MY CREATIVE PROCESS

My brain is very similar to a popcorn popper. Ideas fly all over the place. 

Ooh…that’s a good doc idea. Hey…maybe a reality show about them. Wow…they should make a podcast about that. Maybe I should start making pottery? 

It’s chaos in my noggin. Absolute chaos. I have to tame down the noise to start working. So how do I do that? What is my process? 

First off, I have to TURN OFF THE DAMN RADIO IN MY HEAD. It’s not easy. I take a beat and channel one of my heroes. 

Winnie the Pooh. 

Think. Think. Think.

Pooh always takes a moment to stop, sit, and think. It’s a great approach to stop the chaos and focus on one thing. Be like Pooh.

Next, what do I want to focus on? I analyze what is essential, what can wait, and what can be ignored. 

I think about what my clients might be looking for. Is true crime still hot? What about a process show? What programs or social media trends are making waves? This helps me hone in on one or two particular ideas. 

I’ve narrowed it down to a few ideas, but they’re just that. Ideas that are the start of something bigger. I dig deeper, learning as much as possible about the topic. Did the crime have a lot of twists and turns? What are these characters really like, day in and day out? Is there a story arc I can create from this idea? 

I jokingly call this Beautiful Mind-ing it. (Or Charlie from It’s Always Sunny) Remember the scene where he’s got notes all over the wall and a string connecting them, creating this complicated web of information? That’s what I do….sometimes on paper, a dry-erase board, or post-its. Other times, I sort it in my brain.

Then I step back. What do I have here? 

Sometimes, I’ve got nothing. Zip. Bupkis. Other times, it’s right in front of me. I see it clearly. But most of the time, there might be bits of a bigger something, but it’s not coming together. 

Think of it as having all the ingredients for some chocolate chip muffins but not having the chocolate. Sure, you can technically make muffins, but what’s the point? You got to have the chips, dammit!

What are those metaphorical chips, you ask? For me, it’s things like access, an additional contributor, a missing hook, or even a celebrity who might bring something extra to the table. Those things can be the difference between a success and an idea that fails to launch. I weigh all of those elements. 

Now I have to make a decision. Is this idea worth pursuing? Is this recipe good enough to go get all the ingredients? Do I have the time and resources to make this the best pitch possible? 

Often, I drop the idea. My gut tells me I don’t have all the pieces/time/willpower to make it the best it can be. 

This process reminds me of painters with canvases stacked up in the corner…..art pieces that just aren’t good enough. I have that tenfold: ideas that started out promising but died because they didn’t make the cut.

When I have a worthwhile idea, I go all in. 

I start breaking down what I need to make it come alive. I continue to research, talk to friends and collaborators, get their thoughts, and outline the story. I identify the moments that will engage the audience, aka beat points. I play the whole idea out in my head, filling in gaps if they appear. 

Back to our muffin. Okay, I have all the ingredients, including the chocolate chips. But I want to make this unique. It can’t just be any chocolate chip muffin. What will make it MY PASTRY? Perhaps it’s a dash of cardamom, a sugar drip, or cupcake icing that resembles Jayson Werth. How do I make my concept unique?

Let me give you an example. I developed a show for Nat Geo Wild called Super Squirrel. It was a fun natural history program about how remarkably adaptable, agile, and intelligent these tiny rodents were. We knew the audience would want to see the squirrels in action. Many examples had been filmed of them running, jumping, climbing, and even flying. So, how did we make it different?

This is where Brian Armstong and I had fun. 

We created two tests. Number 1: how far can a squirrel fly?  (They don’t fly–it’s more like hang gliding.) We connected with a local sanctuary. Instead of doing it in a forest or lab, we brought the squirrel to a football field. Here, with yard lines marked out, viewers could see how far these suckers could soar against a backdrop that clearly illustrated distances in an environment viewers were familiar with. It was a fun and unique way to illustrate a fact. 

Number 2: how do we show how agile they are? We constructed a squirrel obstacle course. You can find these all over the internet, where squirrel lovers build a rodent-sized American Ninja Warrior course. It’s fun; the squirrels get fed, fans get to watch. Win-win! But we wanted to add something extra to the mix. We rang up the Washington Nationals and asked if their radio team could do the “play-by-play” of the action. It resulted in a hysterically funny and still informative scene, filled with baseball analogies, professional commentary, and squirrels being awesome. 

Take a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR4JYGUdbWE&t=8s.

These elements are the cardamom and the glaze drizzle on the muffin. It’s a little creative touch that makes the project feel unique. It could be a narrator, clever animation, the way you tell the narrative, a celebrity, or all of the above. When I create a concept, I want it to feel special, even in the tiniest of ways.

Once I find that special something, I start pulling it all together. 

I lay out the narrative, key elements, selling points, and why viewers will enjoy it. It may be a pitch deck designed to reflect the project's tone. It could be a sample reel, luring people to the idea like the best movie trailers do. Sometimes, it could be me pitching my idea. As you’ve probably guessed, I use a lot of analogies when I pitch.

Hurrah! The concept is done. The finish line is in sight. Okay, not really. 

I work in an industry where if I sell 3 out of 10 concepts, I’m the Shohei Ohtani of non-fiction television. The reality is more like 1 out of 10. It’s just how the game is played. And if I do sell the idea, I have to produce it. That in itself is a whole other creative process with a team of people who have skills across the board: budgeting, scheduling, shooting, editing, researching, designing, directing, logging, and much, much more. 

I must keep creating, knowing the odds are not in my favor. So I take this process, and start again. An idea I put on the back burner will now get attention. Perhaps another nugget feels much more urgent because something on social media is creating a trend. Or an old idea suddenly has life but needs some polish. 

You keep making the muffins. (I had to say it….)