By C. Jewel Garcia
The film industry is now more structured than ever before. It wants tangible guarantees. It wants formulaic solutions. A mild example of this is Pixar. It is made clear in How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity that Pixar fosters a creative collaborative environment. Nevertheless, according to The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar Emma Coats, a long time Pixar storyboard artist some of the most given advice is formulaic, from the fourth most important advice being, “Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___,” to the thirteenth, “Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience,” to the nineteenth “Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.”
In a more extreme circumstance, the film industry in general wants something guaranteed to make money. From the big corporate giants like Disney and Warner Media to small independent investors everyone wants this guarantee. This leads to formulaic answers based on what has been made before that did well. This is why there are so many sequel and film adaptations. This is what virtually stifles all creativity. The people with money and power often do not want to put money behind something unique and not certain. When they are willing to, they have to feel personally invested in it, which is difficult.
Sometimes businesses including the film industry try their best to foster creativity. Sometimes this goes well, like when Pixar embraces a policy of making it save for everyone to offer their ideas. However, this policy works because it was made by creatives for creatives. In other environments the policies adopted are counterproductive and born out of an inherent misunderstanding of creativity. A good example of this can be seen in some of the ideas displayed in Seven Rules for Managing Creative-But-Difficult People.
Seven Rules for Managing Creative-But-Difficult People starts off by saying to, “Spoil Creatives and Let Them Fail.” This notion that letting something fail is spoiling is misleading and wrong. In the creative realms and in particular film failure is impossible to predict. Failures can and will happen, but a failure today can be a success tomorrow. Look at It’s a Wonderful Life which initially flopped and is now considered a classic. If failures are seen as spoiling and success is seen as something that can be guaranteed with some sort of formula than there is not much room for creativity. To be creative the industry should understand that creativity is gambling. There is no guarantee of success or failure.
Next it asks to “Surround them by semi-boring people” which makes no sense. As, Seven Rules for Creative People puts it, “They think that if you put a bunch of creative people together, they will ‘compete for ideas, brainstorm eternally, or simply ignore each other’; they don’t understand that creative people energize and inspire each other. In their dull, tiny, dark world, everyone has to jealously guard their few ideas, because they don’t realize that ideas are a dime a dozen; what matters is what you do with them and execution is everything.”
Most egregiously Seven Rules for Managing Creative-But-Difficult People suggests paying creative individuals poorly to simulate creativity. Poverty alone does not stimulate creativity. Poverty actually stifles creativity. There is a myth that creative work is not real work and compensates for itself. This is a lie. It keeps people who are not financially stable out of the film business. It disproportionately limits the breakthroughs of people of color and helps solidify cookie cutter stories.
All this seems overwhelming. Especially to newcomers like me. How do creative people deal with such formulaic structures? I recently went to a work event that gave me the answer. It is all politics.
To start avoiding working with the industry until necessary. This assures the vision is not lost before it is completed. For screenwriters this means completing the story before going to the industry. In this case, the screenwriter must assure the story is complete before having the pressure of changing it. For cinematographers this could mean working with the director and story board artist to lay out scenes before requesting a budget for equipment. In this case, the cinematographer can get the look of the film before having the pressure to film in some specific way.
When working with the industry the key is giving in a little to please others. This pleasing helps get people behind your story. Once people are behind the story everything may fall into place… Unless it does not. When it does not fall into place that is okay. You just do your best to make it anyway.
The most important thing is to recognize the reward of making film and being a creative is making film and being a creative. There will always always be difficulties. Especially if you are in an underrepresented group in film. You have to recognize your vision and stay true to it. Even when it is difficult to get others to recognize your vision or even bother to look at your vision. You have to see that your work is deserving enough. You have to be bold. Most importantly, in the great words of Stan Lee given at 2017 UCLA Graduation Ceremony, “If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don't let some idiot talk you out of it.”
Capra, F. (1947). It's a wonderful life. Liberty Films (II). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/
Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar fosters collective creativity. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2008/09/how-pixar-fosters-collective-creativity
Chamorro-Premuzic, T. Seven rules for managing creative-but-difficult people. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2013/04/seven-rules-for-managing-creat
Lamar, C. (2012). The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar. Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/the-22-rules-of-storytelling-according-to-pixar-5916970
Lee, S. (2017). 2017 UCLA graduation ceremony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_SXIUTwfvo
MacQuarrie, J. (2013). Seven rules for creative people. Lancer Creative Services. https://lancercreative.com/2013/04/seven-rules-for-creative-people/