Woody Allen about life, work and creativity

Biography Woody Allen is rich in both examples of incredible success, and the release of mediocre films. He not only wrote scripts for movies, but also produced plays on Broadway. Actor, director, playwright, experimenter and innovator - Woody Allen was never afraid of failure, he learned from his mistakes and went on, each time trying something new. But the setbacks he just shrugged his shoulders. Being 4 times nominated for an Oscar, he never came to the ceremony. All this turmoil and lush parties is absolutely not for him. Woody preferred to go to the bar, quietly go to sleep in the morning to cook toast and coffee for breakfast and learn from the New York Times that he won an Oscar.

"Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask", "Match Point," "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" "Midnight in Paris" and a lot more - it can be to love, you can hate, but to deny its success it is impossible.

Do not be afraid to make a mistake

Some of Woody Allen's movies are terrible. And he does not deny. In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said in 1976:

I would fail in the eyes of the public... That's what I want to do is to look into those areas where I feel insecure and in which I was not so good.

He could continue to keep shooting the comedy each year, but it goes further. He wants his work and the work evolved, and constantly comes to risk trying new and new techniques.

Drop in a little forward

In Woody Allen has a certain vision of what will happen to the world in a few years, they can change the taste and preferences. So in an interview with Washington Post, he said in 1977:

We are probably living in the end times. I think it's only a matter of time when the home viewing of movies will be as simple and economical as we would like.

Vision - a very valuable asset for the owner, whatever he was doing.

Be flexible

Another key to a successful business is the ability to be flexible and change under the influence of external circumstances, but at the same time have a hard inner core, which still retains the main idea. Woody Allen has always been different. In their experiments, he could change the script of the film during its filming, if it's not like something, or he thought that the character turns out to be insufficiently elaborated. Changes not only in the process of re-reading the script, but also in the process of film production.

For me, the film grows organically. I'm writing a script, and in the process of changing its essence. I can see how people come, and then I decide to change... here. And everything changes, if Keaton does not want to stick to this line and I do not want to do this - and we have to dodge. The scenario is changing. And everything changes because of the million reasons.

Be productive

If you think that in order to produce one film a year, write articles in magazines and playing in the plays Woody Allen is working around the clock, you're wrong. He believes that in order to really be productive enough for 3-5 hours a day. And it is desirable to start serious business in the morning, while everyone else still or sleeping, or eating breakfast. And then by the time when the first man appeared at the door of your office, you will call and write letters, basic and the main part of the work will be performed.

He can write comedy for one month, and drama - in the three months. The main condition - every day to sit at the typewriter.

Avoid external stimuli

On the one hand, we may feel that moving forward will be difficult without external stimuli. It's so nice to get nice feedback, comments, emails, huskies - yes anything. On the other hand, we are dependent on someone else's opinion, and if you suddenly close group who created us visibility of public opinion, now wake up in the wrong frame of mind, our mood is pretty deteriorate. Sometimes, in addition to suffering from mood and work as hands down and we succumbed to the influence of other people's opinions, we can make some or a lot of stupid mistakes, or altogether abandon the idea.

For Woody Allen's opinion did not matter much. He did and he liked what he gets. He was not on any of the Oscar ceremony, even knowing that his films were in nomination. He quietly spent the evening and in the morning, at breakfast, learned from the newspaper that his film has received the highest award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts.

Be confident in your work

When we start to do something new for us or something that no one has yet tried to repeat in practice, we feel insecure. Because in order to understand and appreciate what eventually happens, you need experience, which we do not. When Woody Allen filmed "Husbands and Wives," he used an interesting shooting style as if everything was shot on handheld camera. Jumps, tremors and other times doing this film is quite unusual.

The confidence that comes with experience, allows you to do something that you would not dare to earlier films. You become more thick-skinned... you let your instincts to act more freely and cease to worry about finesse.

Always be on the mind

Woody Allen said that 80% of success - is the ability to always be in sight. You constantly have to be on the move, constantly talk about themselves, speak at conferences, looking for investors and new customers. By themselves, they will not appear magically on the threshold of your office.

Yes, at first it is difficult and takes a lot of time and effort. Therefore, the temptation to give up on everything by hand, and go to rest - is very high. But in the end at the top are those who worked at the time as the others went skiing.

Use everything that surrounds you

To become a really good director, Woody Allen is not just honed his skills. He borrowed the experience of previous actors and directors. If you are working on something, learn from not only his contemporaries, but that was before you. Draw your inspiration from the world around you, looking for interesting and unusual examples of solutions. If in your work you will be able to combine all this into one, you will not just another good project / book / pattern / program. She will go down in textbooks and will long remain an example on which to learn more than one generation.