To kick this thing off i thought i should cover the first topic any new company will come up against (once they've designed their website and come up with sweet posters, obviously). Why am i doing this at all?
It seems to be a fairly mundane question, but so few people actually ask it at the right time. Those of you who are wondering now whether it is worth being in a theatre company, or writing that one act solo show, in this current economic climate will be asking this question fairly regularly. Those of you who are unsure as to where your work should be exhibiting will probably be thinking about it a couple of times a month. Those of you, like us, who are writing and performing work constantly just because we love doing it will probably never ask yourself that question. Probably.
We considered it for about five minutes a couple of years ago and came up with an answer that satisfied us enough that we didn't need to ever ask it again. We decided that we were doing this (this being writing and performing as The Skeleton Project) because everything else sucks in comparison.
Let me qualify that by saying that we are not even at a point where we consider ourselves at the top of our game. We do not think that we are the best at anything, nor do we believe that we have even hit our stride yet. But we do believe that working anywhere else, for anyone else, doing anything else is completely out of the question, as far as careers go at least.
A piece of wisdom that i always find myself passing on, whether i want to or not, is something i heard from a woman i cant remember the name of. She said "Don't do something because you can...do it because you can't not do it."
I was always inspired by this, and the people i have passed it onto were, in turn, less impressed than i was. But i still stand by it. It doesn't matter whether you are raking in the cash or living as a pauper. Something as demanding as writing, performing, painting, photographing, documenting or re-presentation of any sort requires that you be invested 100% in it's process. There is no point only half doing it, getting bored after a couple of years, and regretting all those hours you spent designing a logo.
Short version is this. If you wake up in the morning and want to write then you are a writer. Write with all your heart and make as much out of it as you can. If you wake up and want to take pictures then go and do it. Do it as best as you can. If you wake up and want to make a lot of money, there are much easier, quicker ways to do that. Stock investment for example.
Not that art has no money in it. But it is an exchange. You must love what you are doing, and be willing to do it for free (because you will be doing a lot of it for free as you start.) But you will be repaid for your work eventually. Scripts and ideas must keep you satisfied, because that is where you need to be thriving. Once the tours and the international speaking engagements start flooding in you will have the money to make it your primary means of living.
Do it for love. Not for money. That's basically it.
