Robert Rodriguez: recommendation

Transcript context

…I would just suggest to anybody, is just own it. Own it and just say… Like when I do so many different jobs, it sounds crazy when they would introduce me, “Hey, Robert Rodriguez, he does this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” And I was like, I get tired just hearing that list. But when I think about it, there’s really only one thing I do and I live a creative life. And when you live a creative life, that means anything that has to do with creativity, whether it’s filming or piano or guitar or sculpting, you can do it. You can take it on and do it because it teaches you more about your main job. I become a better director by doing all those jobs. Because when somebody just does one job, they barely know that job. You have to do more to learn about creativity. And this is the main thing I learned was that I’m writing music for an orchestra. I’m like, “I don’t even know what I’m doing. Why is that coming out?” I don’t feel like I’m doing it. I feel like I picked up the pen. I feel like I had the idea to do the cards, but then when everything just starts coming out so quickly, like that’s how fast I wrote that movie. I go, I really feel like something else has taken over. So this is what my belief is, because I hear it in different realms. You ask Keith Richards, “How do you come up with these riffs?” He goes, “I don’t. I don’t. They’re floating around the sky and I pull them out first.” You ask asked Jimmie Vaughan, “How do you play guitar, those solos?” He goes, “It’s like a radio. Once you get a tune just right, you can’t even believe what’s coming through.” So I believe, I call it the creative spirit. There’s a spirit assigned to all of us that’s creative, that doesn’t have hands. It needs you to pick up the pen, pull out the cards, and then when you start getting in the flow and you’re like, “Whoa,” it’s writing. That’s that. And if you can have that mindset, you take your ego out of it and go, “All I need to do is be a good conduit for this thing. Be a good pipe and it’s going to come through.” So you don’t ever have to get hung up on that question you had. Well, what happens when you can’t come up… It wasn’t me to begin with. If it’s not coming out, it’s because I’m blocking it and if I were to do this and I’m flowing, and if I were to say, “Wow, I just wrote 10 cards. I don’t know if I can write more. How did I do that?” You just shut the pipe because your ego got in the way. You just clogged it because it gets pissed off that you think it’s you. st wrote 10 cards. I don’t know if I can write more. How did I do that?” You just shut the pipe because your ego got in the way. You just clogged it because it gets pissed off that you think it’s you. It’s not you. It’s like, “Dude, just open up. Let me through, pick up the fucking pen.” And I learned this when I was 19, when I had a daily cartoon strip. I had to draw a comic strip every day to get paid. And I would be like, I’d have to draw one drawing and draw another drawing. Then it’s like, okay, these kind of go together. It was a process, and sometimes I just felt like I wish I could just envision it, sit back. I’m going to try that method. I went home and I would sit back and just try to get in sofa, try the sofa method. I’m just going to try to picture the comic strip, and as soon as I got on that thing that’s funny, then I’ll just go draw that, right? Be done in a half hour. Why waste three hours? I’d sit there and sit there and sit there. My deadline would be coming up, got like 30 minutes. I’m like, “Oh, shit.” Got to go sit and draw it out. And it’s like, “Oh, okay, I got this drawing. Oh, this kind of goes with that. If I make another drawing, I have my strip.” That’s the only way to do it. If you don’t get up, the creative spirit, ain’t going to come visit you if you’re doing this. It needs your hands and it’s not going to fucking reward you for sitting there, waiting for… You have to jump in and do it. And people, when they say, “Oh, well, I’m not ready,” how pissed off is that spirit now? It’s waiting for you to feel like you’re ready. It’s not you. Just start doing the action and it’s going to come through and the ideas will come and the answers will come because it’s not you. And if you can take your ego out of life, you’ll be blessed with this never ending flow of ideas because don’t take ownership for it and know that if it’s not coming out, it’s because you’re just clogging it because this thing’s got endless ideas. And you give that same advice for making films, which is don’t plan. If you want to be a filmmaker, don’t plan the movie. Don’t think about making the movie. Just go in and start.…

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