The #1 Thing I Learned From Mindy Kaling's Masterclass
I accidentally paid for another year of Masterclass (please set reminders to turn off your auto-subscriptions, guys).
This week I watched Mindy Kaling’s, the Tony Award winning screenwriter and producer known for her work on The Office, 67-minute advice session on scripting your own success.
This is what I learned.
Start Before You’re Ready
You don’t need fame, connections, or a big budget to start. You just need an idea and the drive to bring it to life.
Success Demands Resilience
Hate to break it to you.
But you need thick skin and relentless determination to thrive in creative industries.
Mindy didn’t wait.
She wrote Matt & Ben, a low-budget play of what Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's lives must have been like that put her on the map, and opened the door to writing for The Office.
Not All Ideas Are Good
Unfortunately, it’s true.
“There is a lot of heartbreak with ideas.
Sometimes you will have an idea in the middle of the night and you’re like “this is so funny, everything is going to love that” and then you wake up and in the cold hard light of day, you’re like… oh, this is bad.”
-Mindy Kaling, on writing
Be Physical
When you’re stuck?
Record a conversation.
Read your script out loud.
Hand it to a friend (or your mom).
Her philosophy starts wayyyyy before touching a computer. She takes time to craft backstories and layers for all her characters, not just the leads. This depth makes stories relatable and unforgettable.
She literally still uses index cards and maps out her ideas to see the entire story.
It’s old-school, but it works.
Stop Waiting. Start Creating.
Mindy Kaling taught me one thing above all: you don’t need anyone’s permission.
You can write or thrive in any industry—even when the gatekeepers try to hold you back.
So start. Build. Be relentlessly honest.
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