Why I Love Creative People
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- October 3rd, 2005
I’m on location in Sofia Bulgaria, helping two friends with their amazing project. Chris has composed the entire score to a feature film and is here with his colleague David who is conducting the National Orchestra, Chorus, and Boys Choir.
Why Bulgaria? Extraordinary talent – classically trained – at prices that make it all possible.
What I enjoy most about working with Creatives is how their (and my) mind work. It is a strange brew of:
- technical training
- passion for the work
- emotional intelligence
The technical training is impressive. The amount of knowledge required to make Apple Logic Pro and Pro Tools is stupefying. And yet this must be an assumed skill because without it, the actual creative process cannot truly begin.
This is where I witnessed true passion. It takes real commitment to arrive at “work” at 8PM and continue on into the early hours of the morning. Multiply this by the one hundred people who participate in each studio session and you begin to get a sense of the collective spirit of the creative mind.
What has also made a big impression on me as a Coach is managing emotions when things go wrong (and they always do, it is the nature of the business). For example, on the first night, less than one half of the scheduled work was completed.
- Computers didn’t sync up correctly and RAM failed.
- European musicians expect the conductor to conduct ahead of the score. American musicians expect the conductor to follow the score.
- This classically trained orchestra does not like nor have much experience with click tracks. But clicks are the industry standard in Hollywood, of not most of modern studio work.
Tempers could have become heated. Sometimes they did. But overall, everyone worked towards a common goal of creating the best possible performance. Creative people spend their internal professional lives dealing with the interplay of emotions, time demands, the desire to “express themselves” and the reality that they are being paid for work product. It’s a wonderful balance and a joy to watch.