Why Playing It Safe Can Be the Biggest Gamble in Film, TV, and Theatre In entertainment, risk is usually framed in financial terms, rarely in creative ones. Real risk is when a filmmaker bets on themselves and a vision almost no one else believes in, or comes up with something unique against time and money constraints—like George Lucas with Star Wars , or the Fargo TV team leaning into a single gunshot sequence that defied TV convention. (see it below) Safe choices can feel responsible,...

Why you should stop trying to please everyone - and start writing and creating for one Around many executive meetings for film and TV there are usually thoughts and conversations about how to broaden the audience for a project, in order to maximise revenue. Appeal to a wider audience and you should be more profitable. This can backfire when we start out developing our projects. Getting clear on clarity of our audience, which is 1 and 1 (explained below) improves storytelling across film, TV...

How to learn from the New Years Goal Setting and Quitting cycle New Year is a moment of reflection—and often, resolve. “This year will be different.” Cue the New Year’s resolution: Next year, I will finally do X. X might be a goal around fitness, health, career, relationships—or something bigger. Creatives do this too. Not only in January, but at any point in the year, there’s a moment when we decide: I’m going to write that script. Produce that project. Start on that new direction in my...