Hear me out. I'm one of those
screenwriters who double-dips in advertising. So unlike a lot of the
screenwriters who have the luxury of considering every choice strictly from the
perspective of "is it art?", I come from a place where the blank page
gets filled regardless of whether I’m working on Nike shoes or urinal cakes.
And I have a story.
Everyone knows the "Got
Milk?" campaign--the one that launched Michael Bay? Whether or not you
find his rise comforting, he christened decades of excellent television commercial work. But did you know that when that account walked in the door of advertising
agency Goodby Silverstein, a couple of senior ad guys there were so repulsed by
this turd and its lazy tagline "Got Milk?", which wasn’t even
grammatically correct, that they left the agency rather than work on it?
They listened to that voice
that said, “write your passion”, and they turned down one of the greatest
writing opportunities in advertising history.
That agency is now Butler Shine Stern, and they're doing quite okay, so who's to say that was a bad call,
really? But they left that blank page in Goodby’s lap with a bunch of hungrier
creatives and a deadline. And back then, Michael Bay wasn't the blockbuster
maestro he is today. No one else was saying no to this money.
But they all still had a
passion for their craft. And THAT is all the passion you need.
When you’re thinking of turning
down an opportunity because the job doesn’t speak to your passion, ask yourself
some questions:
Is my fear of failure
obscuring my perspective on the upside?
Would a hungrier writer be
killing herself for this opportunity?
Could I write this with a gun
to my head?
If you think you could write
something great having no other choice with a gun to your head, then why the
hell aren’t you writing it? The only reason to turn down work is because you
have to choose between two jobs. And then, you know what’s really guiding THAT
choice? Not which job speaks to your passion. It’s which job collaborates with
better people.
And if this choice of yours
is about two spec ideas, one marketable and the other a story of a loner
writer who watches people with angst because don’t they see the meaninglessness
of it all? Dammit, write the marketable one with passion for your craft like
there’s a gun to your head, and leave the therapy session script for when
you’re a success.
This whole “write your
passion” thing isn’t true. It’s just how writers deal with failing at
hard assignments.
“I wasn’t passionate”, they
say. No. You just didn’t put a gun to your head.
How many times have you
thought something sounded dumb, only to eat crow and cry and become a
worshipper of Joss Whedon?
That hypothetical may be
over-inspired by my personal experience with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which
was stupid, I could tell without even watching it, and then dared to double its
stupid with a MUSICAL EPISODE.
THIS, I had to tune in to
hate-watch!
But then…wait, are they
hanging a lantern on the stupid? Wow, that’s kind of clever, the way they’re
winking at me. And now they’ve earned the right for their story to take the
stupid seriously? And what’s THIS? Actual jokes?
THEY GOT THE MUSTARD OUT! GASP—AM
I SINGING ALONG?
NO! I AM NOT CRYING! THAT WAS
ALLERGIES!
Two weeks later, I own all the
DVDs to Buffy and Angel. Someone, probably Joss Whedon, held a gun to Joss
Whedon’s head.
via GIPHY
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