How to Make Failing Fun! | Peter Farrelly | TEDxThacherSchool

Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections, saw two businesses fail, and had a nervous breakdown all before he was elected President. Director Peter Farrelly speaks on how many people -especially young ones - view failure the wrong way and how to use failure as a tool—like, say, a compass—to help you re-set your course in life.
A native Rhode Islander, Peter Farrelly quit his sales job and started writing screenplays in the mid-1980’s. After crafting more than a dozen unproduced scripts, several feature rewrites, and the occasional television project, (including a validating credit on Seinfeld), he and his brother Bobby finally got the chance to showcase their talents in 1994 when New Line Cinema let them direct their first feature film, DUMB & DUMBER, which they co-wrote with Bennett Yellin.
The Farrelly Brothers continued to define the era with their movies KINGPIN (1996), THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998), OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE (1999), ME, MYSELF & IRENE (2000), SHALLOW HAL (2001), STUCK ON YOU (2003), FEVER PITCH (2005), THE HEARTBREAK KID (2007), HALL PASS (2011), THE THREE STOOGES (2012) and DUMB AND DUMBER TO (2014)
A graduate of Providence College and Columbia University, Peter has also published the novels Outside Providence, The Comedy Writer and a children’s book, Abigail the Happy Whale.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at