Taking Your Best Shot

In the past 25 years movie director James Cameron has only directed a handful of full length pictures. 

Of course James Cameron is a legend because that handful includes Aliens, Terminator, Titanic and Avatar.  It was almost 13 years between Titanic and Avatar.

What if you followed Cameron's lead?  

What if, instead of taking a limited budget and spreading across 4-5 projects, you only did 1 or 2 things a year?

What if you only did artistic projects you were really excited about, even if that means you drop out of the public's eye for a while?

Yesterday I talked about the abundant arts world and suggested that building strong, authentic relationships was one way to thrive in the world.

Maybe another way to thrive is by simply doing less art?

Fewer projects.  More time to develop them.

What if you tried that?

 

 

Comments

[Zena Vaughn]

Hey Adam!

Do you think that small organizations- who are already doing high quality work- can afford to drop out of the public eye for a while? Does that loss of name recognition hurt those smaller companies?

Zena Vaughn
Penfold Theatre
Austin, TX

[Adam]

I think it's ok to go away for a while if you come back strong. Generally I think the public notices the project first, then the group that is doing it. I think that's particularly true for smaller arts organizations. So if you have a project that you think really will capture the public's imagination but it will take you 12-18 months of time and resources to make it happen I think "dropping out" is an option.

Plus, you aren't disappearing entirely. Through technology you can still stay in touch with people and let them know your progress. We see this often with musicians, who may release an album every year or so but still have a connection with their audience.