10 Movies to Watch When You Have a Creative Block
- Productivity
Zach- 16 minutes read
No one likes having a creative block, but sometimes it’s the mind’s way of saying it’s time for a break. After all, it’s when we step away from a problem and let it breathe in the unconscious that the aha moment comes bursting forth and gives us new creative energy. Here are 10 movies to watch when you have a creative block.
Adaptation (2002)
Nicolas Cage is Charlie Kaufman, a lovelorn screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, and self-loathing. While struggling to adapt “The Orchid Thief” by Susan Orlean for the screen, he becomes desperate, and his life begins to spin out of control. This award-winning movie perfectly captures writer’s block and all the struggles that go into overcoming it.
Creative Lessons
Overcome creative blocks by expressing your struggles through creativity.
- Kaufman made this movie based on his real-life struggles with writer’s block.
You can’t fight change.
- “What I came to understand is that change is not a choice. Not for a species of plant, and not for me.”
The difference between obsession and passion is perspective.
- “You are what you love, not what loves you.”
All creatives deal with procrastination and self-doubt.
- “To begin… To begin… How to start? I’m hungry. I should get coffee. Coffee would help me think. Maybe I should write something first, then reward myself with coffee. Coffee and a muffin. Okay, so I need to establish the themes. Maybe a banana-nut. That’s a good muffin.”
Dead Poet’s Society (1989)
Robin Williams plays John Keating, a maverick teacher who uses poetry to embolden his boarding school students to new heights of self-expression. His unorthodox methods helps students learn to break out of their shells, overcome pressures, pursue their dreams and seize the day.
Creative Lessons
Make the most of the present moment.
- “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”
Creativity can change the world.
- “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
- “Poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for.”
Patience is not the enemy of productivity.
- “There is a time for daring, and there is a time for caution. And a wise man understands which is called for.”
Think outside the box for creativity and self-discovery.
- “We must constantly look at things in a different way.”
- “You must strive to find your own voice.”
Midnight in Paris (2011)
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée’s family, a nostalgic screenwriter has taken to exploring the city at night and finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight. Throughout his time jump adventures, he meets cultural heroes of art and literature and discusses creativity and life. The more time he spends with these creative minds, the more dissatisfied he becomes with the present.
Creative Lessons
Prioritize your passions.
- “The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.”
Surround yourself with people who inspire you, but be creative for yourself.
- Gil: Would you read it?
- Ernest Hemingway: Your novel?
- Gil: Yeah, it’s about 400 pages long, and I’m just looking for an opinion.
- Ernest Hemingway: My opinion is I hate it.
- Gil: Well, you haven’t even read it yet.
- Ernest Hemingway: If it’s bad, I’ll hate it because I hate bad writing, and if it’s good, I’ll be envious and hate all the more. You don’t want the opinion of another writer.
There’s always wishful nostalgia. Don’t focus on the past or the future, but live in the present.
- “That’s what the present is. It’s a little unsatisfying because life is unsatisfying.”
When in doubt and need ideas, take a shower.
- “You know how I think better in the shower, get all those positive ions flowing.”
If you’re planning a trip to Paris, don’t forget to stop at the famous cafe for creatives, La Rotonde.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)
Lee Israel is a frustrated, hard-drinking author who can barely afford to pay her rent or bills in 1990s New York. Suffering from self-destructive creative blocks and desperate for money, she turns her art form to deception. She hatches a scheme to forge letters by famous writers and sell them to bookstores and collectors. When the dealers start to catch on, Lee recruits a dubious friend to help her continue her self-destructive cycle and deceit.
Creative Lessons
- Don’t be afraid of criticism. Be open to learn and grow from new perspectives.
- Sometimes your failures can lead to bigger successes.
- Don’t worry about what’s popular or what will sell, find your own voice.
- Don’t alienate yourself and your creativity. There’s a time for solitude, but creative also need community for inspiration and growth.
Music and Lyrics (2007)
A washed up singer is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he’s never written a decent lyric in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman with a flair for words.
Creative Lessons
Collaboration brings joy.
- Alex Fletcher: The best time I’ve had in the last fifteen years was sitting at that piano with you.
- Sophie Fisher: That’s wonderfully sensitive… especially from a man who wears such tight pants.
- Alex Fletcher: It forces all the blood to my heart.
Switch gears when things aren’t working and become stale.
Wonder Boys (2000)
An English Professor suffering from writer’s block tries to deal with his wife leaving him, his editor pressuring him for a new book, and other problems that his friends and associates involve him in. Despite encouragement, he’s obsessed with his work and perfection until he finds release in his friendship with a lonely but gifted student.
Creative Lessons
When one door closes, another one opens.
- “As for me, I lost everything: my wife, my book, my job, everything that I thought was important. But I finally knew where I wanted to go. And now I have someone to help me get there.”
Escapism with drinking and drugs doesn’t help creativity.
There’s no guarantee of success in life. Instead of focusing on what could be, make the present worthwhile.
To overcome creative blocks and grow as a writer, you need to know where you want to go or your creative purpose.
- “Nobody teaches a writer anything. You tell ’em what you know. You tell ’em to find their voice and stay with it. You tell the ones that have it to keep at it. You tell the ones that don’t have it to keep at it too, because that’s the only way they’re gonna get to where they’re going. Of course, it does help if you know where you wanna go.”
Stranger than Fiction (2006)
A mentally unstable IRS auditor suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear. As the narration begins to affect his entire life, he discovers that he is the ill-fated protagonist of a well-known author’s latest book about his death. While the author struggles with the writer’s block of writing the protagonist’s death, the auditor and a literature professor set out to find the narrator and make her change her story.
Creative Lessons
- A rigid routine leads to a mundane existence.
- Fear of death teaches you how to live.
- Everyday actions can become heroic and can make the world a better place.
- Life is made up of seemingly small mundane moments that add up to make a life worth living.
- Learn what you can control and what you can’t control and focus on what you can to live a better life.
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
The world’s greatest playwright ever, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas, and short of cash. Suffering from writer’s block, Shakespeare is in need of a new muse. He soon finds inspiration when he falls for a beautiful female aristocrat, who inspires him to write one of his most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet.
Creative Lessons
Find inspiration in your daily life.
The road of creative expression is filled with obstacles. The trick is to keep moving forward.
- Philip Henslowe: Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.
- Hugh Fennyman: So what do we do?
- Philip Henslowe: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
- Hugh Fennyman: How?
- Philip Henslowe: I don’t know. It’s a mystery.
Creative blocks are natural and happen to everyone, even great minds.
- “Words, words, words. Once I had the gift. I could make love out of words as a potter makes cups of clay. Love that overthrows empires. Love that binds two hearts together come hellfire and brimstone. For six pence a line, I could cause a riot in a nunnery. But, now?”
Loving Vincent (2017)
In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk) to deliver the troubled artist’s final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
Creative Lessons
Art is a creative expression of the self.
- “I want to touch people with my art. I want them to say, “He feels deeply, he feels tenderly.”
- “Instead of reproducing exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitrary use of color to express myself more forcefully.”
Live authentically and follow your passions.
- “Who am I in the eyes of most people? A nobody, anon-entity, an unpleasant person. Someone who has not, and never will have any position in society. In short, the lowest of the low. Well then even if that were all absolutely true, then one day I will have to show by my work what this nobody, this non-entity has in his heart.”
Keep learning and connecting with nature.
- “I don’t know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream.”
Life can be stressful and painful, that’s why we need community and support.
Young Adult (2011)
Soon after her divorce, a fiction writer returns to her home in small-town Minnesota, looking to rekindle a romance with her ex-boyfriend, who is now happily married and has a newborn daughter.
Creative Lessons
Clinging to the past only brings suffering.
- Instead of focusing on nostalgia and the past, move on and move forward.
- “Life, here I come.”
Leaning on vices and nostalgia doesn’t help with thinking up new ideas.
It’s not as easy to achieve a happy ending in real life as it is to write one.
Zach is an international writer, photographer, filmmaker, martial artist, and creator of Creative Enso, the Zen art of creative living. His goal is to empower and inspire creatives to live healthier, happier, and more creative lifestyles.
