Last evening, I encountered this golden nugget of a twitter thread by Christopher McQuarrie (yes, that Christopher McQuarrie.) In the thread, he answers the question of how to become a successful writer in Hollywood by saying that there aren’t any shortcuts: you have to do the work. Keep making stuff and show it to the world; have a portfolio of done and complete things that fully represents you. McQuarrie calls the act of pitching scripts to producers and various gatekeepers as “playing the lottery”, and it’s not advisable to have that as your sole focus. Clever metaphor, because I’m sure we all understand the futile odds of playing the lottery.
The director’s sound advice reminded of Charlie Munger (yes, that Charlie Munger) answering the question of how to become as accomplished as him by playfully scorning the questioner that he simply wanted Munger’s success, but far quicker - essentially asking for shortcuts. McQuarrie alluded to the same idea in one of his tweets, stating people are tacitly asking “What is the shortest route to [McQuarrie’s] career?" Indeed; to quote the great Jocko Willink: There is no shortcut. There is no hack. There's only one way. So get after it.
We should be happy to do the work anyways, because it’s what we love to do, right? Even if the end product leads nowhere and it pays nothing, the satisfaction of having created something is what really matters. That’s exactly what passion is about. The people asking for McQuarrie’s advice are looking at it from the monetary perspective, which the director cautions is the wrong lens to look from. The tools are out there - more than ever - for us to do the work and produce stuff, and if you’re truly serious about your particular craft, just go ahead and do it, without permission, and without thinking of some advancement endgame.
You have to ]detach from the results, and simply make the art for art’s sake. Produce or participate, then iterate and improve, and most importantly, put you and your work out there into the ether. The Internet has democratize and flatten many of the hierarchies and barriers that are no longer there, so there’s no excuse. It’s the reason this website of mine exist, and I shall continue to put out stuff, because it’s what I’m passionate about.
Thank you for coming to McQuarrie’s TED Talk.
Today is a good day.