Watch Woody Allen Dip Into His Idea Drawer

PBS’s American Masters series turns its lens on Woody Allen on Sunday. In this clip, Allen explains how he’s able to be so prolific — he just pulls from his drawer full of ideas. Allen’s method appears to be: scribble some seed of an idea on a piece of paper, crumple it gently, uncrumple it even though it’ll never be straight again, stick it in a drawer with its compatriots, and then pull out a stack of inspiration when the spirit says “sing” or when a documentary crew asks you to. Alternatively, Woody, you can let the scraps pile up until they become sentient, like Marjorie the trash heap on Fraggle Rock.

Watch Woody Allen Dip Into His Idea Drawer