MRW Lights
Well-Known Member
Tim, I love to see this! Even as a student, I was seriously bummed at how my university completed acted like the commercial aspect of "show business" did not exist. "Oh, hey go to this audition. Go to the U/RTA interviews. I mean I know we're 20 miles from Hollywood, but no....we don't talk about- even a little bit- how to put food on the table with your art let alone avoid exploitation."
I was very fortunate to have a required Business of Design class in Grad School. The entire course was focused on operating yourself as a business. As a technician, designer, consultant we budgeted, marketed, invoiced, bid we did everything about the business of the work we would do and the only "art" was designing marketing materials such as websites, business cards and letterheads. We learned how to brand ourselves, what it took to brand ourselves and how to budget for doing what we love while being able to pay to remodel the kitchen. Still to this day the singular best course I have ever taken. It also led me to these two pieces of advice from one of my best mentors and now friends...
1. "Go Home" ... I was an ALD and when things weren't going right or I was making mistakes my designer would say "Go Home" which didn't make sense to me because if we weren't on the road we were "at home"... what he meant was. Stop working. Watch TV. Go for a walk. Make a sandwich, eat some ice cream, sit on the porch with the dog... even if it was 30 minutes I could come back refreshed, energized and almost every time do what I couldn't do better and faster. GO. HOME.
2. We were working a summer stock show at a theater that had it's fault, the director was notoriously a pain, it was a lot of work without a lot of "fun" and I looked at my designer and said why do we come here? Without missing a beat he looked at me and said "you've been to my house... do you like the new landscaping?" "Of course it's very nice" "That's why we're here" .... You work the fun jobs because it's what we love to do... you work the jobs that aren't the best so you can afford the jobs you and so you can enjoy GOING HOME.
These two pieces of advice might have been the keys for the success of my career. Hearing that anyone on the job has to stand up for their basic rights to function as an adult breaks my heart. Here's hoping for change and success so that we can continue to do what we love and more so for future generations to as well.