In this episode, award-winning screenwriter and novelist, Elan Mastai shares:

How he learned the valuable lesson of getting out of his own way, so as to not be the obstacle to his own success. ‘Don’t fail before you’ve even tried’.

How when you find yourself doing the thing you love, it’s easier to overcome obstacles because it’s in the world that you want to be in.

A Very Important Reminder: When you start out, your writing is not going to be as good as the novelists, or the screenwriters, or the poets that inspire you, but remember,  you’re not seeing their early work.

How when you focus on your craft, a lot of other things fall into place…and that is the part you have control over.

How he learned a lot more about screenwriting and storytelling in film, from watching hundreds of films that didn’t work, than he ever did by watching dozens of masterpieces in film school.

How for him, writing autobiographically is more about what that feeling was – as opposed to telling the exact story.

How as a screenwriter your contributions are only seen in reflection.

The joy of creating a film sequence where you get a surprising physical explosion of laughter.

How if you can blow out the tension, you have a chance to blow up the balloon again.

Why “The F Word” became “What If”.

How when writing a romantic comedy, the pleasures of the movie have to be in the experience of the story and not in how it ends.

About the serendipity around the movie that changed the course of his life, and the surprising encounter that allowed him to say thank you.

The creative differences between writing for screen and novel.

About the Novel: All Our Wrong Todays was written to help close the loop on the future we were supposed to have but didn’t.

How trying to get the science around time travel right, opened up all sorts of creative and exciting story possibilities.

How it’s his job as a storyteller to keep you turning pages until you’ve stayed up all night needing to find out what’s next.

How it’s really easy to project the positives of a technology, and how it’s really hard to project the negatives of a technology.

How every time you invent a new technology, you also introduce the accident of that technology.

The Missing Link in Dating apps: How people who meet through dating apps often don’t have social overlap.

How as a storyteller he finds “the accident of people” very rich. Every single person you meet has unintentional consequences on your life.

FULL EPISODE NOTES  |  PDF