The Vs. Studio Blog

I had a college friend, amateur philosopher, who used to drive me crazy by always asking the question, “Do you love the idea of the thing. Or the thing itself?”

No subject was safe from his philosophizing…future career plans, what to do on a Friday night, even potential girlfriends.

We’d have great debates. To him, I was just a constant dreamer. Always pursuing some movie version of a thing in my head. Which he claimed would set me up for grand disappointment. (Note: I still always do this.) I’d counter by asking how do you know what that thing actually is until you do it? Don’t you need the movie version, the idea off the thing, to motivate you to try.

Who was right?

I think we both were.

Before committing to a passion project, yes it’s good to find out everything about the process, warts and all. So you know what you’re getting into.

But art is about doing something that might not work. Creating something new. Manifesting the dream version that’s in your head.

To make the thing, you first need the idea of the thing.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be One.” – Marcus Aurelius.

Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that should be more widely observed and hopefully will be in the ensuing years.

While it doesn’t mark the date of Lincoln’s proclamation that freed the slaves, but rather commemorates the day that a last group of slaves (outside of Galveston, TX) heard that they had been freed months earlier, I found myself thinking about this epic scene from the movie Lincoln.

Amidst the din of his squabbling cabinet members, Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) slams his hand down on the table. “Now, now, now,” he says to them. Silence. Then he speaks, “We are stepped out on the world’s stage, the fate of human dignity is in our hands… See what is before you. See the here and now, that’s the hardest thing, the only thing that accounts.”

Now is the time to learn and reflect on what we can do better.

Now is the time to love. To will the good of the other.

Now is the time to take action. To make art. To make the kind of change we want to see in the world.

Now. Now. Now.

You’ve got your play lined up. Your passion project. This is it. The One. You know it in your bones. You’ve spent months, years searching for it and now you’ve found it. You’re ready to pour blood, sweat and tears into it. Do everything you can to make this production an incredible experience for everyone involved.

Did you get the rights?

Oops.

One of the early exercises assigned in our Vs. Studio Producing Workshop is everyone has to try and acquire the rights to a play. Regardless if they’re ready to produce, if it’s something they’re even thinking about, they need to know if the rights are available. And Los Angeles, for a variety of reasons, is one of the most difficult territories in the country to acquire rights. Especially if it’s a newer play that has some heat on it.

Asking for the rights does two things.

One…it makes it real for you as a producer. The process of asking for rights, having to come up with dates and other specifics, concretizes your plans. (Don’t worry, just because you get the rights, doesn’t mean you must produce it on said dates. You can always reschedule or cancel. As long as you give advance notice.)

Two…it spares you a lot of heartbreak. You spent a lot of time finding your passion project. Before investing any more of your heart and mind, you need to know if it’s possible. That’s the big next step you need to take.

In a future post, I’ll discuss what you should do when the answer is “No” to your ask.

What do “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “Citizen Kane” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” have in common?

They each have over a hundred, one star reviews on Amazon.

You can’t please everyone. Even when you create a masterpiece.

Go make your art.

I was trying to help my younger son understand the difference between potential and kinetic energy. (Whether we like it our not, Covid-19 has made all of us parents into amateur teachers. I now have even more respect for the teaching profession.)

He and I were sorting through pictures of different objects at different points in their journey…a roller coaster, an airplane, a sprinter in the starting blocks, etc…when it occurred to me that when we embark on our passion project, when making our art, we harness the power of both kinds of energy.

You might be saying to yourself, “Uh-oh. I smell a metaphor coming.” Right you are! Stay with me here…

Think of your average, ordinary catapult. (Not the ancient ones used to fire hot, molten lead and other ammunition to storm castle walls.). The more we pull back on the catapult arm, the more potential energy we store, which then enables the object in the arm to fly further and faster, to have more kinetic energy. (Kids, don’t try this at home.)

Let’s take producing a play…Pulling back the catapult arm is akin to all the tasks we need to do prior to opening night. Casting, crewing, fundraising, budgeting, scheduling, marketing…it’s a long list. The more we lean into those tasks, do them with excellence and generosity, the further back goes the arm. More potential energy is stored.

Which then gets released and converted into kinetic energy on Opening Night. That kinetic energy, that intense joy that comes from getting to do our art, is felt by all. And that joy coupled with all that converted energy, carries us through the rest of the run.

Put another way, Newton’s First law States, “A body in motion stays in motion.”

One more thing…

At some point that potential energy does need to get expressed. Otherwise, it becomes a sad, cautionary tale.

Wasted potential.

Don’t let that happen.

Make your art.

P.S. – I love the song “Catapult” by Counting Crows. Especially this live version.

In Olympic sports where a competitor performs a routine for judges, a big factor in scoring is degree of difficulty. Assuming all things equal, an ice skater who lands a triple axel will beat out the skater who didn’t try. A gymnast who pulls off a triple double on the floor routine like Simone Biles did gets the gold. In platform diving, the “reverse one and a half somersault with four and a half twists” is impossibly hard to complete and thus carries a high weighted score.

Speaking of diving, who could forget Thornton Mellon pulling off the “Triple Lindy” in Back To School.

But I digress…

When evaluating our passion project, a good thing to keep in mind is its degree of difficulty.

Writing the “Great American Novel” or just completing a book to show our family and friends?

Wanting to top “Citizen Kane” or just make a short film to learn the basics of filmmaking?

Creating the next Apple Computer or just a business to put some extra cash in our pocket?

One is no more valid than the other. It’s just important to know what we’re trying to achieve and how difficult it is. That honesty informs our road ahead, the potential obstacles, and the length of time it’s gonna take.

And either way, whatever we’re doing, we do it with excellence. For ourselves, our fellow artists and the audience we seek to serve.

There are two different sources of fuel available when desiring to make dramatic change. Sometimes, both are necessary.

Anger or Hate is one that burns bright. It’s super charged and loaded with energy. It’s the booster rocket that breaks through the status quo atmosphere and brings attention to what must be addressed. We see it manifested in nationwide protests right now.

This fuel source eventually burns out however, and another one needs to takes its place. One that never runs out. One that nourishes and replenishes. One that always seeks to will the good of the other.

Love.

That’s the fuel source needed for the long road ahead. The one that will keep the rocket of change in orbit.

We’ve all heard the Spiderman quote, “With great power comes great responsibility.” But the inverse of this quote is also true.

“With great responsibility comes great power.”

When manifesting your art, your passion project, it may not be your fault why things go wrong.

But it should be your responsibility. That’s what being a producer, a leader, is all about.

And if you’re willing to accept the mantle of responsibility and make your art, then you’ll have the power to make a difference, to make change, to make things better for this generation and those that come long after you’re gone.

Before deciding to make any change–big, small, individual, societal–it’s important to first take a snapshot of where we were when we first decided to make that change. An honest picture of “here we are today, at this moment.”

We might not like what we see. That’s okay. We still need to capture the moment in time.

That way, after the days, weeks. months, years of hard work involved in making change, we can take another snapshot. Compare it to our original. And see the amazing progress we’ve made since that first day.

Seeing that progress will inspire us to keep doing the work.

“I skate to where the puck is going to be. Not to where it has been.” -Wayne Gretzky

To create a business: figure out what people need and create something that addresses that need.

To create art: figure out what you’re truly passionate about and create something that expresses your passion. Even if there’s a good chance it won’t work. Because of your courage, your willingness to fail, you might just make something that people didn’t know they needed, but now can’t imagine living without.