And, like any good celeb, he’s happy to tell all. And, because he’s a hell of a writer, he tells it very well indeed:
Lost’s Carlton Cuse Relives Dealing With the Modern Celebrity of the TV Showrunner -by Carlton Cuse
There’s been a cultural change in television in the last few years. TV showrunners have become known entities to people who watch television in the way that movie directors have been known to filmgoers for a long time. When I started out as a writer and producer in television, I never had the slightest expectation that fame would be part of the job. There was a little bit of fandom that came from co-creating, writing, and producing my first series, 1993’s cult favorite The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. We were getting about 500 letters a week. They would show up in boxes, but they were addressed to the actors, or the show, or the “producers,” unnamed. It was vastly different from what would happen with Lost.
When Lost started, we were just trying to make a TV show that we’d watch, that we thought was cool. We truly had no idea people would become so engaged by it. By the end of the first season, Damon Lindelof and I had suddenly become the named, responsible parties for the show. I first noticed that something was different when a fan group that organized around a website called TheFuselage.com held a fund-raiser party at the Hollywood Renaissance Hotel, and they invited some of the actors and writers to attend. The fans that showed up were mostly interested in meeting each other, but some of them were actually very interested in meeting Damon and me. And that was really kind of shocking: Suddenly there were fans wanting to have their picture taken with us. I never expected that somebody would want to have his picture taken with a showrunner.
Stop Passing Judgment and Let Us Write!
…At least, that’s what this article says, and we sure as hell agree:
Unsolicited Evaluation Is the Enemy of Creativity – by Dr. Peter Gray
Non-directive, Non-Judgmental Parenting Predicts Subsequent Creativity in Children Longitudinal research has shown that children raised by parents who are relatively non-directive and non-judgmental exhibit more creativity later on than do those raised by relatively directive, judgmental parents. In a classic study, conducted in the 1970s and ‘80s, David Harrington, Jeanne Block, and Jack Block assessed the child-rearing beliefs and practices of the parents of 106 preschool children (3.5 to 4.5 years old), and then, when the children were in 6th grade and again in 9th grade, asked the children’s school teachers to rate them on a number of characteristics pertaining to creativity. [1]
LB: Congrats, Creative Bros & Sisters, These Guys Say We’re All Nuts
Back in college, my parents made me visit a psychologist because they wanted me to get along better with others. During the first session, after she and I had talked for awhile she started writing away on her notepad.
When I asked what she was writing, the psychologist said, “My diagnosis.”
“Already? How can you do that so soon?” I said.
A Wandering Mind is a Creative Mind…
…No matter what our elementary school teachers said:
Want to get the creative juices flowing? Let your mind wander – by Sian Beilock
There is no denying it, whether at work, school, or in everyday life, we often encounter situations where thinking outside the box is necessary. It’s also true that sparks of insight can be somewhat hard to pin down. You just never know when creative thought will arise.
Don’t Just “Save Time,” USE It: Here’s How
Good stuff here. For reals:
11 Riffs on Creativity & Time – by Jeffrey Davis
Most creative people with whom I work and study – scientists, authors, designers, entrepreneurs, marketers, teachers – find their optimal mix between messy chaos and creative order in their work life. Almost without fail, their chief complaints revolve around time – not enough of it or not sure what to do with it. Instead of managing time, sculpting time seems to me a useful reframe for creatives. I offer 11 riffs on sculpting time here.