I had planned to write about the butterfly effect on careers (see my post on chaos theory and careers), but ironically the butterfly landed on my shoulder this week in the form of the South by Southwest festival. The local news is filled with interviews of musicians, actors, computer techies, and others totally jazzed about their creative projects. So many people so excited about what they're doing: what a great contrast to the typical career news these days.
A local news station interviewed two former actors about their new documentary on the making of the film "Troll 2" called "The Best Worst Movie." (See the YouTube teaser here.)
What caught my eye was the ear-to-ear grin on the face of one of the filmmakers, a former actor-turned-dentist in Alabama, Dr. George Hardy. No matter what he was asked, he couldn't stop smiling and laughing. It was infectious. He was getting such a kick out of what was clearly a sideline in his life: a bad film he had acted in twenty years ago. He seemed to be having the time of his life promoting this new documentary.
Can a bad movie have the power to influence a career and a life even twenty years later?
Juxtaposed with that interview, I read an interesting blog post at Savvy Sugar entitled Would You Rather Be A TV Writer Or Movie Exec? SavvySugar blogs about workplace issues, and the author of the post compares the lives of two television characters-- Tina Fey who plays a TV writer on 30 Rock and Brooke Shields who plays a movie executive on (the now defunct) Lipstick Jungle-- and asks which life you would prefer.
Let's take that idea a step further: from a film-making perspective, how do you view your career?
You might say you're an actor-- you're playing a role. You get to interact with other characters also playing roles, and you get to play interesting scenes. Think about this for a minute. What scenes are you in? What roles are you playing? Are you acting out Office Space, Wall Street, or Dead Poet's Society? Did you choose the role or was it the only one available at the time?
Now let's move it up a notch. What if, instead of being the actor, you were the writer/director of your career? Think Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee. What would be different? You could create your own dialogue. You could give yourself new roles. You could select the script, and guide the film crew and actors based on your vision. A director adjusts camera angles, scenery, costumes, etc., to make the setting work to tell the story. How would you create the scenes in your life? What setting would you be in? What clothes would you wear? What storyboards would you lay out as you design your career?
But we're not done yet. What if you became the producer of your career? The producer has the ultimate oversight and power in a film production, making all the important decisions. So what career and life are you producing? Can you see how various pieces come together? Where will its distribution be, i.e., where are you going to go? Who will help you on the way? How will you get funding?
As you read these scenarios consider:
- Where am I in my career?
- Where would I like to be?
- Am I playing a role or writing the script?
- How could I take more control of my situation?
- What is my vision and how can I start making it happen?
- What can I change about my setting, scenery, costumes or focus?
- Have I made room for new productions or new opportunities?
You only need to watch or read the interviews with the filmmakers at this year's South by Southwest festival to confirm the career value of doing what you love. Make yourself the producer in your career. Keep thinking about that grinning dentist-turned-filmmaker from Alabama.
So there you are... the celebration of a bad movie leads to some new metaphors for your career. If one bad movie can do that just imagine the career effect of a genre of bad movies. You might even end up a physicist or psychiatrist- follow this link to a movie about the meaning behind bad movies.
