We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda & Michael Drexton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Amanda & Michael, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
Overcoming writer’s block, or creativity blocks in general is something we both face all the time. We’ve gotten more comfortable with having these blocks, they’re actually a natural and healthy part of the creative process in our opinion. It’s helpful for us not to view it as a block, but rather as an idea that just isn’t ready yet.
Whenever we are stuck on a project or script, we don’t focus on the block, you have to just let it go. Lots of small things help, going on a walk or simply just getting bored for a while. Ideas can be slow cookers and sometimes when something is blocked it just needs a bit more time. So when we’re faced with a block we move on. Move to another page, put down the project and move to something else or sometimes we don’t do anything at all.
After a few hours, or a few days, or in some cases a few weeks, the idea is percolating in our unconscious. Procrastination is helpful here, we love to let ideas simmer, when ready the solutions will present themselves. The oven timer will ding and the block will be resolved.
It’s taken us a lot of time and a lot of frustration to come to this conclusion, but it never fails. With the right amount of indifference, it will always be resolved. We’ve been writing together for so long and we trust our instincts as creators enough to know that we’re going to figure it out. It takes some confidence to step back and wait, sometimes we’re blocked because we are too in it and have built such a dogmatic framework around what the project is supposed to be. So we have to step away. Creativity flows best for us when we let it go.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
We are a husband and wife filmmaking team and have been writing and directing together since 2013. We started working together before we were even a couple. Amanda had an idea for a short film and having only an acting background, approached Michael, who was working as a director, to help write and produce the film. We haven’t stopped working together ever since.
Shortly after, we founded our indie production company Artless Entertainment. We are based in Echo Park and we do everything from narrative filmmaking to commercial work, music videos and more. We write and direct a lot of our own films, but we also work for hire on a number of projects, whether it’s boots on the ground producing or post production, big or small.
Having just directed our debut feature film “Sour Party,” that we’ve spent the last year touring at festivals and which has garnered several awards and nominations, we’re now in development on a TV series as well as several other feature films in a wide range of genres.
As filmmakers our always have something important to say. Whether it’s through slapstick comedy or a sci-fi thriller, our work is always layered with complex social and political ideas.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three ideas that have been essential to us are: perseverance, failure and community. These three ideas may be cliche, but sometimes the most obvious things are that way for a reason. Perseverance, never giving up at all costs, being totally unafraid to fail (and fail often we did) and having a community to lean on for support, are absolutely essential to rising up in any creative arena.
If we can impart anything it’s to value these three ideals. We didn’t always understand the value of a community, we were crushed at the multitude of failures we experienced on our journey. Looking back it’s clear these failures were the most valuable moments for us. Never giving up seems like it goes without saying, but there have been many times where we wanted to. Times we could have and should have leaned on our community and didn’t.
Failure means growth, don’t fear it. Never give up, no matter how crazy you might seem to those around you. Ask for help, rely on your friends because as the extremely overused saying goes, “the rising tide raises all ships.” It feels just as cringeworthy for us to write it as it probably does for you to read it, but honestly, these three ideas are the foundation for everything we’ve accomplished. We’re seeing our work from years ago pay off now in ways we didn’t imagine.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We’re always looking for new artists to collaborate with, we love expanding our network. From cinematographers to other writers, sound designers, anyone and everyone involved in filmmaking. If someone has a script and is looking for directors, or if you are an artist who is just looking to meet new people, we would love to hear from you. We have a lot of projects in our pipeline and this is a collaborative medium, so please don’t hesitate to reach out.
We have a contact submission form on our website, www.artlessentertainment.com and we always look at it. You can also connect easily via instagram: @artless_ent
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artlessentertainment.com
- Instagram: @artles_ent
Image Credits
N/A we hold rights to all photos.
