the power of "yes, and..."

a friend and I were sitting earlier today trying to figure out a script for another movie. I can't tell the full details just yet, but it was very interesting to see how we helped each other's creativity. four of us had basically done some brainstorming yesterday, came up with a couple of possible ideas on how to go ahead, but hadn't really gotten anywhere with it. so we sat down today, the two of us, and in my mind I tried to keep the "yes, and" idea, not to shoot any of the ideas down, but to try to help out, ask questions and push him along whenever he came up with anything. and I must say it was amazing to see how far we got! we helped build on each other's creativity, we nailed down a couple of ideas, ironed out the details, and have a whole lot to work with, in just two hours! not only for a first episode, but an overarching story and theme for the future as well, which will help give us a framework and make it easier to come up with more ideas.

if you haven't heard of "yes, and...", read this on wikipedia, it's all about improvisation.