Millions of fans know Troian Bellisario for her work on the small screen, thanks to roles in TV series including Pretty Little Liars and Suits. But with the July 18 release of the new film Feed, moviegoers will get to experience a new side of Bellisario: screenwriter. The Tommy Bertelsen-directed flick follows two wealthy young twins, Olivia (Bellisario) and Matthew (Tom Felton), who are torn apart by tragedy; it’s a dark, moving picture about family, illness, and what we all do to survive.

Here, Bellisario, who’ll also star in the forthcoming movie adaptation of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, opens up about her process for our peek inside the habits of a creative mastermind.

How do you prepare yourself to be creative; what’s your ritual?

I find I work better if I have moved my body before I sit down. I like hiking, running, doing something outdoors physically so that my body feels lived in before I work, otherwise I find the onslaught of thoughts to be overwhelming. Physically moving creates clarity for me. Honestly, I wrote most of Feed at the end of long work days on Pretty Little Liars, or even in between takes. Sometimes you don’t have the time to prepare yourself to be creative, but just trust that sitting down and doing it is enough.

Troian Bellisario in Feed. Courtesy

What place is most conducive in which for you to work?

I love putting a desk in front of a window that looks out onto something green. All my work thus far, Feed and my short films, Exiles and We Are Here, has a primary theme of nature. In Feed, Matt and Olivia’s tree is the bond of their youth, the natural representation of all Olivia’s subconscious fears and anxieties about leaving home and separating from her family and her twin. I find I work best when I can take breaks and stare out at something alive, something moving in a breeze. It inspires me.

What one element is absolutely necessary for your process?

Coffee, or some kind of drink. Even kombucha or tea, I just like to have the time to sit back and take a sip as I re-read, or get up and take a break to make more. Also I like quiet when I write, but music when I edit.

At what time of day do you prefer to work?

I need to form a habit of sitting down every single day to write, a lot of my friends and my mother (who is a prolific writer) do that and I am so envious. That would involve me choosing a time of day that suits me best, but my schedule is bizarre. Most of my writing over the past seven years has been shoved in between working on my television show, whether it was late nights, or on weekends, so I would work when I could.

Troian Bellisario and Ben Winchell in Feed. Courtesy

What’s your go-to snack?

I am a snacking queen: Sliced apples sprinkled with cinnamon and nut butter or trail mix. I try to keep things healthy because I know I will end up getting absorbed in the text and mindlessly crunching away until it’s all gone.

How do you take your coffee?

Black if it’s a good drip pour over. If not, then with almond milk.

Who’s your favorite collaborator?

Tommy Bertelsen, my best friend and longtime collaborator since theater school directed Feed, and he was instrumental in the finalization of the shooting script. When we were green lit, I had been writing and re-writing for almost seven years. I had been living with these characters inside my head and I was way too close to them to see how we could cut or sharpen the film to shoot it. He was wonderful, totally respectful of my experience, supportive of what I wanted to achieve and brutally honest, but right, when it came to edits and finalizations of the shooting script.

What do you most often do to procrastinate?

There is no shortage of what I can and cannot do to avoid work.

What’s your best trick for overcoming a block?

Telling someone I am going to sit down and write. I find speaking the words out loud create a sort of bond that I want to honor.

It’s said that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. What is that ratio like for you?

That’s probably pretty accurate. When I first was inspired to write Feed, I had the idea in my car. I remember sitting at the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Moorpark and calling my boyfriend and saying, “Oh my God, I know what I want to write.” Then I tried to start telling him the story and he stopped me and said, “I don’t want to hear it, I want to read it when you’re done,” So I went home and wrote the first 30 pages. Within a week I had a full script.

What’s your dream project?

My husband, Patrick Adams, and I wrote a short film called We Are Here that is very special to us, and takes place in a part of the world that holds a piece of our hearts. It would be a dream to make a feature with that world.

What have you learned from a failure?

Everything. I think you learn much better from failure than from success. Success teaches you that what you are doing is working, so you tend to flatline in progress, failure teaches you to try something else, that’s how you grow.

What’s your favorite creation thus far?

I couldn’t possibly choose, I’m grateful to have worked on all of them.

What do you hope your creative legacy will be?

I hope it will be varied. I hope it will be prolific and span many years. I want to let my creative life pull me into new experiences. I love writing from my own history, and I think everyone does, but the wonderful thing about being an actor and a writer is that you get to explore the world through someone else eyes.

To me, the only way to move through loss, grief, illness, despair, is by looking at it head on. That’s why I think a film can change someone’s life. In that time, we get to watch our darkness, or our fear, or even our wildest dreams, with the volume turned up, with the color in full, we give our inner selves space to be enacted before our very eyes.

Adam Rathe Senior Editor, Arts and Culture Adam Rathe is a senior editor at Town & Country, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.

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