A tire company should sponsor a bunch pothole filling crews…Even though the pothole problem helps the tire company. Everyone would love that tire company. The tire company would have no way of making sure anyone bought their tires from them next time around as a result of this…but they would be a trusted source.
The tire company is saying, “We’re going to go first and be extra generous. You don’t have to buy your next tires from us, but we’re the kind of company who looks out for your tires either way”.
In a similar way artists should be funding 6 month free promo offers for Spotify. Everyone would love that artist. The artist could have no way of making sure anyone listened to their music as a result of this…but they would be a trusted source.
The artist is saying, “We’re going to go first and be extra generous. You don’t have to listen to our music once you log on, but we’re the kind of artist who looks out for you and is all about you listening to music either way.”
But the importance of getting better may pale to the importance of needing other people to learn how good you are. At least for a season.
An easy example is one I’ve seen a million times here in Nashville.
Dude is a great guitar player. And he just keeps getting better. He’s at an elite level. But no one knows about him…so when producers, musicians, artists are trying to think of a great guitar player they can have come play…this guy does not get called. They don’t have his number, they don’t know his name, they’ve never heard of him…he was too busy getting better at guitar.
So for a season…you might not need to get better, but rather you need to get known for how good you are.
You don’t need more skills, you need more people to trust you and come to you.
Don’t keep getting better and better alone. Indeed you will become the best…but the world around you won’t get the gift of experiencing it.
I remember watching the TV show Friends way back when and wanting my life to be like that, and wondering why it couldn’t be.
What occurs to me now is perhaps the most subtle, strong, permeating aspects (and perhaps problems) with TV:
In every ‘good’ tv show, things work out. Maybe not the way we want them to, but there are reasons and resolve for the story lines.
There’s no waiting around in TV. And we watch a lot of TV. So TV teaches us a constant need for resolve and reasons in a timely fashion.
We always find out why the guy came back to the girl, what’s wrong with the main characters, why the father left the kids, why the killer killed. All the important unknowns become known within thirty minutes or a few hours. If they don’t become known we complain and call it a bad TV show, or criticize it for not tying it all together.
From the time we are born, every time we turn on the TV we get another dose of resolve and reasons: quickly. Over and over again. It’s been deeeeeeply ingrained in our brains.
We long for it. That sweet resolve. Not only a reason for everything but a KNOWN reason for everything.
I’d argue that’s a huge reason why we like TV to begin with. We want it (life) all to make sense. And we see this fundamental desire beautifully fulfilled on TV.
Every ‘good’ TV story gives this to us.
Most of real life (almost all of it) isn’t like this.
But we have grown to expect the same amout of reasons, resolve and timelines we see on TV. In TV we want it…and we get it. In real life…
We don’t get resolve. We don’t get all the reasons. Certainly not in the time frame we wish for.
And we don’t like it. We think we SHOULD have all the reasons…that’s what makes a good story. And after all that’s what we’ve experienced watching a bazillion hours of humans on television. So that’s the way it’s suppose to be, right?
We associate reasons, resolve and timelines with Good.
And the absence of these things in our lives as Bad…or not-as-good…therefore heightening our levels of dissatisfaction with life…because these ‘good things’ are nearly always absent in real life!
So as our mothers told us…TV is not real life.
We must learn to not get hung up on loose ends of our own lives. To not insist on having all the reasons right now. To not dwell on the unresolved.
I often wondered when I would be rich enough to afford those really nice paper towels…the Viva ones.
And then one day I decided to buy them. They were about $4 more than the ones that are only ok…but they didn’t make my life only $4 better…they made my life infinitely better. Because for $4 I got to feel like a rich man.
All that wondering and all I really needed to do was decide. And the deciding made me rich!
Same thing is true of your show.
You can keep wondering when you’re going to be an artist with a great show…
Or you can stop wondering and decide to create a great show.
The biggest hurdle to having a great show is deciding that is who you are now and that’s what you’re going to build.
And the deciding is free! Cheaper than those expensive paper towels!
