Do you know how many times I started, threw out and then restarted this post?
Countless.
Ridiculous.
Just, too many times.
So instead, let me tell you a story and share with you a letter I scrawled to Liana to thank her for suggesting this documentary to us with the words, “This will be so relevant to the work you guys are doing”. The reason for the rewrites? PressPausePlay, a documentary made by Stockholm based creative agency House of Radon made me question my own work. Not what I write, but what I do with it and how I do it. My mind was a mirror of what was said in the doco, “equal parts excitement and being sh*t scared”. The digital revolution this documentary speaks about has changed the face of the game and put the power back into the hands of the creator. Want to be a writer? Do it. Want to make music? Don’t wait to get signed, make it, put it out there yourself. The platforms to make and put stuff out to the world exist and so as Seth Godin says, “The industry is dead“. As we know it Seth, yes I would say it is.

Here’s the letter I scrawled….

Liana,
Permission. It’s something I’ve always felt I could live without. I like to think I live by the philosophy that sometimes its easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. (I hear my highschool teachers tutting….)  Sorry ladies, I apologise because now even this way of thinking is old.
After watching PressPausePlay I realised that, not only is permission to do/make the work you want to make not needed, as for asking for that forgiveness? This digital age means that a whole other world of options are available to creative people. Now they can say, “Ask for permission? Ask for forgiveness? Why? We’ve got stuff to do! How about I ask you for nothing?” Which is exactly what the doco makers House of Radon have done! Here is this doco for you, FREE.
And so, my world was rocked.
Amazing! Exciting! What does this mean for our work? What happens to the quality of work made when everyone’s a photographer, a dj etc.? Thankyou for sending this to us and further cementing the importance of creative cross-pollination and collaboration.
Questions, questions, questions….I wanna know what you think. Let’s talk. Facebook!

Here is the documentary – PressPausePlay. Watch it, retweet, repost, email, snail mail, send smoke signals if you please! But do share it with at least one other creative person you know and join our conversation on facebook.

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