Jason Segel Explains Which Documentary Cured His Writer's Block

If you only know Jason Segel from his leading role on CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," you're really missing out. Segel is also a pretty prolific screenwriter; he broke out with "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in 2008, followed by a revival of "The Muppets" in 2011, "The Five Year Engagement" in 2012, and "Sex Tape" in 2014. On the small screen, he also created, produced, wrote, and starred in "Dispatches from Elsewhere," a miniseries that ran in 2020 — but before he could get to said elsewhere, he hit some serious writer's block.

As Segel told Variety, he hit a major obstacle back in 2020 while trying to write something new, and he got really worried about returning to the craft. "I was not sure that I could write anymore," Segel revealed. "I was not interested in the stuff that I was previously writing or known for writing or expected to write. Even when I would try, nothing interesting would happen. It may be the same stuff was happening, I just wasn't interested anymore. I wasn't quite sure what the point of it was for me." Then he watched a documentary that ended up turning everything around for his creativity — and inspired his next big project — called "The Institute."

Released in 2012 and directed by Spencer McCall, "The Institute" focuses on the alternate reality game of the same name based in San Francisco. The game caused waves in the city in 2008 by putting up mysterious fliers inviting random people to come and get inducted into something only called "The Institute," and in the end, over 10,000 participated over a span of three years.

Segel was totally hooked by this idea, as he told Variety. "It felt playful, dangerous, spooky, alive, mysterious and provocative," he recalled. "It was making you ask yourself questions about what you want your experience of life to be like. I was like, these are the questions I'm asking myself. What this guy has created is what I am going through right now."

Inspired by this, Segel created "Dispatches from Elsewhere," which filmed in Philadelphia (rather than San Francisco) in the summer of 2019 and stars Segel as Peter, an aimless data worker who can't find any meaning in his life that's drawn into an enormous puzzle. The series received pretty positive reviews and marked an entirely new genre shift for Segel, mostly known for raunchy comedies and sitcoms — so clearly, happening upon "The Institute" was pretty enormous for him and his career.

These days, Segel's career is taking another turn with the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking," which he created alongside "Ted Lasso" showrunners Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence. On this series, he plays Jimmy Laird, a therapist dealing with his own mental health struggles as he grieves his late wife and grapples with being a single father. While dealing with a patient, Jimmy decides to be... a little more unorthodox and simply tell his patients what to do, which might not be an amazing idea in reality, but makes for pretty great TV.

Segel also thinks that the issues depicted on "Shrinking" might help destigmatize mental health and help people feel just a little less alone. "Counter to what we think is an inspirational message, I actually think that finding out that you're not so unique that nobody has gone through what you've gone through is a really heartening idea," he said. "It's pretty amazing when you find out there are people who have already walked the path for you who can give you a little roadmap."

The first season of "Shrinking" is streaming on Apple TV+, and it's already been renewed for a second go-around.