This is from an article, I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script.
~There's a great story about Pablo Picasso. Some guy told Picasso he'd pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, "One million dollars, please."
"A million dollars?" the guy exclaimed. "That only took you thirty seconds!"
"Yes," said Picasso. "But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."~
What is GREAT about this, is that so many people are always asking us artists to drawing for free, or low pay and their logic.. "it only takes a second"..If I had a dollar for every time some idiot out in the real world did this me, I would be rich beyond belief.
True story, a couple years ago I had been paid a 500 hundred dollars from a TV actor to design and draw a card for his friend and co-star. It only took me a day and one of my non artist friends was so insulted by it, she complained for days, "I can't believe you got paid that much"....I said, "okay you do it". She said, "but I can't draw." EXACTLY
My own sister, gave me a hard time for the amount I was paid for working on a series as a writer last summer. "I don't make that much in a month, and you are just writing, I mean, that is stupid."
Again, I retorted with, "okay you do it."
The point is, while the rest of the world clocks in 9-5, they all dream of doing something creative, but they can't, or they would be.
TV series are extremely hard. If you are working on an established series with characters already in place, you have to know them inside and out, how they walk, how they speak, what they think, what they feel and be able to convey that on paper in a way that not only the audience will enjoy if your idea makes it to the screen, but in a way that the showrunner or head writer will want to use you. It is a craft that takes time to develop yes, but the talent, the raw talent to be able to tell that story, that is something you are born with.
Now with art, it is the same. You can take class after class and work and get better, but the raw talent, that is a gift that you have and that is what sets you apart.
In animation not only do we have to make a great drawing, we have to have all the above mentioned acting described in how characters are in a tv show, we have to move this character, which guess what folks? That is drawing after drawing and they all have to work together.
These people that think that just because what we do is creative and therefore we love what we do, that we shouldn't be paid for it are so totally clueless.
I used two examples, TV series and animation because those are two things close to me, but all writing, all art, is the same.
So here is a word to all you in the real world. If it is so damn easy, you fucking do it~
I'm just sayin'
:0)
~There's a great story about Pablo Picasso. Some guy told Picasso he'd pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, "One million dollars, please."
"A million dollars?" the guy exclaimed. "That only took you thirty seconds!"
"Yes," said Picasso. "But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."~
What is GREAT about this, is that so many people are always asking us artists to drawing for free, or low pay and their logic.. "it only takes a second"..If I had a dollar for every time some idiot out in the real world did this me, I would be rich beyond belief.
True story, a couple years ago I had been paid a 500 hundred dollars from a TV actor to design and draw a card for his friend and co-star. It only took me a day and one of my non artist friends was so insulted by it, she complained for days, "I can't believe you got paid that much"....I said, "okay you do it". She said, "but I can't draw." EXACTLY
My own sister, gave me a hard time for the amount I was paid for working on a series as a writer last summer. "I don't make that much in a month, and you are just writing, I mean, that is stupid."
Again, I retorted with, "okay you do it."
The point is, while the rest of the world clocks in 9-5, they all dream of doing something creative, but they can't, or they would be.
TV series are extremely hard. If you are working on an established series with characters already in place, you have to know them inside and out, how they walk, how they speak, what they think, what they feel and be able to convey that on paper in a way that not only the audience will enjoy if your idea makes it to the screen, but in a way that the showrunner or head writer will want to use you. It is a craft that takes time to develop yes, but the talent, the raw talent to be able to tell that story, that is something you are born with.
Now with art, it is the same. You can take class after class and work and get better, but the raw talent, that is a gift that you have and that is what sets you apart.
In animation not only do we have to make a great drawing, we have to have all the above mentioned acting described in how characters are in a tv show, we have to move this character, which guess what folks? That is drawing after drawing and they all have to work together.
These people that think that just because what we do is creative and therefore we love what we do, that we shouldn't be paid for it are so totally clueless.
I used two examples, TV series and animation because those are two things close to me, but all writing, all art, is the same.
So here is a word to all you in the real world. If it is so damn easy, you fucking do it~
I'm just sayin'
:0)
This reminds me of the old Jon Lovitz skit where he would blow his nose ona napin, throw it to the floor, and say it was worth millions because: "Iiiiiii'mPicasso!"
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I love your title and your point. I am not a TV series writer, but as a fiction writer I have noticed how easy it is to criticize others. I have a response already saved up for critics: "How many novels have you published?"
Hahaha....I have to say I just fell of my chair while laughing out loud. This just sounds too familiar to stay serious. Thanks for this awesome post!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
-Victor Ens-
Hi Sapphire. I have two chick-lit novels published under a pen name. :0) What about you?
ReplyDeleteVictor~Happy to entertain you! LOL...