The Magic of teamwork

foreign

i’d like to talk to you about teamwork

some people say that starting a project

with a new team is like climbing a

mountain

some say it feels like exploring

an unknown forest to me

it feels like jumping into a cold lake

with the support of the team it’s easier

and more fun than doing it alone

like jumping into a lake writing a

fictional

television series is possible but a team

of writers

works faster and usually they are able

to

create a more vivid fictional world

writer’s room means that a team of

writers

try to figure out what’s the best way to

tell the story

and to write the screenplays in the

given time frame

it’s not easy to describe what happens

in a writer’s room

basically a team of writers gathers in a

room

they talk a lot and sometimes they write

stuff

on a whiteboard what they are actually

doing

is creating a fictional world with

heroes

and villains and everything it’s like

those childhood games

where you created a whole imaginary

world

with your best friends the whole thing

happened in your heads

but you experienced it together

in 2018 we received funding from the

european union

for a project called the virtual writers

room

our goal was to find out if a team of

screenwriters

could work in a virtual space

back then some people didn’t understand

our project

they said the essential idea of the

writer’s room

is to be present in the room a physical

room that is

they said the room is where the magic

happens

and that is exactly what we were

interested in

is it possible to make that magic happen

in a virtual space to me

magic of the writer’s room is very close

to what keith sawyer

writes about group flow it is a

peak experience a group

performing at its top level of ability

some of you might know what flow feels

like

some of you might know what group flow

feels like

to me they feel like

cross-country skiing when the skis are

gliding it feels like

you’re flying on snow

for 20 years i’ve been part of a team

that gathers

every year to compete in umpi hong ki

don you got it

i’ll say it again

pilot it’s the world championships

of cross-country skiing in deep snow

it’s cold there’s a lot of snow

and most of the time you’re exhausted

but sometimes maybe twice in a decade

everything just clicks and it feels like

flying and the whole team is flying

to me that’s like group flow in a

writer’s room

being present feeling alive doing the

thing you love

and going forward with the team it

doesn’t feel like hard work

even though it’s just that

last spring during the coronal lockdown

i didn’t experience

flow or group flow mostly

just boredom i spent more time in doom

than ever before

in the most boring meetings i was

concentrating more on looking out of the

window

than looking at my colleagues in those

small pics

on my laptop actually

i was looking at a birdhouse in my

backyard

i built this birdhouse with my youngest

son

and we were quite proud of the awkward

looking thing

and we were quite surprised when the

bird started to build their nest in it

while looking at the bird house i

realized something about the virtual

writer’s room project

what it was really about me and my

colleagues

te ponutenen and mira carola tried to

create conditions

for young and aspiring writers to learn

how to work as a team and find those

magic moments

we wanted to create a place where they

could develop those ideas

where they could keep those ideas safe

and warm

and protected until they were strong

enough to fly on their own

i have worked in many teams in the past

30 years

as a student a screenwriter and a

teacher

what i’ve learned about teamwork is this

you learn teamwork only by doing

teamwork

it might seem easy but in reality it’s

hard work

it takes time before a team start

functioning

properly and even then the magic doesn’t

happen

automatically and even

if a team reaches group flow the ideas

might not be so brilliant

but the risk is worth taking because

the team can create something unique

something that has never been thought of

before

teamwork is never about one person

it’s not about elbowing your way to the

top

it’s not about being the smartest guy in

the room

teamwork is about us about our team

and our ability to create something

together

and there’s a difference if you talk

about my

idea or our idea

for example the virtual writers room

project

is not my idea but i’ve been part

of the team that decided to explore this

crazy idea

well it was crazy a couple of years ago

nowadays it seems everybody is doing it

creative teams all around the world are

working in virtual space

because they can’t miss face to face

to me the key to successful teamwork is

not about

where we work teamwork is not so

different

if we are climbing a mountain or diving

into a lake

working in a conference room or in a

virtual space

the key to successful teamwork are the

conditions

that we create for ourselves

how we treat each other how we talk

how we listen how we imagine things

together ultimately

we decide if teamwork feels like playing

with our best friends

we can make that happen if we really try

finding that magic is not easy but i

promise you

it’s worth it thank you