00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:04
Unknown
Welcome to Film on Tape, a free audio library for creatives in film and television. My name is Misha Calvert, and I've worked as an actor, writer, director and producer for many decades. I had so many questions when I was first getting started in New York, and I just wanted fast, free answers. That is what this library is for.
00:00:25:04 - 00:00:56:20
Unknown
The work that you do as a creative. It's so important. I really hope that this library is going to help get your work out there. Film on tape is sponsored by Vermillion, a coaching and educational company for creatives. You can learn more at Club vermilion.com. Are you an artist? I'm going to be talking about a study that was done that gives us a pretty definitive answer, and also some of the ways in which you can become more of an artist.
00:00:56:22 - 00:01:31:02
Unknown
NASA conducted a study of 1600 kids. They looked at pre-K kids and they measured their creative abilities. Now, of these 1600 kids, 98% of them scored on the creative genius level. 98% were creative geniuses. By our adult standards, they tracked these kids and found that by the time they were in high school age 15, only 12% still scored at the creative genius level.
00:01:31:04 - 00:02:00:12
Unknown
And by the time they were 35, only 2% were still scoring as creative geniuses. This isn't so much surprising that we lose it as we age and get conditioned by society that you know, our creativity, our inspiration gets depleted. What is very surprising to me is how many of us are born geniuses. We are born geniuses. We are born artists.
00:02:00:14 - 00:02:24:21
Unknown
I could stop the episode right here. Are you an artist? Yes. Yes you are. How do we know? Because it's been studied. Art is your birthright. Creativity is your birthright. You were brought into this world creative. And by God, you can get it back. How do we get it back? Well, let's break down why we lose it in the first place.
00:02:24:23 - 00:02:51:18
Unknown
Chiefly shame. Our fear of rejection. Our fear of not belonging. Creativity is innovation. And innovation means risk is being creative and risking the rejection of your peers is going to end up with you being ostracized. We have a strong evolutionary lean towards staying in the group because ostracization historically would lead to death if we were kicked out of the tribe, right?
00:02:51:18 - 00:03:17:02
Unknown
So we really have a strong evolutionary tendency to want to fit in. And that creativity can be risky if we are standing out. We are taking creative risks. We are being weird or doing something that's just not what someone else has done, especially in middle school. High school. That can be really tricky. And that's where we start to see the fall off from 98 to 12%.
00:03:17:03 - 00:03:48:05
Unknown
So most of that fall off happens by the time we reach high school. I think one of the main ways to continue to keep your creative energy flowing is to divorce the idea of shame and create and start to really become confident in who you are and in the fact that creativity is something that you're born with. It's only through neglect that it starts to dissipate.
00:03:48:07 - 00:04:14:00
Unknown
If you're worried about losing your sense of belonging by being creative, this is probably happening at the subconscious level, not the conscious level. But you're worried that if you stand out, if you get weird, if you do something that's socially unacceptable, you're going to lose that access to belonging. You can also do inner work around healing the sense of belonging so that that becomes unshakable.
00:04:14:02 - 00:04:41:03
Unknown
Then you become less vulnerable and you're no longer worried of the effects of your creativity. So there's many ways to pursue that shadow work parts work. Basically, you start to give yourself the sense of belonging that you were worried was scarce in high school. You give yourself the sense of peer acceptance. Family. Belonging. Belonging to a larger social group.
00:04:41:03 - 00:05:06:00
Unknown
Belonging to a society and also belonging to yourself. So I'm not going to get into all the psychology of this. I've done a lot of this work because I did not belong. I did not belong at all in school until basically until high school. I started to make friends. I had to do a lot of work on rebuilding that social acceptance and relational acceptance for myself and by and with other people.
00:05:06:02 - 00:05:27:06
Unknown
It is totally possible to rebuild it, and the more and rebuilding it, the more I am coming back around to my weirdness. I was always extremely weird and bold and not afraid to be loud and and kind of edgy. But in the middle I started to really judge that. And so it's not like my my weirdness got much less.
00:05:27:07 - 00:05:54:06
Unknown
It's just that I started to hate it, and I started to wish I was anyone but myself for being so weird. So my creativity kept going and kept flowing. My parents were artists, so it you know, I had that modeling, but because it was still flowing, it's like the self-hatred was also still flowing. And over time, I've had to really come back to self-love and give myself the acceptance that I was lacking for all of those years.
00:05:54:09 - 00:06:21:01
Unknown
Because it is true that if you are weird in junior high, in high school, probably statistically you will be socially punished. So now, in adulthood, I'm able to give myself what I wish that I had had in school and my creativity is starting to heal again. It's starting to come back to levels that I that I had hoped that it would be, in order to have a successful career as an artist.
00:06:21:03 - 00:06:43:01
Unknown
I also want to talk about the fear of rejection, because, as I said, I've been in this period where once I realized that I had a real shot at being a filmmaker, I drifted away from the initially, like in the beginning, I had nothing to lose, right? I had no idea that if I could do this or not, I had no idea if I could be a director or write or do anything.
00:06:43:01 - 00:07:00:20
Unknown
I just had nothing to lose. And that was a superpower, because it meant that I could take extreme risks with my work and no one would care y because already no one cared. No one could care less than nothing. So I had nothing to lose. And I made some really great work in the very beginning of my career.
00:07:00:20 - 00:07:21:22
Unknown
And then as time went on, I became aware that there were stakes and that, oh, I do have a shot at this. That means that I could fail. And I started to be more concerned with making good work, like good work that would please. I don't know the phantom powers that be made up. Executives made up, networks made up public.
00:07:21:22 - 00:07:52:10
Unknown
I think my idea of what audiences wanted to see or the public or the world, not that I have access to those kinds of numbers yet, but I started to really worry about this phantom public and how they would perceive my work. So I started to want to make, like, good work better than my work, better than what I have to say about society or, say the female experience, the climate, family, things that I care about.
00:07:52:12 - 00:08:30:15
Unknown
And I am like, right now, like literally today and the past few months, I've been reconnecting to what do I actually want to say and where does that fit with what I've been doing? Is there a chance that I have forgotten that what I think and feel has value? Yes. And I, I am now recommitting to not trying to please an audience, but trying to speak what matters to me and trying to show.
00:08:30:15 - 00:09:06:20
Unknown
Because I work in film, I work in pictures trying to show how I think about the world and maybe even a little bit of what it's like to be me, or what it's like to be a woman, or what it's like to feel like a freak, what it's like to have a broken family, like the things that I can speak about uniquely from my lived experience, sharing what it's like in that lived experience and that may not be pleasing, that may not be comfortable, but it will be interesting because it is specific.
00:09:06:22 - 00:09:31:13
Unknown
So if you are feeling like I don't know where to begin as an artist, I don't have anything to say. Come back to where are you activated? I spoke about this in a previous episode of Where to Find Inspiration. Come back to where Are you activated? What do you have to say about a certain situation, and how can you then marry it with craft?
00:09:31:15 - 00:09:55:23
Unknown
To say it in a sophisticated and evocative way? And this is why we work on craft, so that when you do sit down to create something, you don't have to also try to get better at the craft. The craft is you've already gotten better at it, and you can just sit down and and your subconscious can start to pattern, match and do the work and translate what you want to say about something into the craft at hand.
00:09:56:01 - 00:10:18:08
Unknown
So obviously there's sometimes overlap. If you're in the first ten years of your work as an artist in a given field, you're going to be getting better at the craft every time you sit down to make something. And at a certain point, you've done the reps, you've done the 10,000 hours or however many thousands of hours and you're no longer trying to get better at the craft.
00:10:18:09 - 00:10:50:00
Unknown
You're simply trying to articulate through the craft, whether it's pictures, writing, dance, pottery, whatever you're using the craft to say what you want to say about the world. And that is art. You're using your craft to say something about the world. Doesn't matter how good it is or how bad it is, that is the artistic process. And if you're doing that, as far as I'm concerned, you're an artist.
00:10:50:01 - 00:11:15:14
Unknown
I am so excited to tell you that I'm launching a brand new slate of classes that are incredibly helpful on my website. Some of the classes include on camera acting technique and how to self produce your own film actor self care, which is something that nobody talks about and how to write a feature film in ten days, which I'm going to teach you how I did it and how you can do it too.
00:11:15:16 - 00:11:56:10
Unknown
And believe me when I say I poured my heart into these courses. Go to Club vermillion.com. I am so excited about this website. I can't wait to work with you. Okay, so to wrap up, we have discovered that all of us are artists essentially, and the vast majority of us are born creative geniuses. So if you're in the process of reigniting and reinforcing that creativity, coming back to your identity as an artist, I want to give you four things that you can do to reinforce your self as an artist.
00:11:56:16 - 00:12:22:16
Unknown
Because when you're very first getting back to your creativity and strengthening your creative spark, you need to be very aware and very conscious of things that could come in to disrupt that process. So like, imagine that you've just planted a little seed in your garden and the little seed is just sprouting up from the ground. This is your creativity, the seed of your creativity.
00:12:22:18 - 00:12:42:15
Unknown
And the little baby artist is just sprouting its first few leaves on the ground. If someone comes and stomps on that little baby plant, the plant could die. Versus if you've been at this a long time and you're very strong in your artistry and you've got like a huge ass tomato plant that won't die no matter what you do, like you could kick it.
00:12:42:15 - 00:13:12:15
Unknown
You can, like, tear the leaves off and it's like, nope, I'm here and I'm growing tomatoes and, you know, screw you. I'm just going to keep growing until you get very strong and confident in your artistry. You need to be delicate with your environment. And so I'm going to give you four steps for when you're in this little baby plant building phase of being an artist, what you can do to really protect and nurture and, create strength around this process, in this identity.
00:13:12:17 - 00:13:33:22
Unknown
So number one, you can remove people who discourage your creativity, remove them from your life. And depending on who they are, if they're family, you know, maybe you don't want to remove them completely, but you can create barriers so that your creativity is protected. I mean, for a start, just don't talk to your parents about your work as an artist.
00:13:34:00 - 00:14:03:07
Unknown
And I know, like they're they're usually the two people that you most want that validation from about your life as an artist and your your creativity. It's like, obviously we want our caretakers to validate us and give us a love, safety and belonging that we craved as children. But I talked to so many clients and actors who their parents are not safe to discuss artistry with their parents are judgmental or they don't understand it.
00:14:03:09 - 00:14:24:00
Unknown
They have their own creative sparks that were never nurtured, so they actually sometimes are jealous. They're jealous of their kids. You know, life is weird. People are weird. So all bets are off and you just got to get really real about the people in your life. And are they supportive? Are they supportive of your work as an artist and your identity as an artist?
00:14:24:00 - 00:14:49:14
Unknown
Your creativity, the fact that you are pursuing it in in any way, whether it's for money or not, and you want to be really honest with yourself about that. I can think of at least one family member who is not supportive of the fact that I'm an artist, and it really hurts. I hate it, but I have to protect myself and I can't like force it on them as a talking point, because I'm not going to get what I want from that person.
00:14:49:16 - 00:15:19:12
Unknown
So starting to surround yourself with people, friends, family, work colleagues, fellow collaborators, fellow artistic colleagues who see you and can give huge space and huge grace for your work as an artist. Because remember, when your very first reconnecting to your artistry, you're actually living life from that younger part of yourself. It's like if your creativity was interrupted and you're trying to get back to it.
00:15:19:12 - 00:15:39:19
Unknown
It was probably interrupted when you were young. I mean, as the study shows, right? Most of it, and my life, my personal experiences, most of us get interrupted in middle school, junior high and high school from who we authentically are, and we start getting co-opted by society and peer pressure to become people that we're not, and to kind of homogenize with the rest of society.
00:15:39:19 - 00:16:06:22
Unknown
So this inner artist that you are rebuilding is very likely a younger part of self. And so you can think of it as trying to protect a child or an adolescent. And if it's helpful to split yourself like that and to think of it as, okay, I'm going to keep this younger part of myself safe. So the number two way to reinforce your artistry is to commit to doing your art for you, not for an audience.
00:16:07:00 - 00:16:31:05
Unknown
You're making the art for you, for the joy of the process and the joy of enjoying the result. Now, what this does is lowers the stakes on what you're doing. So all of a sudden, if there's no audience out there, there's no way to fail. You could only fail yourself. And then it's like, well, I've disappointed one whole person and that's me, and I'm in control of the results.
00:16:31:05 - 00:16:57:17
Unknown
So I can basically go back to the mat with whatever you're making again and again, without any real sense of failure. When you're making your art for you and not an audience. The other thing that happens is that we tend to create less generalized, more specific, and more truthful results, which ends up being a better result. So we make better art if we're making it just for ourselves.
00:16:57:20 - 00:17:29:15
Unknown
Because of that process of lowering the stakes where we're not afraid to be specific, we're not afraid to be very truthful about ourselves. And, you know, kind of bleed out as we're showing how we really feel. Because if we think that we're doing it in, in private, then we're more likely to take risks. So now, obviously, when it's ready for an audience or when you want to present it to an audience, you can do a new round on it, do it new draft, you know, augmented a bit or whatever you want if you need to make it like more publicly acceptable.
00:17:29:17 - 00:17:49:00
Unknown
But if you don't start with that DNA of this is hyper specific, hyper truthful and meaningful to me, then it's going to be tough to get to that truth in future iterations of the art I find. I find it's best to start with rah rah rah rah truth, and then you can make it more acceptable as you go.
00:17:49:02 - 00:18:20:15
Unknown
So once you lower the stakes like that, what you need to do is clear time in your schedule to execute. You need to commit to in those blocks of time that you've cleared, commit to doing the art to making it. No matter how you feel, you just have to commit. And if you're deciding to really make creativity priority this year, or you're coming back to it after a long time, you're likely going to have a lot of resistance.
00:18:20:21 - 00:18:43:00
Unknown
It's going to feel very scary, hard trudging through mud, uphill battle like, oh, you do everything. You clean your entire house before you sit down to like, make the one thing that you, you wanted to create that day. So I would just encourage you. I know it's going to feel probably very tough. It's a feeling. It's a feeling.
00:18:43:00 - 00:19:08:20
Unknown
And it doesn't mean anything right now. Doesn't mean anything about you or the art that you're about to create. So try to set the feeling aside and commit to the action. You can control the action. Right now. You kind of can't control the feeling. The feeling is just the feeling. It's there as a result of a whole bunch of other years of shit happening that we don't have time to go into right now.
00:19:08:22 - 00:19:44:02
Unknown
You don't have time to go into it. You have work to do. So just commit to doing the art that's in front of you. The one task that you've set for yourself today, and ignore all of the feelings that are coming up. You can't control the feelings. You can control your action. And then number four, when you've made this first things first piece of creativity, whether it's a new script or a new dance or a new painting, your first TikTok, whatever it may be, number four is choose your audience wisely.
00:19:44:04 - 00:20:10:10
Unknown
In my opinion, when your very first coming back to your creativity, you're going to want to choose your audience for these first iterations based only on what is going to increase your confidence. So you need to be discerning and think about, okay, when I present to this person is going to increase my confidence or decrease my confidence. Like I'm not even looking for notes right now.
00:20:10:12 - 00:20:32:03
Unknown
I don't even want constructive feedback necessarily. If it's the first iteration of a first new thing, and I haven't done a thing in a while, I just want you to tell me I'm amazing. And that's okay, because the goal is to come back to the mat the next day and keep working, keep creating. That's the goal. It's not actually to make a good thing right now.
00:20:32:03 - 00:20:51:21
Unknown
It's not to make the art good. It's to keep creating so that you can strengthen. Remember the baby plant. You can strengthen that little baby plant and grow it with water, soil, sunshine, fertilizer. And really, you want to avoid anyone coming with their boot and stomping on it. So be really discerning about who you share this first piece of art with.
00:20:52:00 - 00:21:18:21
Unknown
In the early iterations, as you're coming back and reinforcing your artistry. Now, if you have been creating without any interruption for a couple of years, well, number one, I don't know why you're listening to this episode because you know very well that you're an artist. And, hats off to you because you're doing great, honey. So, if you are not strong in your art, then this is information and techniques that are going to be really valuable to you.
00:21:18:23 - 00:21:40:00
Unknown
But, you know, if you're a seasoned craftsperson, then by all means get constructive feedback and I will jump between like sometimes I'll I have a writers group that I go to and sometimes I'll bring in scripts that I'm like ready to shoot in a couple of months. I'm like, okay, lay it on me. What do you got? Anything and everything, you know, tear it to shreds and I'll take what I agree with and all throughout the rest.
00:21:40:05 - 00:22:09:04
Unknown
And then sometimes I'm really scared because it's a brand new idea. Maybe it's like a little edgy for me to present. And I'll say only what works, only what works. Do not give me any constructive feedback because I don't want to hear it, and it may break me if I do. In the under that. Thankfully. I really hope that this is helpful and inspiring strategic tips that might help you support you in your journey.
00:22:09:07 - 00:22:30:20
Unknown
Coming back to your creativity. As I said, I've been on my own journey with this and and it's sneaky. Just when I thought I was, in a good place with it, I'm like, oh no, I need to come back to confidence in my own voice. And, you know, actually, what happened last night, I had a I had a wave of it where it was Friday night.
00:22:30:20 - 00:23:05:07
Unknown
I was feeling really good. I was getting ready to to go out to dinner. And I put on a record, the original record of Saturday Night Fever. And I was in the shower and I put on the record player, like quite loud. So very loud music, and it's the BGS and I'm in the shower and it was just like the perfect, the perfect conditions for me feeling just absolutely jazzed on this disco project that I had written, I don't know, five, six, seven years ago.
00:23:05:09 - 00:23:28:07
Unknown
And it was, a semifinalist at Sundance for their TV lab. And so I had written it as a TV show, but then kind of I was bummed I didn't get in, obviously, and then sort of abandoned it. And and then listening to this record, I just got filled with overwhelming joy over whelming urge to sit down to write this as a play.
00:23:28:09 - 00:23:52:09
Unknown
And the vision was just immaculate. Like I could see it so clearly. I could see it and I could feel it, I could feel it. And everything was just crystal clear. As I'm taking the shower, which, you know me, I love showers. They're just the best time for your subconscious to go wild. So I was seeing everything, and I've caught this wave of inspiration for this new project.
00:23:52:09 - 00:24:14:03
Unknown
Or it's an old project, but, you know, like in the middle there, my creativity was defeated on it. And now I have reignited my artistry for this project. And, couldn't be worse timing. Like, I have four other projects that I'm trying to write and get done. First, but this one, I can feel it. I can also feel, something of a phenomenon that is literally true.
00:24:14:04 - 00:24:37:00
Unknown
Happens all the time. If you get that crystal clear inspiration, you have to act on it because it's out there in the zeitgeist and someone else will catch it. If it's that if the signals coming through that clear, someone else will catch it and they will make it. And you will feel really dumb when you see someone else probably doing a worse execution on your idea.
00:24:37:02 - 00:24:51:14
Unknown
And I'm not saying they stole it from you. I'm saying they picked it up from the the astral plane of just culture existence. It's out there, you know, someone caught your idea and they did it. And so I was like, because I felt fear about sitting down to write this new play. And I was like, you know what?
00:24:51:16 - 00:25:08:13
Unknown
The fact that I know someone else will do it. If I don't, that is going to make me sit down and write it in the next couple of weeks. So that's my new idea, I can't wait. It's been so wonderful talking about this with you, and I love talking about art and artists, and I hope that it was a cool conversation for you as well.
00:25:08:15 - 00:25:13:18
Unknown
Thank you so much and I'll see you next week.
00:25:13:20 - 00:25:40:00
Unknown
Thank you so much for listening to film on tape. If you like the way that I approach the industry, check out our other classes, consulting and mentorship at Club Comm. Vermillion is a home for artists and those looking to expand creatively. Whether you're an actor, film professional, an entrepreneur, or a CEO, we'll help you find your voice and hone your skills to thrive in any market at any scale.
00:25:40:02 - 00:26:00:11
Unknown
You can schedule a free phone consultation at Club vermilion.com.
