An important lesson from DeRose — one’s professional Philosophy gives structure and focus to creative work
In tonight’s DeRose Method discussion session, the topic was Profession, Mission, and Passion.
This was an interesting topic for me, because one way of framing my decision making as an adult is to say, “I have been searching for a profession.” My profession.
I have changed jobs, and lines of work, several times. It’s been an experiment. Nothing seemed to be quite right.
I’ve tried employing many other perspectives on this challenge — am I deluded? Do I have a condition, ADHD? Or is there a cosmic order to this caos underneath?
In December 2015, I was on a trip. A special trip, to the Azores, with soul friends Charles and Robinson. It was spontaneous, we chased surf, we met a great group of Spanish girls, and then a hurricane blew in.
It was a fun trip — there was real emotion, pura vida.
On the day of the hurricane storm, we drove all over the island. It was a sight to behold. Massive waves crashing, the ocean overflowing, turbulent white saltwater churning for a hundred yards or more.
Robinson said, “I’m going to make a video.” He used his iPhone 5. He tried to hold it steady, horizontal, in the huge winds. It worked. He cut it up that night into an awseome video.
That’s the day, the very moment, I became interested in filmmaking. That was Magic. That was Living.
I could do that.
I attacked filmmaking starting where Robinson did. I started making little films in 2016 with my iphone and a hacked Final Cut Pro. Then I layered in more equipment, more planning, more people, and more quality. I’ve worked backwards to writing.
I’ve written several short scripts now that I like, and a few feature scripts that still need some work.
The session tonight was a “click” moment for me, because Professor DeRose spoke about Profession and Philosophy as two pillars that stand side by side.
I like this word, Philosophy. It is closely related to, and almost is equal to, several other concepts: Mission, Passion, Purpose, and Ideal.
The Philosophy is the structure. It is the trail towards where you want to go, or what you want to enact. Within that structure, you are free to create.
This is powerful because it gives you some boundaries, and focus. Without that, the “search space,” or in this case “creative space,” is too large.
The Philosophy, or structure, is like the rhizome. The tree that grows above ground from the rhizome is the creative product, the film.
I heard Gary Vee talking about this concept to a young content creator recently. Gary told him, “…just make your structure. ‘Here’s what content I do on Monday, here’s what I do on Tuesday…’ Then just hold yourself to that. You create within that structure.” Gary rounded out the point emphatically, saying, “you can’t just do a new ground-up invention every single day. It’s too taxing, you won’t be able to maintain the volume you need.”
It’s beautiful symmetry and a principle that applies broadly. Top down, and bottom up- you need both, and they should inform one another.
This is a big insight into successful creative work. I have fallen into the trap of having ideas that are too wide in nature, going in too many different directions. And I’ve had a hard time developing depth on the ideas.
Now I realize that my shorts are working because there is a specific defined structure I create within.
The next step is to define my Philosophy, or structure, for features. That should allow me to achieve more depth, and more scripts that sing. I will be writing about my Film Philosophy soon.
