3:03 a.m. - 2010-04-17
Some day, our markets will come.
As usual, my best ideas come when I'm shampooing my head and showering. Maybe i ought to shower whenever i'm stuck for ideas.
Bear with me on this one, you grizzly endangered animal.
It all started with who else, me. In a typical review of my life, here's what I've abandoned.
I abandoned drawing and doing stupid flash animations about 3 years ago.
I abandoned writing silly shit here for who knows how many months cos i ain't counting.
i abandoned playing the guitar for years.
These were all things that I enjoyed. So the first question any sane, curious person who thinks she/he has common sense (and a talkative mouth) will ask is: So WTF (why the fuck) did you abandon doing the things you like?
Good question! Why the fuck did i!
The answer is because I was greedy. I wanted more of these things than the simple pleasure they gave me. I wanted to be famous. I wanted money. I wanted to make a living out of doing these silly shit. Just like all those successful artists and inspiring people.
But it was more than being greedy. I was also impatient. The rewards of doing my fun and silly things never came. I never made money. I can't make a living out of this. And i had to make a living.
So the natural progression and first place to start for any creative person was to go into the creative industry.
And that's sort of when I gave myself up.
Because, and this is my own theory, because the industry chews me up. I basically gave up doing my silly, unique things that is me, to become a person who tries to do "unique" things for an industry with its own formats and rules.
An advertising campaign must have 3 print ads. A condominium brochure has pages of text praising the architecture and fittings in the homes. An episode of a tv show must be 23 mins long. A series must have 13 episodes.
Who makes up these rules?
Who decides what we can present as a tv show?
Who decides that the market will only be willing to pay for such products?
Are you feeling something there, you know what I mean? Okay, more rhetoric and we'll get to a conclusion.
When Anne Frank wrote her diary, did she think that it would become an international bestseller? (This is a great rhetoric from wy)
When the young group of friends at College Humor wrote funny articles, did they dream that they would have a website with 20 million views each month?
When Hugh MacLeod drew cartoons on the back of business cards out of boredom, did he think that he would sell a book out of it?
When Mr Brown wrote his irreverent observations in the 90s, did he foresee that he would become one of Singapore's most famous and popular bloggers?
I don't think any of them could see where their future was pointed at, when they were just doing whatever silly shit that they like.
I don't think any of them was really sure that they could earn money and make a living or even hope to get rich, doing whatever they are doing now.
The message i want to get across is, these creators with their current success, never did whatever shit they were passionate about because they thought it would bring them fame and fortune.
They just kept doing it because they enjoyed it. As a hobby besides their main job. Just for fun and giggles.
They didn't really think about making money or the kind of thinking that says try to make your passion your job. They didn't change their creative output to suit whatever market is out there now. To be sure, they didn't follow the rules of the market. Because there was no market to begin with. No Market. No Rules.
And somehow, the universe has its own set of Rules. Perhaps it's, "Go create what you like, enjoy and improve it, and if enough people like what you create, they will pay you to continue creating."
Yup, that's what I've been trying to say. Pretty longwinded i'm sorry.
So now, the question is If the market for your passion has not been invented yet, what's to stop you from doing it?
This transitions nicely to my pitch for a documentary about ordinary people (who are also creators or craftsmen) who are just following their passion, sort of as a hobby.
One thing about them is common. They just love doing what they do. They do it even though they are not making money from it. Yet.
Singapore is quite a pragmatic society. Almost everything you do here, especially even those remotely creative things like doodling, dreaming or taking photos, people will ask you if you can monetise it somehow. Make a business out of it.
We know they mean well. They also want to see you achieve the rewards of your passion.
There just is a tension between doing things for fun and doing things for money. We all hope to do fun things for lots of money.
To do fun things for money.
Okay, my opinion now is, don't give up on your passions even if you don't find monetary success.
And don't give up on chasing money to chase your passions. This is particularly true for myself.
Because I've swopped my "happy silly creative shit" for the "work for money creative shit", which I can't say I truly enjoy as much.
Even though i'm doing so-called fun things like corporate videos (yes, sarcasm) and trying to write tv shows, I don't think i'm "happy" happy. I'm still stressed out than ever because I still don't make much money from my work "passion".
My solution now, and I can't say this solution will work or whether it will work for you too, is to separate "work creative shit" from silly creative shit.
If you�re in the creative industry, don�t sacrifice your silly creative shit for your "work creative shit". Keep on writing stupid stories, movie reviews, doodling, painting, whatever. Feed it and it will feed you one day. Maybe.
And if you want more money, get a job that pays you well which also gives you time to do your silly creative shit.
This is my epiphany. Maybe you already had yours.
I shall continue to use the word shit to define the fun things i like to do, like write nonsense here, to keep all impure thoughts of making money from polluting my inspiration!
Yes! Hahahahaha! I am enlightened once again like a regular streetlamp every evening!
I am also a retard.
But anyway, this is really getting far too long, as you can read, hurhur, so I'm trying to find an ending here...
Ah.
The market for this shit will appear one day.
And the same goes for your shit too.
Mark my words, with a swan stabilo highlighter but make sure it's water-based or else you'll ruin your widescreen monitor.
