Filmmaker, TV network founder and CEO, cartoonist, composer, photographer and marketer Robert Rodriguez lives the creative life every minute of every day, not just from 9 to 5.

“You have to be creative all the time, when you are in the shower, when you are driving, when you are leaving yourself notes on your phone,” he told The Conference 2014 in New York City on Wednesday.

That’s easy for Rodriguez to say. He’s been making movies since he was a kid. In fact, his teachers enjoyed his short films so much they let him turn those in instead of papers. And he was so committed to his craft that he checked himself into a research facility for a month to become a human tester of Lipitor in order to raise $5,000 to make his first film, El Mariachi, starring Carlos Gallardo.

That film went on to win the Audience Award at Sundance and was the lowest budget film ever to be distributed by a major studio.

The experience he gained from forging that path has stuck with him ever since. Creatives who aspire to fearlessly live their craft can learn a few things from Rodriguez.

 Write and create from your own identity.

When Rodriguez made “Spy Kids,” he said he “didn’t think twice about making the family Hispanic, like his own. “The studio said to me, ‘No one has ever done this. Why are you making the family Hispanic?’ They weren’t being jerks, they just didn’t know. I told them, ‘You don’t have to be British to enjoy watching James Bond.’ That answered their objection.”

“That’s been my calling. I make movies to inspire not just young filmmakers but anyone who feels like they don’t have a voice. And if you can’t get into the system that exists, create your own system. It’s that difficult but it’s also that easy.”

 Make creativity your one thing.

“There’s this book out called ‘The One Thing.’ That doesn’t fit me very well. But the one thing I do is live a creative life. When you subscribe to living a creative life, you give yourself permission to do anything. How is it that I’m able to write music when I was not taught that, or use a camera when I was not taught that either?

“If you ask a room full of kindergartners, ‘who can direct a movie?’ or ‘who can compose a symphony?’ they will all raise their hands. Ask them ten years later, and very few hands will go up. I always try to keep that childlike innocence and naiveté.

“If you know how to be creative, you’ve got 90% of that job licked. If you apply your creativity to it, you’ll do it in a way that no one else will. I am happiest and most fulfilled when I am being creative.”

 Create with what you have, not with what you think you need.

“When I started, I had access to so few things. I had a friend who wanted to be an actor and had a ranch in Mexico, so I said, ‘let’s shoot there, that’s our environment.’ There was a bar nearby, so the main characters met in a bar. He had a pit bull as a pet, so my leading man had a pit bull as a pet.

“When you want to do something creative you have to reduce your list of ‘I need’ to very little. The more you need the further away you get from your dream.

“Every movie I’ve always done for less and less money. Filmmakers’ most exciting experience is when they talk about their first film. I love that feeling of that energy when you making something with nothing. I want that on every movie.”

 You have to invite creativity to the party.

“If I’ve got an idea or I’ve got a camera, I’m like, ‘let’s just go.’ When you engage in the creative process, you are rewarded for doing so. The creative spirit will not visit you if you sit on your ass.”

Image courtesy of John Minchillo/AP

Tags:


  Save as PDF