Do Your Clients Have Creative Courage?
It's 3am. I can't sleep. Reflecting on the day and just remembered something cool that happened this afternoon. We had a screening of our new national television commercial for one of Notre Dame's key executives. (I finished the final edit and color-grading Thursday). It was his first time seeing the finished piece (he only saw storyboards and style guides 3 months ago). And, I'm happy to report, he LOVED it! And so now we move on to a final approval meeting next week!
I'm nervous. We all want this. We haven't been this excited about rolling out a new commercial in a long time. It's progressive, bold, a little daring, and VERY DIFFERENT! It's safe to say, no one has EVER seen Notre Dame quite like this before. Seriously.
I was thinking about all of this today when it hit me: A project like this could never happen without forward-thinking, creative clients and leaders who have the guts to commission something different, something polarizing... something courageous.
You should know, I have the best bosses ever! Nick Johnson and Beth Grisoli could write a NY Times best-seller about how to lead creatives! They empower, support, equip, run interference, block and tackle. They collaborate with honest, fearless feedback. They inspire, give high-level direction, and even come along side and carry big, heavy things when needed.
It probably helps that they both are incredibly gifted creatives and not just managers. Nick dreams big and encourages us to do the same. He has this crazy ability to live in the upper stratosphere with the big picture folks, but he doesn't suffocate in that thin air. He brings it down to our jungle to give us clarity and direction. He helps us make average ideas great. And Beth is a world-class copywriter and producer and she probably moonlights as a practicing pychiatrist (that's a knock on all the weird personalities she has to deal with in our department : ). She's at the top of her game and she knows how to get the best out of everyone around her.
But what if you're dealing with the opposite type of client/boss? How can you accomplish anything great? Stop and think about it. How often does your best work result from a client/boss who starts a meeting by saying... "Well, we don't need anything super fancy or 'high-concept'. We were thinking something more straightforward..." Ugh! In my experience, nothing great ever comes from that mind-set.
Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe it's not solely up to my employer to provide me with regular, sustainable doses of inspiration. In fact, isn't that my job? To come to the table with ideas, insight, and inspiration? The truth is, I've walked my fair share of the "extra mile" trying desperately to add creative value to even the most low-budget, low-concept, quick-turn jobs. Those extra miles usually come at my expense (caffeine powered all-night edit sessions).
Fearful Client: "Don't kill yourself on this... It's fine as-is. Remember, we don't have a big budget."
Cody: "Yeah, I spent 80 hours on it last week, but I'll only charge you 40--since that's all the budget you have."
That was the scene for me off and on for nearly 9 years when i was freelancing. It's not sustainable.
But, it's not always about money and resources though. I'll be the first to agree that our best work can often come from experimental or personal projects that spend little or no money. One of my favorite personal projects I ever created was accomplished by simply playing around with my family in the backyard experimenting with a 30 year old Mamiya 50mm lens I found at a garage sale. Clients saw it, liked it, and it ended up landing me several paid gigs.
But today, I was reminded that when everyone involved--from the top, down--buys in to creative courage and dares to do something innovative, and progressive, and maybe even a little risky... That's when you get the really good stuff.
Creative courage isn't something you're born with. It's not an "it" factor. It's an act. A daily choice. Hell, sometimes it's a minute-by-minute choice. Unfortunately it's not permanent. But the good news is, it's contagious. That's why it's so much better when our clients and bosses catch that fire in their gut and start demanding something better. Something different. With a good leader, it flows from the top down like a zombie bite in act 1 of World War Z. Soon we're all infected and raging toward the same life-changing objective!
How do you catch creative courage? How do you sustain and spread it? To be honest, I'm not sure exactly. I think it might be cyclical. (read The Creative Fire by Clarissa Estes). But for me it starts with apathy; sometimes darkness. Then disdain and loathing for the status quo starts to boil. And soon after, I find myself turning positive and cheerleader-esque, challenging myself (and sometimes those around me) to declare war on "average", kill the status quo, and reach for higher ground.
What do you do if your client or employer doesn't show signs of having creative courage? Don't give up. Become determined. Give them what they ask for (however ho-hum it may be) and then show them what they need. But it only works if you do it in that order. And don't forget your running shoes. Because, you'll be hitting that extra mile again. But don't fret. Remember, the best thing about creative courage is, it's contagious.
Note: Notre Dame's 2014 national broadcast television ad debuts Saturday August 30 on NBC. I will post a link to the spot soon after it's debut.
Technical-geek note: The commercial was shot in 4k resolution in Raw file format on the Sony fs700 and the Convergent Design Odyssey 7Q, using the Kessler Philip Bloom Pocket Dolly with the Kessler Parallax bar to achieve all dolly moves in-camera. There was no CG animation used in the production of this ad. All images were captured in-camera at 24fps or less. There was one mirror/reflection effect used in post production using Adobe After Effects. The spot was edited in 4k raw almost all the way through to final output to 4k ProRes HQ. I used proxies sparingly. It was slow, tedious, and required many extra steps (or miles). But in the end, it was worth it.
