Archive for the ‘Hamburgers’ tag
Genius of the AND
Famed Marketing Professional, Gary Halbert would often ask audiences at his various speaking events the following:
“If you and I both owned a hamburger stand and we were in a contest to see who could sell the most hamburgers, what advantages would you most like to have on your side to help you win?”
The answers varied. Some of the audience would say they would like to have the advantage of having superior meat from which to make their burgers. Others would say they want sesame seed buns. Others would mention location. And someone always wanted to be able to offer the lowest prices.
And so on.
In any case, after the audience was finished telling him what advantages they would most like to have, he’d usually respond with something like this: “O.K., I’ll give you every single advantage you have asked for. I, myself, only want one advantage and, if you will give it to me, I will (when it comes to selling burgers) whip the pants off all of you!”
“What advantage do you want?” the audience would ask.
“The only advantage I want,” He’d reply…
“Is…
A Starving Crowd!”
Think about it. This makes sense, right? Right!
So when it comes to your screenwriting BUSINESS the most profitable habit you can cultivate is the habit of understanding what the market needs. That makes sense, right?
Yet for some reason I often encounter screenwriters that draw the line in the sand. They remark, “Talent will prevail, a true artist makes his own market.” And of course the big one, “I’m an artist not a businessman.”
To be clear I’m not suggesting that you discard any regard or respect for your craft. Nor that you simply become a drone and as one screenwriter said, “… dance to the tune of the studios”. I am suggesting that there is power, tremendous power in doing both. Developing your talent and knowing the markets needs. You don’t have to be one or the other. There are too many examples of screenwriters who manage to do both very successfully. Very successfully!
Authors James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras of the famed non-fiction book BUILT TO LAST devoted a section of their book to what they called the “Tyranny of the OR”. The authors believe that the “Tyranny of the OR” pushes people to believe that things must be either A OR B, but not both.
They suggest that instead of being oppressed by the “Tyranny of the OR” that you liberate yourself with the “Genius of the AND” – the ability to embrace both extremes of a number of dimensions at the same time.
So the next time you are ready to beat the drum of “I am simply an artist hear me roar!” consider these liberated screenwriters who exercise the “Genius of the AND”:
Neill Blomkamp, writer/director of District 9: “There’s a lot about this film that’s very subconscious and just in the fabric of me, and Apartheid and the segregation in Johannesburg is how I grew up.” – http://tinyurl.com/lw96ts
Christopher Nolan, writer/director on Memento: “…I don’t consider myself to be an “art” film-maker at all.” – http://tinyurl.com/r4t9g2
James Cameron, writer/director on writing The Terminator: “I was just working out my childhood stuff” – http://tinyurl.com/cgwpfz
Finally, I leave you with this…
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
