Permission To Suck

In this post, friend to Permission to Suck, Director/DP David McCarty describes in detail a micro budget DSLR shoot he Directed for Hamilton Jewelry complete with the finished video.

Well… to be honest, I’m getting little tired of hearing about how creative I must be; F%$# you, I’ll be who I am – you go and be fresh and new and different, I’m going to concentrate on being a better me. I want to be a virtuoso.

These are some of the titles that contributed to the thinking behind Permission To Suck. Each title is accompanied by the author’s video and a live link to the book title.

Companies love predictable results because they can manage them. Creativity isn’t like that; it’s messy, surprising, and unpredictable with every stroke of brilliance. I’m much more apt to respond to a “creative culture” in a positive way than to “creative process”.

I use the term creativity a lot because it’s what communicates well but it’s a little like saying, “do you believe in God?” – what the hell does that mean anyway? The safest thing is to say, yes – then define God in your own terms. “Be creative” – it’s in you, define it yourself.

Early on we were lamenting about how hard it can be to try something new because after a long career there is a tendency to feel as though every new thing has to be a masterpiece. It feels as though your reputation rides on your next photo or your next song; one false move and you’re discovered for a fraud.

Professional creatives perform a near constant wrestling match with ego. In crowded fields of talent, ego is all at once responsible for relentlessly pushing a creative vision and crushing it to death.

My life is a trial of slow hunch and error; semi-baked ideas patiently awaiting resolution. Epiphanies are ideas that move suddenly from semi to mostly baked after a slow burn and ultimately rely on staying connected to adjacent possibilities to facilitate the serendipity of adaptive re-purposing.

Call it our passion but if you’re anything like me, it’s mostly taken for granted until discovering a void. If I’m selling my value and forget my “WHY”, then my cause is lost. Here’s me starting with “WHY”.

A good brand constitutes “poetic faith”. They tell a “semblance of the truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief”. The critical word here being: “willing”.