keep swimming. Just keep writing. Just keep writing. Get to the end and then fix it. Just as a spiritual practice, just as a spiritual practice, just do that. With something magical you can do, you know. Yeah. Yes. Anybody else? Yeah. You were a few years, you looked vaguely familiar. Yeah, I don't come that often. What's your name? I'm David. Hi, David. How's it going? He's going great. Great day. And I think I asked him along the lines of like, oh, this hasn't happened for you lately. And you used one of your tattoos to tell me basically not to freak out about it. And I was hoping you would maybe remember which tattoo and what it says. Oh, that's such a great question, David. Yeah. Yeah. Has it happened for you yet, whatever you were waiting for? Yeah, you know, maybe you feel less like shit that day. Well, you know what's wonderful about my tattoos is that they each say the same thing. Okay. Yeah. So I went for number one. And I could just say it three times. So the tricky thing is that one's written in small type, then middle size type, then bigger type. My idea was to get it XL, large. But I was like, overkill. Three is good number. Good enough for the trinity, it's good enough for me. So it says it's from the yoga sutras. It's sutra number one, two, three. So it's all this joke, right? You can do the joke, right? Okay. So it's sutra number one, two, three. If any of you are old enough or have a, you know, remember that song, ABC, easiest one, two, three, simple, don't worry, ABC, one, two, three, don't worry, maybe you and me, girl. Anyway. So the sutra says ishvara prana dhani vah, which is a horribly pronounced Sanskrit. It means either go with the flow or submit your will to the will of God. So you, so we say, what time it is? Cause I don't know what. Unlike Chris Barlow, who's a Mac genius and has all these watches. Anyway, I say, what time it is? It's time to go with the flow, right? Just go with the flow, right? Flow me in capital F, the big picture. I can't see the whole big picture. I'm just gonna figure that right here where I'm supposed to be. Cause right here is where I am. Got it? I can repeat it in two years time. I don't have to be the same thing, man. Well, but I enjoy talking about it. So thanks for asking. Are we, is that, is it that time? What time it is? So we have three minutes? Yes. Anybody have a question? Anybody have an answer? You might have a story to tell? Have a story? Okay. Oh, yes. Certain days that someone has exactly the question that you're dealing with. Right. And I was just able to get started in working on this play that had had running in my mind for a long time and had an insight also similar to yours that I think I need a different character that is not there, needs to be there. Right. And so I couldn't write the play today because I wasn't sure what to do. So I just wrote series of questions to myself about it and who is this character that's trying to find the way in. Oh, great. And stuff. I don't know if that helps or not. That's true. But I had that same question. Going back. No, it's not going back. I know I'm going to keep that part, but it's turning in a direction that's totally different than where I thought it was going. Yeah. How does things do? I don't think. How does things do? How are you doing, Chris Barlow? Are you good? I got a short question. Oh, they're going to cut us off. Oh, well. We can start talking for us. Okay, oh, I'm sorry. Yes, we have to tell them. Yes, we have to tell you when we're going to be here, not next to them because I have to go to LA again versus the problem of some of the wars. But this is going to be the seventh year group. Oh, but the week after next, which is March 14th. March the 14th. Thanks, Alika. So March 14th, we'll be back here. Thank you all for coming today. Thanks for your question. We're going to continue because Chris Barlow has a question. What? Okay, Chris Barlow. Okay, so you talk about outlining time. Yeah. And it reminds me of a piece of advice you gave me last year about taking the story, like a pre-writing point of view, and taking the story, and outlining it on index cards, and just kind of flipping through those cards, flipping through those cards, flipping through those cards. And so I took a play I wrote about a year ago, and I did not. Right. And I didn't like how the first draft had ended up, but I really liked flipping through those index cards as I tried to fix what I wanted to fix. Right. And I have never been able to go back to actually making it not on index cards. Like, the more I try to outline it, the more I'm like, I love outlining it, and I don't ever want to ruin that outline by putting it back on paper. Huh, are you dating right now? No. It has everything to do with the thingy. The idea, your idea of how great it is, gonna be, and the reality of it, you guys just, you know what I mean? You guys, either get yourself, I'll tell you what, you get yourself a really big index card. I was so big, it's gonna be like 150 pages. You know what I mean? And you, you can come. No, it's like, I mean, the idea and the, wow, it's so beautiful. I don't want to ruin it. You're such a good writer. I know you're writing. I know you. I know you. You're so good. Oh, stop. I didn't go on a date like that. No, but I'm, no, I'm sorry. I mean, that's sorry. That's pretty personal use of this, but the idea that you finally got it right, now you gotta go out of the house and see how it plays in the street. I'm serious. I mean, that's why I say it's like dating. It's silly to think that, but you think, oh, wow, this is gonna be my perfect life. And you have to actually step out of the house and see what it's gonna look like. You have to put it on the page. You have a lot of experience with writing, so you know what that's like to do with other projects. This is one of those things like, I finally got my shit correct. I don't want to ruin it. Yes, but see how it holds up. It's not one of the ones you worked on last year. No, it's not. Okay. It's gonna be great every point, because you're right straight in, so. Just give over to how beautiful it's gonna be. Okay. Thank you for coming. It's something to say. Anybody else have anything? We're gonna go. We're gonna chat. These people are like, no, no, let me go home. You're right. Yeah. That's good. Writer's blog. Writer's. What are they, what do people say? Just write. What are you doing, like, music or drawing or... Those are good. Those are good. So, that's good. I'm just referring to Peter for everybody. So, just write, use prompts, participate in another artistic forum, like music or dance or whatever to get in the movie. All those things are great. All those are good ideas. I would just say, I think what I've discovered is that the muse, and we never think this about the muse, but she likes a schedule. You never think that, right? The muse likes a schedule. She loves it when you show up at your appointed hour to converse with her. So, if you make it in your mission to have a daily practice or an almost daily practice, you show up at a certain spot and say, you know, you're gonna call a friend, hey girl, how you doing? She will more often than not be there for you. And just to sit there and put the time in, putting the time in. I mean, just write as kind of fuzzy for me. Putting the time in. For the time in, it's not your phone, because your phone is cracked. Okay? Just put the time in. And start saying nicer things to yourself. Saying that you made a commitment, like not to look good today or never. I'm sorry. I was like, wow, you look cool. I'm gonna be who you are. That's what I thought. So, it must be true. So, just, that'll go a long way in helping you feel, because we're all just needed to feel okay. Not great, but just okay. And the more okay you feel, the more it's possible for you to get more done. You wanna go? Can I have somebody have a brief burning question? Jenna, I guess, I don't know, because you're my favorite writer. I feel like there's something about, well, there's something about having permission somehow. Which is that, if did you hear how Amy Schumer wrote that she writes because of her belly, and if she didn't have a belly, she wouldn't have had to write for herself, because other people would be writing for her. I don't have a belly. I don't have a water right. Anyway, but yeah, I know, I know. I heard, I heard. Yeah. And I just kind of feel like... She's great, by the way. I'm a big fan of her. Yeah, me too. Yeah. And so sometimes I feel like as an actor, like I feel like I have to be a writer just so that I can act, you know? But in a certain way, that feels disrespectful to writers, because I'm like writing, I think of acting as an art. Writing is an art. Is it disrespectful of me, who that's not my art, to be going and trying to do that, you know, just so that I can act? Well, no, I mean, I think we'll always have reasons to talk ourselves out of what we want to do. But that's your reason to talk yourself out of writing, disrespectful to writers. No, man, writers, we don't, you know, we don't sweat it. You can write your own stuff. I mean, no one's gonna write the exact stuff that Amy wants to, although I'm trying to write, if anybody saw it, I don't know what happened in the last 20 minutes of the movie. Someone fell down on the job, that's all I wanna say. She needed a writer, a lot. Or whatever. But I think that, no one's got to suspect that if you do it well, you know what I mean? If you're just writing so you can have parts, I think Amy isn't just trying to get parts, she's also wanting to get certain kinds of things said and you know, just outside your role. If you wanna write about things that are specific to where, ever it is you're coming from, you have a right to write those things. You don't need a license, you know? You can start calling yourself a writer, if you want. You can't, well, you were like, I'm just, I'm giving you permission. Oh, you're so great. I'm gonna call myself an actor. I'm an actor, I'm in play, look, I'm in play. You know what I mean? It's okay, you can call yourself a writer. I'm an actor and a writer. I write things too sometimes. You can say, for a minute anyway you want, you're allowed to do what you've gotta do. You know, you're totally allowed to do what you've gotta do. No problem. You just gotta work as hard as these people over here. They work hard. You know, I mean you have to treat it with seriousness. Like they would, if they started acting, they would treat it as an incredible crowd that they really wanted you to have, you know? I know this name. So they work really, really hard. So you have to work at least as hard as they would at your crowd, at your chosen crowd. Yeah, there you go. Actor, I'm an actor. No, no, no, I have to be, sir. Oh, I have to be, I have to be, I have to be, I have to be, I have to be, I have to be, did you see him running around here? He's not here today. Dang, I got to be, I got to be, sir. They're like, okay, it's time to go. Okay, we're going. Okay, bye. We'll see you next time.