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Welcome to the Sustaining Creativity Podcast.
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I'm your host, Mari Reisberg.
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Over the past several years, I've combined my degrees in acting and somatic psychology to share my sustaining creativity techniques with performers.
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And now I've decided to share it with a bigger audience that includes you.
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I believe we are all creative, and this podcast is all about that.
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I'll be interviewing people from all backgrounds, ages, and creativity experiences to share just how creative we all are.
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Today I'll be chatting with Jake Isham, award-winning filmmaker, published photographer, and content and creation agency founder.
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Please enjoy Jake Isham.
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Welcome to the Sustaining Creativity Podcast.
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Today I'm chatting with Jake Isham, award-winning filmmaker, published photographer, and content creation agency, owner, founder, worker, employee.
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All the above.
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Yeah.
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I love it.
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Well, welcome to the podcast.
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Thank you for having me.
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Excited to be here.
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I'm excited to dig into creativity and your creative journey because I can only imagine how that has been in your life.
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But why don't you take a couple of minutes and let us know a little bit more about who you are and what it is you do?
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Uh well, it's definitely been an interesting creative journey.
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Uh, I I'm very fortunate to, well, I'll start with this because I think it's the underlying I'm unbelievably fortunate to have two parents who are artists and who make a living with their art.
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And so being an artist was never, oh, get a real job.
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It's it was the opposite.
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It was all right, go figure it out.
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And so it was great, but at the same time, it was never go get a job.
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It was always all right, you want to be a director, you want to be a musician, you want to like go do it.
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So, like, my and I'm the oldest of four kids, and all of us are essentially artists and make a living as artists or as creatives, you could say.
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And um, and it's it's it's so very different childhood, but I feel like it's almost like the cliche LA childhood.
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So like I grew up being an actor and a musician and a performer, and uh around 16, 17, I was pretentious and was like, I don't want to do this audition game anymore.
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I'm gonna write and direct my own movies and just cast myself.
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You know, Pan Affleck can do it, and Eastwood can do it, I can do it.
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Yeah, okay.
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You know, 16-year-old Jake not knowing anything about anything.
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Uh, so I I started to mess around uh with a DV camera.
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I'm gonna date myself for any.
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I mean, you and I seem close in age, but uh, you know, for any younger listeners don't even know what that is.
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Yeah, so shot on tape back in my day.
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God, I feel old, and I'm not even that old.
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Uh, so you know, went to film school, did all that.
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At the end of film school, I forgot that I even grew up acting and wanted to act.
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I just fell in love with the art of directing.
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Post film school.
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Basically, the didn't really have any mentors besides, you know, my parents, and my parents were like, I don't know, you want to be a director, go direct, figure it out.
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Yeah, and basically, my dad gave me the best advice, uh, which I repeat to any upcoming artist, which is figure out how to get paid to practice.
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Because that's what he did.
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So he grew up uh being a jazz trumpet player.
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Oh, wow, and wanting to play trumpet and specifically jazz, but there's only a limited amount of jazz gigs, and there's a very limited amount, especially if you want to be the band leader, which is what he wanted to do, have his own band.
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Right.
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And so he got paid to practice.
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He would take any job that would keep a trumpet in his hand, you know, from Chinese funerals, walking.
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So they would do these Chinese funerals in the streets of San Francisco, yeah, where it would be this big spectacle, and he would play trumpet in that to the holiday inn, to the orchestra, to anything that allowed him to play and practice trumpet, yeah, and get better at that skill, he took.
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And so I basically followed that advice, and I was growing my own social media really, uh, really well.
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Uh, this was over about a decade ago now.
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Wow.
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Um, and this was kind of when you know you would still poke people on Facebook.
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Again, I'm gonna date myself, and um so I kind of freelanced and was like, you know, becoming a social media guy.
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And from there, I, you know, built this agency while at the same time uh making films.
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So I've made over 25 short films.
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Uh, I've also traveled the world as a photographer, and yeah, it's been a it's been a wild, fun journey.
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I love it.
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I I love the that's what you want to do, figure it out.
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Support it been it's been very awesome to have parents who are so supportive, yeah, of of a dream like that, and but or who are also living testaments of like you can do it, where my parents didn't have any connections.
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If anything, both of their parents were like were the cliche of like get a real job, right?
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You know, and um and they're both living testaments of like, you know, it takes heart, it takes you know, grit determination, heart, hard work to to do it, and you can do it.
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Yeah, I love it.
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I I hope more people listen and can follow that as well because it's important if it is a passion and turn and I uh you know figuring out how to get paid to practice.
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What a great just piece to live, live creativity by or art by and so many struggles.
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Yeah, and it it's an interesting because I started a kind of like a solo podcast basically just documenting the lessons I'm I've learned, but I had to learn pretty early on in this journey that if I want to be a successful artist, I need to be a successful entrepreneur, right?
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Because the key word again in that message was get paid to practice.
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Yeah, so you have to find people who need and want your services, and then you need to sell them on your services.
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Yeah, and it's something I talk about and try to teach upcoming artists is you need to not only be unbelievably talented at your work, but you could be the best painter, and if you don't show anybody your paintings, you could be the best trumpet player, the best filmmaker, the best photographer.
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But if you don't show your art to anybody, you will never get paid for it.
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Right.
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So you have to be entrepreneurial in the sense of you do have to be a salesman, you do have to be a little bit of a promo and a marketing guy.
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You know, all these I see a lot of jokes online, which is like I wanted to be an insert artist, but there's a lot of you know, musicians.
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I see this is, you know, I I wanted to be a musician, not a marketer.
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Why am I making social media?
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It's like, well, because you're being your own record label.
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That's why you don't have to give up 80% of your income to a record label, right?
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Right, 90% of your income.
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You can do it all on your own, but you're gonna have to do it all on your own.
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Right.
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Yeah, that's the entrepreneurial spirit.
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You also have to have that, and that that's that's a a big piece of creativity as well.
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So I can appreciate both of those coming together.
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Or, you know, I have a lot of friends who are amazing photographers and work at agencies and you know, who are amazing filmmakers and work in marketing because that's where their skills are needed, yeah.
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And they get paid to keep a camera in your hand.
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Like I get paid to make marketing videos, yeah.
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But I'm not driving Uber, I'm not working at Starbucks, I'm not working at Amazon, I am working with a camera.
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Is it the most creative?
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No, but I can make it creative and I can get into do what I love while still working on the passions of making films and working that until that actually gets me paid.
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I love it.
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Yes.
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Well, with all of these pieces that are collectively creative, what does it mean to you to be creative?
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There's a lesson my mom taught me very early on, which was you don't have to be an artist to live creatively.
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A beautiful dinner can be highly creative.
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The clothes you wear makes you creative.
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The way you do your hair, the like, and I'm not saying you need to like put crazy dye and a hair to like it can just be that you present yourself really beautifully and really aesthetically as a guy or girl is creative.
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Yeah, I look at entrepreneurs, and it's something that I, you know, as I said, I talk to a lot of artists, but I also talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, and I go, look, all of every single entrepreneur I know is an artist because they're creating something that was never there before.
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Right, they're creating a world that and a product, a service that was never existing before, and solving a problem that's creative.
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So, what does it mean to be creative?
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It means to literally put aesthetics into the world, to create something that has never been there before, or put a new twist on it that makes people go, Whoa, that's awesome.
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I love that.
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I have and those two pieces, the piece that your mom shared, and then just literally putting new things out into the world and other people having reactions or responses to it as well.
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I think, yeah, I can appreciate both of those, but that you don't have to be an artist to be creative, creativity can be a part of everyday experiences and life, and it's how we how we look at our life and the world through that creative lens.
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100%.
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And it's you know, it comes down to just putting aesthetics.
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What is aesthetic?
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It's just things that literally go, Whoa, that's awesome, right?
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Like it, it, there's nothing tangible about it.
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It's it is very a I look at it as a very spiritual thing, as a you know, it's it's just what kind of that it just kind of hits you in your chest, and you go, Whoa, something that moves you, and like and it could be, I mean, there's a great moment for me that's like what was something that was not obvious but highly aesthetic.
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My wife and I were in New York recently, and there was a gentleman who walked on the subway, and he was in a fantastic suit.
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Again, he's he's probably late 20s, early 30s, a good-looking black man, and but just dressed to the nines, great shoe, like the entire suit, pocket square, the bow tie, uh, fedora hat on, everything matching, everything color coordinated, and that was aesthetics, that was creativity.
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That man took time every morning to do that.
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He doesn't need to do that, but he chose to, and I actually went up to him and was like, Sir, your suit is gorgeous.
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Just curious, how many do you uh do you have of these suits?
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He's like, probably around 18.
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So, this is a man who chooses who who knows what he does.
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He could work in finance or in something, but he was clearly not just a man in a suit.
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This was a man who chose to take the suit and be creative about it.
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I love that.
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Yeah, that's where the aspects of like you know, creativity is not just oh, I'm a filmmaker, I'm a painter, you know.
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Right.
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It's not just a title, it's a way of life.
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Exactly.
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A beautiful dinner that a friend puts together and the way they put it present the food, that's creative.
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Yeah.
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Well, I feel like we are kindred spirits in this world of creativity.
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Um, but with with filmmaking, with entrepreneurship, with photography, who or what is inspiring you, or where do you draw inspiration for projects and pieces that you are curious about, or I guess I'm curious about there's a great quote.
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I forget, I think.
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I mean, there's a sm there's a book on it, and I forget the author's name, but I think this this quote's been around, and lots of people have said versions of this quote, which is good artists borrow, uh, what is it?
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Good artists copy, great artists steal.
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And you know, for me, that's I get inspiration on everything, you know, from every movie I watch, every painting I see, every museum I go to, every song I listen to, uh, just even just traveling, you know.
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I I try to consume as much art and talk to people, and you know, even on social media, being like, wow, you know, look at what they're doing, and you know, try to stay away from any, you know, which you get sucked into all of the uh ridiculous other things on social media, but sure, you know, if you curate your your feeds well enough, it can be unbelievably inspiring.
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Yeah.
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And so, but then also just letting myself, my mind wander and just going, oh, what could, you know, like as a filmmaker, I go, like, okay, well, what's the box I'm in while I have this one location?
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Well, what could take place in what what's what problems could occur here?
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What characters would come to this location?
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What characters could get stuck in this location?
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And there's a little bit of just allowing yourself to allowing your mind to just wander.
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Yeah.
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But then on the flip side, giving yourself hard targets of like it needs to get done today, and targets breed creativity.
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So there's the balance of don't let just like put yourself on a box, force yourself to work, and take away all distractions.
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So it's a balance of all of it.
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Sorry for ranting.
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No, no, you're asking such great questions that I don't typically get because I go on a lot of entrepreneurial and business podcasts, but to be able to talk to another artist is like so lovely.
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I understand.
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I love I love all these, and like hearing the where inspiration comes from and how anything can be inspiring.
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I mean, as artists, I think you know, we have peaks and valleys in our creativity.
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When you find yourself in a valley, or maybe you don't find yourself in valleys often where you need a to pause or something feels a little harder than it typically does.
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How do you navigate those moments?
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It's typically, I find myself in valleys is when I get swamped with work for me.
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I get swamped paying the bills, right?
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Building the company, making sure making payroll, you know, all that jazz.
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The the fun entrepreneurial game that I'm got myself into.
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Yeah.
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And I found myself in a creative slump.
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And the only way to get yourself, and this is gonna be the most trite, cliche, annoying response ever, but the only way to get yourself out of a creative slump is to be creative.
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Yeah, you have to literally force it.
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And there's not there's no wait for divine inspiration.
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You have to literally force that shit.
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I don't give you an exact, I'll give you a way that I've applied this.
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So year or so ago, uh I was deep in corporate content.
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We were getting a lot of like not even like creative clients, we were getting into very like working with dentists, doctors, lawyers, professional services, which is why is my plastic surgery uh office better than the one next door?
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Well, I can make your boobs even better.
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It's like I I can make your nose look even better.
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I'm like, there's only so much of about this stuff I can I care about.
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Like this is and it's the same shots, there's the same lighting, it's the same script every single time.
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Yeah, and so I just said, screw it.
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And my wife and I, I'm very fortunate.
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My wife's also an artist, she's an actress and a writer.
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And we made 14 short films in four months.
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Oof, wow, and we again forced it.
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We just went go, go, go, go, to the point where in one weekend, we the first weekend we did this, we shot four different short films in one weekend in 48 hours.
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And now, look, all of those are like you know, two minutes long, one to two minutes long.
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So they're not like a 10-page long, short film, but they are four different ideas, four different locations, you know, different actors in every single one.
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And we just did it, you force it, yeah.
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And then, yeah, are they the most brilliant thing ever to be made?
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No, but it led, it got the rust off.
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Creativity is a muscle that needs to be worked the same way, like sports, you have to practice it, yeah, and the more you just do it, the better you get.
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Yeah, that's what is the is it my Angelou who says the more you use it, the more you have creativity.
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I I love that quote.
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Yeah, I think that's I appreciate that the forcing it or the creativity has to find you creating, even if it's in your eyes shit or not good, or we just have to allow a creative moment to happen and be expressed in whatever way that is.
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One of the things my my dad, when he does lectures or seminars on this, when they're like, What if you're in a um creative slump, but I'm looking at the word like uh burnout?
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Burnout, that's not particularly burnout, but um like looking for inspiration.
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There's a word for this, but I'm blanking on it right now.
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Um right, and you're like, you don't know what to write.
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What one of the things he does, it is one of one of two things.
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One is there's a piano inside the house, not in his studio, and he'll just play again.
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Just just play anything, yeah, and just go, okay, great.
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Oh, that sounds good, but he'll change locations.
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That's so that's the point is change locations.
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If you're typically right in a you know, in your house, go to a coffee shop and write, right?
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Just change locations.
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If you paint typically in, you know, inside, just go to your go to a backyard, go go to the beach, go to go to the mountains, go in the middle of the street somewhere and paint.
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Yeah.
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Then the other thing he does, again, just to give you use it to to inspire you, is he'll turn off, he'll click record on his on his program and but turn off the volume and just play.
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Hit the keys randomly, play anything, random chords, not even knowing what he's playing, not listening to it for a couple minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, however long, and then turns the volume up and plays it back and sits back and just goes, okay.
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And then eventually there might be a part where he goes, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, wait, that right there.
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I'm gonna build this off of that moment at minute, you know, seven.
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Seven minutes and 32 seconds.
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There was that chord change that was really beautiful there.
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I'm gonna use that.
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And then deletes everything else and starts writing from there.
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I really force it, yeah, whatever that means to you, but it's basically the simplicity is go make your art.
00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:25.680
Yeah, go do the thing.
00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:30.079
Or yeah, I um it's not gonna be good to start with, fine.
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.640
Right, you don't have to release it, right?
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.559
But you have permission to suck.
00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.640
You give yourself permission to suck.
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:44.880
Yeah, which I I ironically, literally, I just released an episode like two weeks ago or something like that on my podcast.
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:47.599
Literally titled Be Willing to Suck.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:49.440
Talking about this exact thing.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.640
Be willing to suck.
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:56.240
I love it, it's so important, and and that it's okay to be a beginner and make bad art.
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:57.359
It doesn't have to go.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:58.400
I'm talking about this.
00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:02.480
Is somebody like from my Father, who's been doing this for close to 50 years.
00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:03.039
Yeah.
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:03.519
Yeah.
00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:10.880
I hate to be pretentious, but you know, this is somebody who's won awards and like is yeah, one of the top in his fields.
00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:13.440
Everybody goes through this.
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:14.160
Right.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:14.559
Yeah.
00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.400
So everybody does this.
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.279
You are not special because you're just starting out.
00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:19.839
Right.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:20.240
Right.
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:20.400
Right.
00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:21.920
Top of the top.
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:22.799
Go through this.
00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.039
Still, still experiences this.
00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:25.599
Yeah.
00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:41.200
And and the beauty of they have a few more years under their belt of knowing, okay, I just I gotta do this in this way to get back in my groove or get back into that inspiration space.
00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.079
Yeah.
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.480
It's it's nice to know we're not alone.
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:48.480
Very much not.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:49.920
Very, very much not.
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.000
For sure, for sure.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:09.759
Well, when you know, if people are starting in any of the industries that you find yourself in filmmaking, photography, entrepreneur, content creation, what are the things you wish you had heard when you first started?
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:12.880
Make more art.
00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:27.359
Just like the the amount of art you need to make and practice and practice is beyond anything you can comprehend.
00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.759
Like it's a lot more work.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:41.519
And the only way to get good is to practice and be willing to suck and do as many jobs for free as you're gonna feel like you're gonna get taken advantage of.
00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:47.839
But every everything you do for free, every art you just make and you invest, you're going to get better.
00:23:48.559 --> 00:24:13.359
And to me, it's really apparent when I cast uh actors for my films, and I see hundreds of auditions, and you really see the talented versus not talented actors, and it just and there's the only reason is because of practice, and yeah, you might be even worse than the majority.
00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:33.039
The only way to get better is to get better through practice, and I know the amount of work I've lost because I'm not good enough, and it only comes down to just being good, and so you always have to be learning.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:39.839
And if you're at, you know, if you're getting figuring out how you get paid to practice, and it's not something you particularly love, right?
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:48.400
But you need to be learning every with every job, every time you do your art, you need to learn something new.
00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.920
And you need to, and it and it's a lot of confront.
00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:58.640
And if you go through the tears, the anger, the whatever emotion you go through, fine.
00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:10.079
Yeah, but you just have like the volume that is needed is so high more than ever, because the barrier to entry now is so low.
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:15.519
It has never been easier to be an artist and to make a living as an artist.
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.920
It has never been easier, yeah.
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.440
That means the competition has never been higher.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:22.400
Right.
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:23.440
Right.
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:39.920
But I mean that to be inspiring in the sense that so you know, I give when I give a lecture or seminar to a group of artists, the first one of the first things I ask is how often is everybody here working on their art?
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:44.160
And that could be literally doing anything on their craft.
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:48.880
And I go, at least once a year, everyone raises their hands.
00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:53.359
And then I go once a month, you start seeing some hands drop.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.680
And then go once a week, seeing a lot of hands drop.
00:25:57.759 --> 00:25:58.000
Yeah.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:02.480
And I go every multiple times a week, more hands are dropping.
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:04.960
Every day, multiple hands are dropping.
00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:08.720
More than an hour a day, more hands are dropping.
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:09.359
Right.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:25.359
And it really goes to show it's like if this is something you want to do as a career, if you want to do it as a hobby, if you want to like, I just love painting or I just love playing music, and I want to be able to like show off, you know, I want to be that guy at the bonfire who can play guitar and like be like, oh, cool.
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:26.559
Hey, can you play this song?
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:37.200
Yeah, you know, or I want to take photos of my kids, or I want to just like, you know, when I go out travel, I want to photograph birds or landscapes, and you just want to do it for fun, great.
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:41.200
But I'm talking to the artists who want to make a living doing their craft.
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:41.680
Yeah.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:49.519
If you want to make a living doing your craft, you have to treat it like a job first.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:52.319
And what is that?
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:53.839
It's eight hours a day.
00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:00.240
Now you might not have eight hours a day, but the more hours you put into it, eventually it will become a job.
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:00.880
Mm-hmm.
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:01.599
Mm-hmm.
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:02.799
Yeah.
00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:03.519
Yeah.
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:05.599
And you know, sorry to go on these rants.
00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:06.880
No, these are not ranging.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:10.960
We're talking about like the thing that I am arguably the most passionate about in my life.
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:14.480
Like this is the thing I love.
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.279
Like, screw all business.
00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:22.720
Like, I'd love to help upcoming artists because I'm yeah.
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:34.960
So I love that you have this podcast to talk to, you know, four artists because it's this is the the topics that don't get talked about in art, which is like, what does it take to actually make it?
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:35.599
Right.
00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:36.160
Yeah.
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.799
And how do we overcome the challenges that we face?
00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:42.000
Because we all face them.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:46.319
And how do we find inspiration when we are feeling uninspired?
00:27:46.480 --> 00:28:09.680
And how do we, you know, all of those pieces are the things that I love to talk to people around the world about because it's so different and in varying industries, because that every time I hear someone who's a lawyer or a doctor or someone talking about the creativity that shows up in their industry, I'm like, oh, amazing.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:19.359
I can take bits and pieces of that and bring it into my own life and try try on some of those creative ideas or moments.
00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:22.880
So what has been in the six years you've been doing this podcast?
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:34.480
What's been the one or two, or you know, what's the one advice or tidbit of information that has stuck with you the most?
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:48.079
Who I don't know about like the there are so many little nuggets of inspiration or advice or things that I remember.
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:55.519
Um I was speaking to uh, he's a, I believe an Ayurvedic doctor and naturopath.
00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:15.200
Um and he really spoke about growing up in India and experiencing um kind of neurodivergence and ADHD in a time and culture that wasn't attuned to it.
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:27.599
And his journey of feeling like he was he there was a storm and chaos surrounding him, and he found the eye of the storm where the stillness was.
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:40.240
And so I feel like there was just such a translation in creativity when we find ourselves in the pocket, in flow, in alignment, whatever you want to call it.
00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:43.359
And that really stuck with me.
00:29:43.759 --> 00:30:01.200
That was one, and then recently um I was speaking to a dancer, Alexandra Beller, and she and I had a conversation around the distinction between being a witness of art and being an audience of art, and how how those two are very different.
00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:13.119
Oftentimes we confuse them, and oftentimes, you know, what people are producing as art doesn't need an audience, it needs a witness, and vice versa.
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:18.079
So I think those recently are the two pieces that are standing out.
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:24.000
But there are, I mean, there are over 300 episodes of people that I've talked to.
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:27.759
So yeah, no, I wanted to know what you know comes to mind right now.
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:28.319
Yeah.
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:30.160
So those are the pieces.
00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:31.519
Thank you for asking.
00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:36.720
I appreciate getting to talk about creativity and all of these things.
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:38.480
I have one last question for you.
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:39.200
Shoot.
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:42.319
What does it feel like in your body to be creative?
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.960
I mean, every emotion in the world.
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:57.119
Uh, you know, you're going through it, you can have because it it it depends on honestly the degree of practice.
00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:58.400
It's changed over the years.
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:04.000
I remember the first um my big senior thesis film in college.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:09.519
This was now Lord over a decade ago.
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:19.839
And I went to school about an hour and a half away from my house, and I drove home crying the the night before the shoot.
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:25.759
Freaked out, feeling not ready, not prepared.
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:46.079
It's the biggest project I've ever undertaken to uh and I I didn't and so sure, you know, but you know, there are definitely and there's still today shoots that I walk on to that I'm like, okay.
00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:52.799
And you know, uh but while you're in it, you're just like, great, this is this is it.
00:31:52.960 --> 00:32:03.200
The so the more prepared you are, and I notice it's just the more prepared I am, the more relaxed I am, the more practice I've done, the the the the more confident I am.
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:18.640
And so prep and practice is seen as a chore, but you know, it makes you the most relaxed for when it happens.
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:24.880
Filmmaking is all done in prep, in my opinion, and art is all done in the prep.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:37.920
You know, if you take talk talk about a musician, you know, goes live on a show, like you get that hive from the show, but if you're not prepared, it's gonna it's gonna be awful, you know.
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:43.920
Like if you don't you haven't done the work, and so and it's doing the work, yeah.
00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:55.920
You'll have every emotion, you'll have anger, grief, despair, boredom, enthusiasm, exhilaration, fine, those are just emotions, yeah.
00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:57.359
My opinion.
00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:11.119
So work through them the best you can, and then uh, but once when you're actually doing the art, there's a um there's a focus of just like you're locked in.
00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:18.960
It's not even a serenity, it's it's a it's a focus of like, ooh, we're going, we're going, we're moving.
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:26.000
And uh you gotta fight through all the the other weird shit to get there.
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.079
Yeah, it's so true.
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:30.160
I appreciate all of those pieces.
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:32.799
Thank you so much for taking the time to join me.
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:38.480
If people want to learn more about the work you do have out in the world, how could they go about doing that?
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:42.240
Uh, well, this is gonna be the most pretentious answer in the world.
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:43.119
Just Google me.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:52.000
But because I unfortunately I have so many social media channels, but uh the filmmaking stuff is under Jake Directed This on pretty much all channels.
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.759
Uh, if you want to see my photography, it's Jake Captured This.
00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:56.480
Uh-huh.
00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:58.079
There's a little theme there.
00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:01.680
Um, otherwise, my marketing company is called Creative Minds.
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:13.599
Uh, the website is Creative Minds Official, but uh you can follow me and uh on and you can message me or follow me on any of the channels that uh kind of fit your fancy.
00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:14.159
Perfect.
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:17.440
Well, I will put links in show notes so people have really easy access.
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:20.559
And thank you so much for taking the time to join me.
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.760
This has been such a fantastic conversation.
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:25.440
Thank you so much for having me.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:27.119
I love this podcast.
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:39.760
Thanks for listening to the Sustaining Creativity Podcast.
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:43.599
We'd love to keep in touch, so follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:46.159
We are at Sustaining Creativity.
00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:49.840
Make sure to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:52.960
Tag your friends and family so they can listen to you.
00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:56.719
We'd love to hear from you, so leave your reviews, comments, and questions.
00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:03.599
Check out our website, sustainingcreativity.com, for upcoming offerings and creativity coaching.
00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:06.239
Tune in Tuesdays for our next episode.
00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:09.679
And remember, with creativity, anything is possible.
00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:23.039
Welcome to the Sustaining Creativity Podcast.
00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:24.800
I'm your host, Mari Reisberg.
00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:31.920
Over the past several years, I've combined my degrees in acting and somatic psychology to share my sustaining creativity techniques with performers.
00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.679
And now I've decided to share it with a bigger audience that includes you.
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.320
I believe we are all creative, and this podcast is all about that.
00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:46.880
I'll be interviewing people from all backgrounds, ages, and creativity experiences to share just how creative we all are.
00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:54.320
Today I'll be chatting with Jake Isham, award-winning filmmaker, published photographer, and content and creation agency founder.
00:00:54.479 --> 00:00:56.640
Please enjoy Jake Isham.
00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:09.439
Welcome to the Sustaining Creativity Podcast.
00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:19.680
Today I'm chatting with Jake Isham, award-winning filmmaker, published photographer, and content creation agency, owner, founder, worker, employee.
00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:20.959
All the above.
00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:21.280
Yeah.
00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:21.920
I love it.
00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.000
Well, welcome to the podcast.
00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:25.120
Thank you for having me.
00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:26.079
Excited to be here.
00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:34.640
I'm excited to dig into creativity and your creative journey because I can only imagine how that has been in your life.
00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:40.719
But why don't you take a couple of minutes and let us know a little bit more about who you are and what it is you do?
00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:43.840
Uh well, it's definitely been an interesting creative journey.
00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:55.280
Uh, I I'm very fortunate to, well, I'll start with this because I think it's the underlying I'm unbelievably fortunate to have two parents who are artists and who make a living with their art.
00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:59.920
And so being an artist was never, oh, get a real job.
00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:01.439
It's it was the opposite.
00:02:01.519 --> 00:02:03.439
It was all right, go figure it out.
00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.719
And so it was great, but at the same time, it was never go get a job.
00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:15.199
It was always all right, you want to be a director, you want to be a musician, you want to like go do it.
00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:24.240
So, like, my and I'm the oldest of four kids, and all of us are essentially artists and make a living as artists or as creatives, you could say.
00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:34.080
And um, and it's it's it's so very different childhood, but I feel like it's almost like the cliche LA childhood.
00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:47.520
So like I grew up being an actor and a musician and a performer, and uh around 16, 17, I was pretentious and was like, I don't want to do this audition game anymore.
00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:51.039
I'm gonna write and direct my own movies and just cast myself.
00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.919
You know, Pan Affleck can do it, and Eastwood can do it, I can do it.
00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:57.439
Yeah, okay.
00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:02.400
You know, 16-year-old Jake not knowing anything about anything.
00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:08.159
Uh, so I I started to mess around uh with a DV camera.
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:09.680
I'm gonna date myself for any.
00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:17.840
I mean, you and I seem close in age, but uh, you know, for any younger listeners don't even know what that is.
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.120
Yeah, so shot on tape back in my day.
00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:23.759
God, I feel old, and I'm not even that old.
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.599
Uh, so you know, went to film school, did all that.
00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:31.919
At the end of film school, I forgot that I even grew up acting and wanted to act.
00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.719
I just fell in love with the art of directing.
00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:36.879
Post film school.
00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:45.039
Basically, the didn't really have any mentors besides, you know, my parents, and my parents were like, I don't know, you want to be a director, go direct, figure it out.
00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:54.240
Yeah, and basically, my dad gave me the best advice, uh, which I repeat to any upcoming artist, which is figure out how to get paid to practice.
00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:55.599
Because that's what he did.
00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:58.400
So he grew up uh being a jazz trumpet player.
00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:11.680
Oh, wow, and wanting to play trumpet and specifically jazz, but there's only a limited amount of jazz gigs, and there's a very limited amount, especially if you want to be the band leader, which is what he wanted to do, have his own band.
00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:12.159
Right.
00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:17.279
And so he got paid to practice.
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:24.240
He would take any job that would keep a trumpet in his hand, you know, from Chinese funerals, walking.
00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:40.879
So they would do these Chinese funerals in the streets of San Francisco, yeah, where it would be this big spectacle, and he would play trumpet in that to the holiday inn, to the orchestra, to anything that allowed him to play and practice trumpet, yeah, and get better at that skill, he took.
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:48.240
And so I basically followed that advice, and I was growing my own social media really, uh, really well.
00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.360
Uh, this was over about a decade ago now.
00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:52.319
Wow.
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.079
Um, and this was kind of when you know you would still poke people on Facebook.
00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:05.199
Again, I'm gonna date myself, and um so I kind of freelanced and was like, you know, becoming a social media guy.
00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:12.480
And from there, I, you know, built this agency while at the same time uh making films.
00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:14.720
So I've made over 25 short films.
00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:23.120
Uh, I've also traveled the world as a photographer, and yeah, it's been a it's been a wild, fun journey.
00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:23.920
I love it.
00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:27.600
I I love the that's what you want to do, figure it out.
00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:44.160
Support it been it's been very awesome to have parents who are so supportive, yeah, of of a dream like that, and but or who are also living testaments of like you can do it, where my parents didn't have any connections.
00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:50.560
If anything, both of their parents were like were the cliche of like get a real job, right?
00:05:50.879 --> 00:06:03.199
You know, and um and they're both living testaments of like, you know, it takes heart, it takes you know, grit determination, heart, hard work to to do it, and you can do it.
00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:04.879
Yeah, I love it.
00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:18.800
I I hope more people listen and can follow that as well because it's important if it is a passion and turn and I uh you know figuring out how to get paid to practice.
00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:29.120
What a great just piece to live, live creativity by or art by and so many struggles.
00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:46.639
Yeah, and it it's an interesting because I started a kind of like a solo podcast basically just documenting the lessons I'm I've learned, but I had to learn pretty early on in this journey that if I want to be a successful artist, I need to be a successful entrepreneur, right?
00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:53.600
Because the key word again in that message was get paid to practice.
00:06:53.920 --> 00:07:03.920
Yeah, so you have to find people who need and want your services, and then you need to sell them on your services.
00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:24.240
Yeah, and it's something I talk about and try to teach upcoming artists is you need to not only be unbelievably talented at your work, but you could be the best painter, and if you don't show anybody your paintings, you could be the best trumpet player, the best filmmaker, the best photographer.
00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:28.399
But if you don't show your art to anybody, you will never get paid for it.
00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:28.959
Right.
00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:37.759
So you have to be entrepreneurial in the sense of you do have to be a salesman, you do have to be a little bit of a promo and a marketing guy.
00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:45.680
You know, all these I see a lot of jokes online, which is like I wanted to be an insert artist, but there's a lot of you know, musicians.
00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:50.800
I see this is, you know, I I wanted to be a musician, not a marketer.
00:07:50.959 --> 00:07:52.240
Why am I making social media?
00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:55.519
It's like, well, because you're being your own record label.
00:07:55.920 --> 00:08:02.000
That's why you don't have to give up 80% of your income to a record label, right?
00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.480
Right, 90% of your income.
00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.480
You can do it all on your own, but you're gonna have to do it all on your own.
00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:09.199
Right.
00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.040
Yeah, that's the entrepreneurial spirit.
00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:21.680
You also have to have that, and that that's that's a a big piece of creativity as well.
00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:25.439
So I can appreciate both of those coming together.
00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:36.960
Or, you know, I have a lot of friends who are amazing photographers and work at agencies and you know, who are amazing filmmakers and work in marketing because that's where their skills are needed, yeah.
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.600
And they get paid to keep a camera in your hand.
00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:44.240
Like I get paid to make marketing videos, yeah.
00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:50.879
But I'm not driving Uber, I'm not working at Starbucks, I'm not working at Amazon, I am working with a camera.
00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:52.240
Is it the most creative?
00:08:52.639 --> 00:09:07.519
No, but I can make it creative and I can get into do what I love while still working on the passions of making films and working that until that actually gets me paid.
00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:08.559
I love it.
00:09:08.720 --> 00:09:09.279
Yes.
00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:18.879
Well, with all of these pieces that are collectively creative, what does it mean to you to be creative?
00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:27.840
There's a lesson my mom taught me very early on, which was you don't have to be an artist to live creatively.
00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.399
A beautiful dinner can be highly creative.
00:09:32.799 --> 00:09:37.200
The clothes you wear makes you creative.
00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:51.840
The way you do your hair, the like, and I'm not saying you need to like put crazy dye and a hair to like it can just be that you present yourself really beautifully and really aesthetically as a guy or girl is creative.
00:09:52.399 --> 00:10:06.320
Yeah, I look at entrepreneurs, and it's something that I, you know, as I said, I talk to a lot of artists, but I also talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, and I go, look, all of every single entrepreneur I know is an artist because they're creating something that was never there before.
00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:16.080
Right, they're creating a world that and a product, a service that was never existing before, and solving a problem that's creative.
00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:17.919
So, what does it mean to be creative?
00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:31.919
It means to literally put aesthetics into the world, to create something that has never been there before, or put a new twist on it that makes people go, Whoa, that's awesome.
00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:33.679
I love that.
00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:48.799
I have and those two pieces, the piece that your mom shared, and then just literally putting new things out into the world and other people having reactions or responses to it as well.
00:10:48.960 --> 00:11:04.320
I think, yeah, I can appreciate both of those, but that you don't have to be an artist to be creative, creativity can be a part of everyday experiences and life, and it's how we how we look at our life and the world through that creative lens.
00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:05.440
100%.
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:11.840
And it's you know, it comes down to just putting aesthetics.
00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:12.960
What is aesthetic?
00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:17.919
It's just things that literally go, Whoa, that's awesome, right?
00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:20.399
Like it, it, there's nothing tangible about it.
00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:40.000
It's it is very a I look at it as a very spiritual thing, as a you know, it's it's just what kind of that it just kind of hits you in your chest, and you go, Whoa, something that moves you, and like and it could be, I mean, there's a great moment for me that's like what was something that was not obvious but highly aesthetic.
00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:48.080
My wife and I were in New York recently, and there was a gentleman who walked on the subway, and he was in a fantastic suit.
00:11:48.399 --> 00:12:10.240
Again, he's he's probably late 20s, early 30s, a good-looking black man, and but just dressed to the nines, great shoe, like the entire suit, pocket square, the bow tie, uh, fedora hat on, everything matching, everything color coordinated, and that was aesthetics, that was creativity.
00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:14.159
That man took time every morning to do that.
00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:21.600
He doesn't need to do that, but he chose to, and I actually went up to him and was like, Sir, your suit is gorgeous.
00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.279
Just curious, how many do you uh do you have of these suits?
00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:27.279
He's like, probably around 18.
00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:32.159
So, this is a man who chooses who who knows what he does.
00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:37.200
He could work in finance or in something, but he was clearly not just a man in a suit.
00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:41.360
This was a man who chose to take the suit and be creative about it.
00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:42.879
I love that.
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:52.320
Yeah, that's where the aspects of like you know, creativity is not just oh, I'm a filmmaker, I'm a painter, you know.
00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:52.879
Right.
00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:55.519
It's not just a title, it's a way of life.
00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:56.399
Exactly.
00:12:56.879 --> 00:13:03.519
A beautiful dinner that a friend puts together and the way they put it present the food, that's creative.
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:04.399
Yeah.
00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:10.799
Well, I feel like we are kindred spirits in this world of creativity.
00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:31.840
Um, but with with filmmaking, with entrepreneurship, with photography, who or what is inspiring you, or where do you draw inspiration for projects and pieces that you are curious about, or I guess I'm curious about there's a great quote.
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:32.720
I forget, I think.
00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:44.399
I mean, there's a sm there's a book on it, and I forget the author's name, but I think this this quote's been around, and lots of people have said versions of this quote, which is good artists borrow, uh, what is it?
00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:48.480
Good artists copy, great artists steal.
00:13:50.320 --> 00:14:05.919
And you know, for me, that's I get inspiration on everything, you know, from every movie I watch, every painting I see, every museum I go to, every song I listen to, uh, just even just traveling, you know.
00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:31.039
I I try to consume as much art and talk to people, and you know, even on social media, being like, wow, you know, look at what they're doing, and you know, try to stay away from any, you know, which you get sucked into all of the uh ridiculous other things on social media, but sure, you know, if you curate your your feeds well enough, it can be unbelievably inspiring.
00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:32.480
Yeah.
00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:46.080
And so, but then also just letting myself, my mind wander and just going, oh, what could, you know, like as a filmmaker, I go, like, okay, well, what's the box I'm in while I have this one location?
00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:51.440
Well, what could take place in what what's what problems could occur here?
00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.759
What characters would come to this location?
00:14:53.919 --> 00:14:56.320
What characters could get stuck in this location?
00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:02.080
And there's a little bit of just allowing yourself to allowing your mind to just wander.
00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:02.720
Yeah.
00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:11.759
But then on the flip side, giving yourself hard targets of like it needs to get done today, and targets breed creativity.
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:20.799
So there's the balance of don't let just like put yourself on a box, force yourself to work, and take away all distractions.
00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:22.240
So it's a balance of all of it.
00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:24.879
Sorry for ranting.
00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:38.559
No, no, you're asking such great questions that I don't typically get because I go on a lot of entrepreneurial and business podcasts, but to be able to talk to another artist is like so lovely.
00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:39.919
I understand.
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:47.120
I love I love all these, and like hearing the where inspiration comes from and how anything can be inspiring.
00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:54.240
I mean, as artists, I think you know, we have peaks and valleys in our creativity.
00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:06.960
When you find yourself in a valley, or maybe you don't find yourself in valleys often where you need a to pause or something feels a little harder than it typically does.
00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:09.360
How do you navigate those moments?
00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:16.000
It's typically, I find myself in valleys is when I get swamped with work for me.
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.879
I get swamped paying the bills, right?
00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:23.279
Building the company, making sure making payroll, you know, all that jazz.
00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:27.200
The the fun entrepreneurial game that I'm got myself into.
00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:27.519
Yeah.
00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:29.679
And I found myself in a creative slump.
00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:43.919
And the only way to get yourself, and this is gonna be the most trite, cliche, annoying response ever, but the only way to get yourself out of a creative slump is to be creative.
00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:48.080
Yeah, you have to literally force it.
00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:52.559
And there's not there's no wait for divine inspiration.
00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:57.200
You have to literally force that shit.
00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:01.840
I don't give you an exact, I'll give you a way that I've applied this.
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:08.559
So year or so ago, uh I was deep in corporate content.
00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:24.400
We were getting a lot of like not even like creative clients, we were getting into very like working with dentists, doctors, lawyers, professional services, which is why is my plastic surgery uh office better than the one next door?
00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:26.559
Well, I can make your boobs even better.
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:29.920
It's like I I can make your nose look even better.
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:33.279
I'm like, there's only so much of about this stuff I can I care about.
00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:38.640
Like this is and it's the same shots, there's the same lighting, it's the same script every single time.
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:42.079
Yeah, and so I just said, screw it.
00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:44.799
And my wife and I, I'm very fortunate.
00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:47.599
My wife's also an artist, she's an actress and a writer.
00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:52.000
And we made 14 short films in four months.
00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:57.519
Oof, wow, and we again forced it.
00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:09.279
We just went go, go, go, go, to the point where in one weekend, we the first weekend we did this, we shot four different short films in one weekend in 48 hours.
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.160
And now, look, all of those are like you know, two minutes long, one to two minutes long.
00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:24.400
So they're not like a 10-page long, short film, but they are four different ideas, four different locations, you know, different actors in every single one.
00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:28.400
And we just did it, you force it, yeah.
00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:32.960
And then, yeah, are they the most brilliant thing ever to be made?
00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:36.960
No, but it led, it got the rust off.
00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:47.200
Creativity is a muscle that needs to be worked the same way, like sports, you have to practice it, yeah, and the more you just do it, the better you get.
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:55.839
Yeah, that's what is the is it my Angelou who says the more you use it, the more you have creativity.
00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:58.160
I I love that quote.
00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:20.880
Yeah, I think that's I appreciate that the forcing it or the creativity has to find you creating, even if it's in your eyes shit or not good, or we just have to allow a creative moment to happen and be expressed in whatever way that is.
00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:33.039
One of the things my my dad, when he does lectures or seminars on this, when they're like, What if you're in a um creative slump, but I'm looking at the word like uh burnout?
00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:37.200
Burnout, that's not particularly burnout, but um like looking for inspiration.
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:40.319
There's a word for this, but I'm blanking on it right now.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:43.839
Um right, and you're like, you don't know what to write.
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.160
What one of the things he does, it is one of one of two things.
00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:53.680
One is there's a piano inside the house, not in his studio, and he'll just play again.
00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:56.880
Just just play anything, yeah, and just go, okay, great.
00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:59.039
Oh, that sounds good, but he'll change locations.
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:01.839
That's so that's the point is change locations.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:07.359
If you're typically right in a you know, in your house, go to a coffee shop and write, right?
00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:08.640
Just change locations.
00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:19.039
If you paint typically in, you know, inside, just go to your go to a backyard, go go to the beach, go to go to the mountains, go in the middle of the street somewhere and paint.
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:20.400
Yeah.
00:20:20.720 --> 00:20:33.759
Then the other thing he does, again, just to give you use it to to inspire you, is he'll turn off, he'll click record on his on his program and but turn off the volume and just play.
00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:49.440
Hit the keys randomly, play anything, random chords, not even knowing what he's playing, not listening to it for a couple minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, however long, and then turns the volume up and plays it back and sits back and just goes, okay.
00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:56.160
And then eventually there might be a part where he goes, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, wait, that right there.
00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:01.440
I'm gonna build this off of that moment at minute, you know, seven.
00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:03.279
Seven minutes and 32 seconds.
00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.640
There was that chord change that was really beautiful there.
00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:08.000
I'm gonna use that.
00:21:09.839 --> 00:21:13.519
And then deletes everything else and starts writing from there.
00:21:14.640 --> 00:21:23.440
I really force it, yeah, whatever that means to you, but it's basically the simplicity is go make your art.
00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:25.680
Yeah, go do the thing.
00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:30.079
Or yeah, I um it's not gonna be good to start with, fine.
00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:32.640
Right, you don't have to release it, right?
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.559
But you have permission to suck.
00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:36.640
You give yourself permission to suck.
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:44.880
Yeah, which I I ironically, literally, I just released an episode like two weeks ago or something like that on my podcast.
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:47.599
Literally titled Be Willing to Suck.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:49.440
Talking about this exact thing.
00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:50.640
Be willing to suck.
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:56.240
I love it, it's so important, and and that it's okay to be a beginner and make bad art.
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:57.359
It doesn't have to go.
00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:58.400
I'm talking about this.
00:21:58.480 --> 00:22:02.480
Is somebody like from my Father, who's been doing this for close to 50 years.
00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:03.039
Yeah.
00:22:03.200 --> 00:22:03.519
Yeah.
00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:10.880
I hate to be pretentious, but you know, this is somebody who's won awards and like is yeah, one of the top in his fields.
00:22:11.839 --> 00:22:13.440
Everybody goes through this.
00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:14.160
Right.
00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:14.559
Yeah.
00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.400
So everybody does this.
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.279
You are not special because you're just starting out.
00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:19.839
Right.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:20.240
Right.
00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:20.400
Right.
00:22:21.039 --> 00:22:21.920
Top of the top.
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:22.799
Go through this.
00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.039
Still, still experiences this.
00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:25.599
Yeah.
00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:41.200
And and the beauty of they have a few more years under their belt of knowing, okay, I just I gotta do this in this way to get back in my groove or get back into that inspiration space.
00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.079
Yeah.
00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:46.480
It's it's nice to know we're not alone.
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:48.480
Very much not.
00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:49.920
Very, very much not.
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.000
For sure, for sure.
00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:09.759
Well, when you know, if people are starting in any of the industries that you find yourself in filmmaking, photography, entrepreneur, content creation, what are the things you wish you had heard when you first started?
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:12.880
Make more art.
00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:27.359
Just like the the amount of art you need to make and practice and practice is beyond anything you can comprehend.
00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:29.759
Like it's a lot more work.
00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:41.519
And the only way to get good is to practice and be willing to suck and do as many jobs for free as you're gonna feel like you're gonna get taken advantage of.
00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:47.839
But every everything you do for free, every art you just make and you invest, you're going to get better.
00:23:48.559 --> 00:24:13.359
And to me, it's really apparent when I cast uh actors for my films, and I see hundreds of auditions, and you really see the talented versus not talented actors, and it just and there's the only reason is because of practice, and yeah, you might be even worse than the majority.
00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:33.039
The only way to get better is to get better through practice, and I know the amount of work I've lost because I'm not good enough, and it only comes down to just being good, and so you always have to be learning.
00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:39.839
And if you're at, you know, if you're getting figuring out how you get paid to practice, and it's not something you particularly love, right?
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:48.400
But you need to be learning every with every job, every time you do your art, you need to learn something new.
00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:51.920
And you need to, and it and it's a lot of confront.
00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:58.640
And if you go through the tears, the anger, the whatever emotion you go through, fine.
00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:10.079
Yeah, but you just have like the volume that is needed is so high more than ever, because the barrier to entry now is so low.
00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:15.519
It has never been easier to be an artist and to make a living as an artist.
00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.920
It has never been easier, yeah.
00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:21.440
That means the competition has never been higher.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:22.400
Right.
00:25:22.799 --> 00:25:23.440
Right.
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:39.920
But I mean that to be inspiring in the sense that so you know, I give when I give a lecture or seminar to a group of artists, the first one of the first things I ask is how often is everybody here working on their art?
00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:44.160
And that could be literally doing anything on their craft.
00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:48.880
And I go, at least once a year, everyone raises their hands.
00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:53.359
And then I go once a month, you start seeing some hands drop.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:57.680
And then go once a week, seeing a lot of hands drop.
00:25:57.759 --> 00:25:58.000
Yeah.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:02.480
And I go every multiple times a week, more hands are dropping.
00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:04.960
Every day, multiple hands are dropping.
00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:08.720
More than an hour a day, more hands are dropping.
00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:09.359
Right.
00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:25.359
And it really goes to show it's like if this is something you want to do as a career, if you want to do it as a hobby, if you want to like, I just love painting or I just love playing music, and I want to be able to like show off, you know, I want to be that guy at the bonfire who can play guitar and like be like, oh, cool.
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:26.559
Hey, can you play this song?
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:37.200
Yeah, you know, or I want to take photos of my kids, or I want to just like, you know, when I go out travel, I want to photograph birds or landscapes, and you just want to do it for fun, great.
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:41.200
But I'm talking to the artists who want to make a living doing their craft.
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:41.680
Yeah.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:49.519
If you want to make a living doing your craft, you have to treat it like a job first.
00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:52.319
And what is that?
00:26:52.480 --> 00:26:53.839
It's eight hours a day.
00:26:54.000 --> 00:27:00.240
Now you might not have eight hours a day, but the more hours you put into it, eventually it will become a job.
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:00.880
Mm-hmm.
00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:01.599
Mm-hmm.
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:02.799
Yeah.
00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:03.519
Yeah.
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:05.599
And you know, sorry to go on these rants.
00:27:05.839 --> 00:27:06.880
No, these are not ranging.
00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:10.960
We're talking about like the thing that I am arguably the most passionate about in my life.
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:14.480
Like this is the thing I love.
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.279
Like, screw all business.
00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:22.720
Like, I'd love to help upcoming artists because I'm yeah.
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:34.960
So I love that you have this podcast to talk to, you know, four artists because it's this is the the topics that don't get talked about in art, which is like, what does it take to actually make it?
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:35.599
Right.
00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:36.160
Yeah.
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:40.799
And how do we overcome the challenges that we face?
00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:42.000
Because we all face them.
00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:46.319
And how do we find inspiration when we are feeling uninspired?
00:27:46.480 --> 00:28:09.680
And how do we, you know, all of those pieces are the things that I love to talk to people around the world about because it's so different and in varying industries, because that every time I hear someone who's a lawyer or a doctor or someone talking about the creativity that shows up in their industry, I'm like, oh, amazing.
00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:19.359
I can take bits and pieces of that and bring it into my own life and try try on some of those creative ideas or moments.
00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:22.880
So what has been in the six years you've been doing this podcast?
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:34.480
What's been the one or two, or you know, what's the one advice or tidbit of information that has stuck with you the most?
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:48.079
Who I don't know about like the there are so many little nuggets of inspiration or advice or things that I remember.
00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:55.519
Um I was speaking to uh, he's a, I believe an Ayurvedic doctor and naturopath.
00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:15.200
Um and he really spoke about growing up in India and experiencing um kind of neurodivergence and ADHD in a time and culture that wasn't attuned to it.
00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:27.599
And his journey of feeling like he was he there was a storm and chaos surrounding him, and he found the eye of the storm where the stillness was.
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:40.240
And so I feel like there was just such a translation in creativity when we find ourselves in the pocket, in flow, in alignment, whatever you want to call it.
00:29:40.480 --> 00:29:43.359
And that really stuck with me.
00:29:43.759 --> 00:30:01.200
That was one, and then recently um I was speaking to a dancer, Alexandra Beller, and she and I had a conversation around the distinction between being a witness of art and being an audience of art, and how how those two are very different.
00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:13.119
Oftentimes we confuse them, and oftentimes, you know, what people are producing as art doesn't need an audience, it needs a witness, and vice versa.
00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:18.079
So I think those recently are the two pieces that are standing out.
00:30:18.240 --> 00:30:24.000
But there are, I mean, there are over 300 episodes of people that I've talked to.
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:27.759
So yeah, no, I wanted to know what you know comes to mind right now.
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:28.319
Yeah.
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:30.160
So those are the pieces.
00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:31.519
Thank you for asking.
00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:36.720
I appreciate getting to talk about creativity and all of these things.
00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:38.480
I have one last question for you.
00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:39.200
Shoot.
00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:42.319
What does it feel like in your body to be creative?
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.960
I mean, every emotion in the world.
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:57.119
Uh, you know, you're going through it, you can have because it it it depends on honestly the degree of practice.
00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:58.400
It's changed over the years.
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:04.000
I remember the first um my big senior thesis film in college.
00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:09.519
This was now Lord over a decade ago.
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:19.839
And I went to school about an hour and a half away from my house, and I drove home crying the the night before the shoot.
00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:25.759
Freaked out, feeling not ready, not prepared.
00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:46.079
It's the biggest project I've ever undertaken to uh and I I didn't and so sure, you know, but you know, there are definitely and there's still today shoots that I walk on to that I'm like, okay.
00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:52.799
And you know, uh but while you're in it, you're just like, great, this is this is it.
00:31:52.960 --> 00:32:03.200
The so the more prepared you are, and I notice it's just the more prepared I am, the more relaxed I am, the more practice I've done, the the the the more confident I am.
00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:18.640
And so prep and practice is seen as a chore, but you know, it makes you the most relaxed for when it happens.
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:24.880
Filmmaking is all done in prep, in my opinion, and art is all done in the prep.
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:37.920
You know, if you take talk talk about a musician, you know, goes live on a show, like you get that hive from the show, but if you're not prepared, it's gonna it's gonna be awful, you know.
00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:43.920
Like if you don't you haven't done the work, and so and it's doing the work, yeah.
00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:55.920
You'll have every emotion, you'll have anger, grief, despair, boredom, enthusiasm, exhilaration, fine, those are just emotions, yeah.
00:32:56.640 --> 00:32:57.359
My opinion.
00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:11.119
So work through them the best you can, and then uh, but once when you're actually doing the art, there's a um there's a focus of just like you're locked in.
00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:18.960
It's not even a serenity, it's it's a it's a focus of like, ooh, we're going, we're going, we're moving.
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:26.000
And uh you gotta fight through all the the other weird shit to get there.
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.079
Yeah, it's so true.
00:33:28.240 --> 00:33:30.160
I appreciate all of those pieces.
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:32.799
Thank you so much for taking the time to join me.
00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:38.480
If people want to learn more about the work you do have out in the world, how could they go about doing that?
00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:42.240
Uh, well, this is gonna be the most pretentious answer in the world.
00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:43.119
Just Google me.
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:52.000
But because I unfortunately I have so many social media channels, but uh the filmmaking stuff is under Jake Directed This on pretty much all channels.
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:55.759
Uh, if you want to see my photography, it's Jake Captured This.
00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:56.480
Uh-huh.
00:33:56.720 --> 00:33:58.079
There's a little theme there.
00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:01.680
Um, otherwise, my marketing company is called Creative Minds.
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:13.599
Uh, the website is Creative Minds Official, but uh you can follow me and uh on and you can message me or follow me on any of the channels that uh kind of fit your fancy.
00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:14.159
Perfect.
00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:17.440
Well, I will put links in show notes so people have really easy access.
00:34:17.519 --> 00:34:20.559
And thank you so much for taking the time to join me.
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:23.760
This has been such a fantastic conversation.
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:25.440
Thank you so much for having me.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:27.119
I love this podcast.
00:34:36.719 --> 00:34:39.760
Thanks for listening to the Sustaining Creativity Podcast.
00:34:39.920 --> 00:34:43.599
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00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:46.159
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00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:49.840
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00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:52.960
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00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:56.719
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00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:03.599
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00:35:03.840 --> 00:35:06.239
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00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:09.679
And remember, with creativity, anything is possible.
