Sunday, November 24, 2013

Artists are Never Out of Work

It's not surprising that the Great Recession and slow economic growth have made Americans obsessed with job security. It seems that parents and college age students pay more attention to college majors and job placement rates than ever before. In response to this concern, colleges are creating more specific majors to meet the demand for job related skills. Yet people still struggle to get hired. When companies run into financial trouble, like the Tribune company did recently, they lay off or fire their workers. Sometimes they lay them off even if they're not in financial trouble. After all, if you can run a business more efficiently, you should. If that means restructuring to eliminate positions, that's what a business owner should do. That's capitalism. No jobs immune from economic problems. That is, except for artists. If you're a writer, filmmaker, musician, designer, painter, or poet, you're never out of work, as long as you keep creating. You may not always be paid, but you can always work on your art. What's more, you never know when your work will spark enough of an audience interest to support you. The stories of artists who jumped from poverty to affluence are legion -- JK Rowling was living on the dole in England while writing the first Harry Potter book; the Beatles barely got enough to eat during their gigs in Hamburg, and Robert Townsend financed his breakthrough film, "The Hollywood Shuffle," by signing up for dozens of credit cards. It's important to believe in yourself while you're finding your voice and creating your content. If you want to tell your stories, paint your pictures, or create any content at all, you have to be in for the long haul. History is full of big companies that went out of business when technology changed. We no longer have blacksmith shops, buggy whip companies, and pretty soon we may not have any printed newspapers. The skills you learn as an artist -- the ability to create and finish a project, analyze and improve it, and create products that move people -- are always in demand. What's more,great art lasts forever. We're still reading the Illiad, performing Shakespeare's plays, and enjoying Monet's paintings. What legacy do you want to leave? Artists are never out of work, as long as they keep working.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Kill Your Darlings: Indie and Hollywood Philosphy

"In writing, you have to kill all your darlings." - William Faulkner This quote from Faulkner refers to revising your writing to remove material you loved, if it makes the piece stronger. It's also the title of a recently released indie movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as the young Allen Ginsburg, the Beat poet who wrote “Howl” and other iconic works. The film is a portrait of the artist as a young man, based on the true story of Ginsburg’s formative years at Columbia University, where he first met Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. According to the script Ginsburg and the young beats came under the spell of the charismatic Lucien Carr, who encouraged them to create a New Vision. The movie features a lot of hanging out in New York jazz bars during World War II as they develop new forms of self-expression. It also depicts benzedrine and other drug use, and Allen Ginsburg explicity exploring his sexuality. There isn't much great poetry in the film; the film ends with Ginsburg starting to write poems in his personal style. Clearly, this film is not aiming at a mass audience, despite Radcliffe's star power. The cast is uniformly excellent, and includes a post-Dexter Michael C. Hall and the immensely talented Jennifer Jason Leigh as Ginsburg’s institutionalized mother. This makes the second film about Allen Ginsburg released in three years (“Howl” was the other) in a period where we’ve seen no films about George Washington or Thomas Jefferson. To be fair, we have seen two films about Lincoln – Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and of course, “Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.” I’m surprised the film got made at all – it’s a downbeat story about a literary figure whose most famous poem, “Howl,” debuted over 50 years ago. On the other hand, the Beats appear to fascinate some filmmakers, despite their spotty box office record – the recent movie version of Kerouac’s “On the Road” lost money, as did the most recent film about William Burroughs that starred Johnny Depp. The fact that it got made says a lot about the type of projects that attract actors. Radcliffe said he was attracted by the high quality of the script. Remember that many actors see themselves as serious artists. Appearing in indie movies with meaty roles provides them opportunities to demonstrate their acting ability. These types of roles can also win Academy Awards that you can’t get for big budget sci-fi sequels. The fact that films like “Kill Your Darlings” continue to get made should provide inspiration to content creators everywhere. Don’t give up on your passion project. If your script gets into the right hands, you might capture a star. Just understand that you could be in this for the long haul. It can take years, sometimes. Finally, be ruthless when revising your work. Faulkner’s advice for writers keeps being repeated because it’s often true. It’s often the work that’s most precious to you that requires the most revising. Take it to heart.