TED Talk (Part 2): J.J. Abrams

TED Talk (Part 3): J.J. Abrams

In 2007, J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Super 8) gave a TED Talk. I’m sure many of you have seen it. However, like many great presentations, much of what could be valuable as a writer drifts away into the ether. So for the next two weeks, I will be posting the entire transcript of Abrams’ ‘mystery box’ TED Talk.

Part 3

What I realized I do in everything I do is I find myself drawn to infinite possibility and potential. And I realized that mystery is the catalyst for imagination.

It’s not the most groundbreaking idea, but when I started to think that maybe there are times when mystery is more important than knowledge, I started getting interested in this.

So I started thinking about “Lost” and all the things we do, and I realized, “Oh, my God, mystery boxes are everywhere in the things I do.”

In the creation of “Lost,” Damon Lindelof, who created the show with me, we had very little time to come up with this show. We had eleven weeks to write it, cast it, crew it, shoot it, cut it, show it, turn in a 2-hour pilot, so it was not a lot of time.

That sense of possibility — what could it be — there was no time to develop it. I’m sure you’re all familiar with those people who tell you what you can’t do. There was no time for that which was kind of amazing.

So we did the show. And for those of you who don’t know it or haven’t seen it, let me show you this one clip from the pilot.

[Shows clip of the crash aftermath on the island.]

Now ten years ago, if we’d wanted to shoot that, we would have had to kill a stunt man. It would be harder. Take two would be a bitch.

We were able to do this thing, the availability of technology knowing we could do anything.

So part of the creative process is that technology is mind-blowingly inspiring to me. To realize that that blank page is a mystery box.

Here is an excerpt from the pilot episode of Lost:

How about some writing takeaways:

• Mystery is the catalyst for imagination: And mystery is best expressed creatively in the form of a question. What is it? What does it mean? Who are they? Why are they here? How did this happen? Questions excite the mind and open up the door to infinite possibilities.
• Mystery as more important than knowledge: Some times in the writing of a story, we need to embrace what we do not reveal to the reader, as that can be more compelling and have more power over them.
• Mystery boxes are everywhere: Just look around you and you will see them… if you have eyes to see.
• The blank page is a mystery box: More on this tomorrow, but circling back, as writers the key to delving into the mysteries we confront in the form of a blank page is to ask questions, get curious… and go into the story.

All of these are valuable tips for storytelling.

For Part 1 of Abrams’ TED Talk, go here.

For Part 2, go here.

To watch the entire video, go here.