Enter and wait

Some clues into the mechanics of our creative experiences

We were afraid. Sixty feet tall chariots towered above us. In front was a surging crowd.

We were in Madurai to shoot the Chithirai Festival for an upcoming TV series for NGC. After shooting from the safety of a vantage point, we were hoping the series host could join the chariot procession and pull the ropes along with devotees. But to get to that point, we had to wade through a volatile crowd of onlookers, request the police to allow us to get close to the chariot, and hope the devotees would allow an outsider to pull the ropes along with them.

Five minutes after we entered the churning crowd, the director asked the host to pull out. The host didn’t hear the director and kept walking on. Now, we had no choice. We had to follow, hoping for the best.

People made way as we went deeper. It took some convincing, but the police let us through. And the devotees pulling the chariot welcomed our host with open, if sweaty, arms.

What followed were moments of pure television magic.

~

That’s the funny thing about creativity. You’re afraid like your life depends on it. There are roadblocks and little guarantee that things will work.

But as I reflected on my experience after the day’s shoot, sipping a hot cup of sweet filter coffee, I realised that as creators, our task isn’t to write, paint, or perform a viral hit. Our task is to place ourselves in situations where the writing, painting, or performing can happen.

As filmmaker Robert Rodriguez puts it in a podcast with Tim Ferris: “Just get out of your own way. You’re just opening up the pipe and the creativity flows through. And as soon as your ego gets in the way, and you go, I don’t know if I know what to do next; you’ve already put “I” in front of it and you’ve already blocked it a little bit. … It was never you. The best you can be is just to get out of the way so it comes through.

So when an actor comes to me or a crew member and he goes, I'm not sure I know how to play this part. I go, that’s beautiful because the other half’s gonna show up when we’re there.”

And this takes a big load off the creator, isn’t it? All we do is show up and enter the space – a physical space or simply a mental stance – where creativity might happen. We enter and wait for the magic to unfold.