A few weeks ago, I referenced a podcast episode where Nils Leonard outlined his take on what drives creative people.
One of the things he said was:
“All we really have as creatives is a way of seeing the world,”
- Nils Leonard
It’s gotten me thinking about a creative’s ‘vision’: the way they can picture an idea before it exists, and set out to bring it into reality. This is what I think he’s referring to, and in a way, it is all that sets the creative apart from anyone else.
I’d heard Quentin Tarantino speak elsewhere about ‘vision’, based on advice he had gotten early in his career from Terry Gilliam… advice that he refers to as ‘some of the best advice I was ever given’. At the time, he hadn’t yet made a single film. He had the script for Resevoir Dogs written, but was afraid that he might not have the skills to bring it to life.
Here’s what Gilliam told him:
“He said, well Quentin, you don’t really have to conjure up your vision. You just need to know what your vision IS. And then you hire really talented people, and it’s THEIR JOB to create your vision.
You don’t need to know how to grab the light stands and create this kind of lighting effect…
[…] you just need to understand your vision and how to articulate it,”
- Quentin Tarantino
