TED Talk (Part 9): 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 two weeks, I will be posting the entire transcript of Abrams’ ‘mystery box’ TED Talk.

Today Part 9 of J.J. Abrams 2007 TED Talk continues his presentation about the “mystery box”:

I want to show one thing that has nothing to do with anything. This is from online.

Six years ago they did this, some guys who had some visual effects experience, the point they were doing things, using these mystery boxes they had, everyone has now. What I realized what my grandfather did for me when I was a kid, everyone has access to now. You don’t need to have my grandfather, though you wish you had, but I’m going to tell you, this is a guy doing something on a Quadra 950 computer, using Infinity software which they stopped making 15 years ago, he’s doing stuff that’s as amazing as stuff I’ve seen released from Hollywood.

The most incredible mystery now I think is what comes next. Because it is now democratized. The creation of media, it’s everywhere. The stuff I was lucky and begging for to get when I was a kid is now ubiquitous. There’s an amazing sense of opportunity. When I think of the filmmakers out there now who would have been silenced, who have been silence in the past, it’s a very exciting thing.

I used to say in classes in lectures and stuff to someone who wants to write, Go write, it’s free, you don’t need permission to write. But now I can say, Go make your movie. There’s nothing stopping you from going out there and getting the technology. You can at least get stuff off the shelf that is as good as what’s being used by the quote unquote legit people.

No community is best served when only the elite have control. And I feel like this is an amazing opportunity to see what else is out there.

How about this for takeaway:

• Screenwriter’s mystery box: How about when you buy Final Draft? Or Movie Magic Screenwriter? What mysteries lie with that box?\
• Spirit of the spec: Go write… go make your movie. If I recall correctly, Abrams wrote and sold three spec scripts: Taking Care of Business (1990), Regarding Henry (1991) and Forever Young (1992), so he knows of what he speaks. Go! Write! Go! Do!

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

For Part 2, go here.

For Part 3, go here.

For Part 4, go here.

For Part 5, go here.

For Part 6, go here.

For Part 7, go here.

For Part 8, go here.

To watch the entire video, go here.