Output
Creation is king. Creation is messy. Torn pages, multiple drafts, first tries, second tries, 100th tries. The artist endlessly hurls, tosses, throws, gently applies, punches, spits and lovlingly caresses - endlessly.
I hate hearing the whine about what someone isn't getting.
Like they're waiting for an executive in a Rolls to drive up to their door with a contract.
You make, you ache, you create, you manufacture, you build. You keep throwing it out to the universe - because you have to. You keep throwing it out into the universe until somone has to take notice.
Two great stories:
1) Several years ago I was working with a director on a Paramount project. We were doing re-writes on a script of mine based on studio notes, and his notes, notes that got him the job and everyone was very excited to change the script. We got along fine. He was eventually fired and I was kept on to undo his notes and put my stuff back in - and the film is still not made. Anyway, that's not the story. The story is that he was talking about a friend of his. A writer who had had major success in his career. But the guy had just penned a film that opened - and bombed. In a big way. It was an embarrasing bomb. It had screwed up the writers' other projects and immediate job prospects. So the director told me the guy had pulled back and was writing an idea he'd always wanted to do. Something he really cared about. He was hoping it would turn his career back around. The script was A Beautiful Mind.
2) I know two guys who wrote script after script in their twenties, thirties and forties and got nowhere. They were met with moderate to zero response and success over almost 20 years of writing. In their late forties one guy bailed the business. Gave up. He's in real estate. He's fine about it, realized it wasn't for him. Maybe deep down it wasn't. The other guy took other jobs, he had to as he had kids. But he always wrote. He wrote at night, or on weekends when he could, or in the cracks inbetween. Didn't stop. In his late forties he finally sold one, then another, then another, they were made, and they did very well. And he has an academy award in his bookshelf.
Output.
I hate hearing the whine about what someone isn't getting.
Like they're waiting for an executive in a Rolls to drive up to their door with a contract.
You make, you ache, you create, you manufacture, you build. You keep throwing it out to the universe - because you have to. You keep throwing it out into the universe until somone has to take notice.
Two great stories:
1) Several years ago I was working with a director on a Paramount project. We were doing re-writes on a script of mine based on studio notes, and his notes, notes that got him the job and everyone was very excited to change the script. We got along fine. He was eventually fired and I was kept on to undo his notes and put my stuff back in - and the film is still not made. Anyway, that's not the story. The story is that he was talking about a friend of his. A writer who had had major success in his career. But the guy had just penned a film that opened - and bombed. In a big way. It was an embarrasing bomb. It had screwed up the writers' other projects and immediate job prospects. So the director told me the guy had pulled back and was writing an idea he'd always wanted to do. Something he really cared about. He was hoping it would turn his career back around. The script was A Beautiful Mind.
2) I know two guys who wrote script after script in their twenties, thirties and forties and got nowhere. They were met with moderate to zero response and success over almost 20 years of writing. In their late forties one guy bailed the business. Gave up. He's in real estate. He's fine about it, realized it wasn't for him. Maybe deep down it wasn't. The other guy took other jobs, he had to as he had kids. But he always wrote. He wrote at night, or on weekends when he could, or in the cracks inbetween. Didn't stop. In his late forties he finally sold one, then another, then another, they were made, and they did very well. And he has an academy award in his bookshelf.
Output.
posted by Phil | 11:31 PM
7 Comments:
Thank you, Philip.
Philip,
I got up this morning ready to dig into the second act of a script I am working on. I, of course, delayed the inevitable by checking out my favorite blogs. Well, this post was exactly what I needed today.
Many thanks.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again :)
Michael: great stories like these endlessly inspire me too!
Really cool post indeed. I could use one like this every morning, too.
Thanky.
Thanks for this post Philip - really inspired me. I like all that stuff about creativity being messy - puts it all in perspective.
underwoods: Yes, I forget it myself every time I start something new, having left the shiny polished thing behind me. Why can't they all start out bright and shiny? Life started in the muck, and back to the muck it has to be, with both feet. Better to jump in feet first, then have to be dragged back in by your hair.
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