Mindy Kaling may be the busiest writer/actress in Hollywood these days, but she still considers herself a “lazy person.” According to him, the key to his creativity is in structure and a little movement.
Kaling created and starred The Mindy Project and was a writer/actor Officealong with many other projects ranging from animated series Velma to comedies Sex Lives of College Girls and I never. Even when you exclude OfficeBroadcast from 2005-2013, that’s a lot of work in a fairly short amount of time. But Kaling, who recently launched a new MasterClass with a series of lessons on how to become a screenwriter, says high-pressure environments are where she thrives.
“I’m a lazy person who needs structure,” she says. “I need deadlines. This is where my creativity leaks. It is no accident or coincidence that I am successful in a show where we have to prepare 22-24 episodes a year. . . and I had exactly four days to write the episode. I look at someone like Michael Lewis, a novelist I love, and I’m like, “How do you do that?” For me, putting a lot of structure around my creativity is where I can be successful.”
Some may wonder if Kaling, who has written 64 episodes of two different shows since 2020 Murray HillAn upcoming project on Hulu and its script Legally Blonde 3does. He answers these questions these days in MasterClass, where he tells the story of becoming a screenwriter and shares the keys to success in the extremely competitive business.
Did Kaling find anything that helped her keep up with her self-imposed pace? Long walks where he will either talk things out with his friends or, if they are unavailable, to himself.
“Writing is as much communication as speaking,” he says. “I’m a talker. What I will do is tell through a story or structure. It’s less scary to go for a walk and record what I’m talking about, then come back and listen to it and see if there’s anything there. . . . What it gives me is that I’m never looking at a blank page.”
It also eliminates the fear of writer’s block. Reviewing his recordings, he’s more of an editor — a role he says he prefers.
Another trick to get the creative juices flowing, he says? Consider non-computer environments for recording your thoughts. Just as these walks and conversations help her figure out characters or write more conversationally, taking notes on colorful notepads not only helps Kaling keep her thoughts organized, but also provides a dopamine rush from reaching a goal, even if it’s a small one. .
“I’ve never been a visually oriented person, but I love art,” she says. “When I write something on a brightly colored card, I feel like I’ve done something. It’s about using laptops and doing everything on a computer. You don’t get the visual satisfaction of completing a task or a task.”
Finally, Kaling says, a good way to develop your creativity is to set up mental exercises for yourself that prompt you to think about whatever you’re creating from a different perspective. As a writer Officefor example, the team would consider how characters would react in certain situations to better understand who that character was.
“Dwight Schrute,” he offers as an example, “is the kind of guy who, if there’s an apocalypse, chooses to drink his own piss on the second day. He doesn’t have to. He just does. And you know right away what kind of guy he is.”