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Holiday Guest
Creative Collaboration
Or, why am I still working with Jess two years later?
A Guest Entry by Greg Martin
I was talking with Jess one evening when she asked me if I was interested in writing a guest blog on JSDC. "Sure", I said, "What about?" "Write about why you're here," she replied. “That”s a retarded title for a blog” I responded. But after the sarcasm the idea is worth thinking about. I mean, we”ve been working together for over two years now. It”s worth examining why our creative collaboration is working, and why we”re able to plan and produce pieces we”re proud of.
First off, we”re both crazy. That”s helpful. It means we speak the same language.
Secondly, we”re both in it for the results. I”m an extreme creative, meaning I exist almost entirely to create and craft experiences”and I”m damn particular about how they turn out. It”s a prickly point of view, and it won”t really pay well (in the cashy money sense) for quite some time. That is, until I control my own creative organization or become world famous. Jess is just as particular as I am about producing quality. There”s a certain “do it right” frame of mind that seems to be rare in the world (or extremely quiet). That”s what drives us both to work our asses off on a project that won”t earn either of us a dime”at least not for years and years. When I”m looking at her scripts, I see some really kickass creative ideas” the sort of stuff you get all fired up about. What”s more, she doesn”t have all the ideas sorted out yet. That means (gasp) I can contribute. Which leads to the third reason we”re still working together.
Constructive Bickering. There”s a fantastic give-and-take between us when we”re cranking on a project. For the concept art pieces we”ve produced so far there”s been a solid investment of hours and ideas from both of us, even though I”m the one drawing. I”ve gotten off the phone from a critique/brainstorm session that started at 9PM and thought, “what the hell? When did it become midnight?” Three straight hours going back and forth over details, composition, theme, overall concepts, and generally hammering out her initial ideas into something we both agree represents the scene well”. And we”re both still alive. And we do this constantly.
Hey now, that”s something.
People have asked me the same question Jess asked. Why do I do it? Why am I here? I”m not getting paid for this, what”s it doing for me? I always respond “”Well gosh, she”s pretty.” But that”s not it. We all know Jess is a unique and beautiful snowflake, but I”m here because we”re creating some crazy good stuff. And we”re doing it because we”re both firmly invested in the other. It is a rare, precious thing to find such excellent vehicles to shine through as the scripts and ideas I”m working with now. And it”s exponentially more rare to find someone you can work with to bring them to life”someone who cares as deeply about the quality of the product as you do.
Anyhow, that”s why I”m here. The next question is, why are you here? Are you here to be entertained? Or are you here to be a part of something amazing?
Just asking. Think about it” That”s how it all starts.
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