From http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/woody-allen-/3/
Woody Allen: My level of confidence is always high, but it’s unmerited confidence. It’s unearned confidence. I never do any homework whatsoever. I don’t even know in the morning sometimes what scene I’m going to be shooting later that day. I’ve given it no attention, no thought. I just go to the set, and they give me the stuff that I’m going to shoot, and then I start to look around and figure out what to do and how to do it. So I feel complete confidence, but that doesn’t mean that I should. I really do kind of flounder around. I’m not exactly sure what I want-I know more what I don’t want. I know if somebody performs badly or if something is going to be too heavy-handed or stupid. But what I really want out of the thing, I find out as we go. Sometimes the actor does something and I think, “Hey, that’s great. That’s much different than I envisioned-and much better. This is a good way to go.”
Sometimes I think game design is like this – especially when its a one-person project. Make something and let yourself be surprised at what you get. And this quote rules:
Woody Allen: There is an inexplicable delight in the act of creating. In the sense that if a guy paints a canvas… You know, I’ve done this sometimes where I’ve gone and bought a lot of paints and just for the fun of it had an orgy of painting. I mean, I can’t paint at all.
I know the term “organic” can seem like it is overused when talking about the creative process, but this is what Allen seems to be getting at- trust in things to take a life of its own. It reminds me of a quote in Sandman too, “Don’t trust the storyteller, trust the story.”
And if you haven’t seen this gem from Allen’s early work on Candid Camera, PLEASE DO! It’s one of the funniest things he ever did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYpROqeKRMY
That is quite great!