My Creative Process
(Both for my Theatre work and Media work)
Inspiration + People= Process
My creative process is really simple. I believe that when you take an idea and bring the right people together to make it come to life, then the magic happens. That magic just happens to be called collaboration.
Process for Theatre & Playwrighting
I journal a lot, although it‘s more often for the shows I write than for myself. I try to keep every note, idea, even character point of view, in a brown leather notebook. I like to think that through my writing habits there is a method to my madness, but I find that keeping my thoughts in one place provides a roadmap to go and fall back on. This especially helps when I have more than one show in my head. I also am constantly listening to music, and just sitting at a piano. Though I’m not an expert by any means, plucking out a motive or sound connects me to a character or to what they might be feeling. Music has made a lot of what I do possible and is a huge part of my process as a writer.
Writing can be an isolating process initially, and I have a love-hate relationship with that part. Because theatre is such a collaborative medium, it gets the writer out from their computer and becomes part of the process of developing their work. Table reads and workshops are honestly thrilling, because the piece gets on its feet. I have found that I get so many good ideas from collaborators in the room.
There is nothing more meaningful to me than the bond between collaborators.
I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the people who’ve helped me along the way. Collaboration is a huge part of my creative process. That wouldn’t be possible without other people.
Collaboration is my favorite part of being creative. I love bouncing ideas off of others. I first learned the meaning of collaboration through theatre. In the theatre, it isn’t a one-person show, even though those exist, there are several people behind the scenes running the show. In the digital and design world, the same principles apply. It’s not one person’s idea that trumps everyone else’s idea. Usually, it’s the idea that is made up of several ideas that usually ends up being the final idea. At least in an ideal world, it should work like that. As a creative, I strive for that level of collaboration.
If you are here to look at my theatre work, please click the button labeled Writing Portfolio. If you are here to look at my media work, please click Media Portfolio.
Process for Media Creation
Idea
The photo above is the notes that came out of the meeting with the Creative Director. This project was originally intended to be a Kickstarter.
The inspiration I drew heavily from was the highlands of Scotland. The greenery and the moss felt like they matched the design and tone of the product. This product is an accessory people can use when playing role-playing games. Most of them are based in the high fantasy genre. We liked that texture and ran with the idea.
Storyboards|Moodboards
I love to storyboard when coming up with video ideas and concepts. It helps me communicate what I see in my head.
So thinking and drawing visually what I see and then matching it up with words is an important part of my process.
After ideating the feel of the camera movement, the storyboard got approved by the Creative Director, and we shot it weeks later.
Final Product
We set up our own set. All the moss and plants were alive except for the background. We printed a background that matched the tone of the greenery in the front. We lit the video and the photos mimicked the lighting in the background we printed.
All that made it feel like it blended well.
Cinematographer: John Mcclean
Theatre Design
AMERICAN LIVES THEATRE
Working with ALT is/was one of the best collaborative experiences I’ve had so far in my career. I offered my services pro bono for the first show because they were a brand new company, and I also didn’t want to come off as chauvinistic with what I had to offer as far as services. The video teaser I made increased their ticket sales 15-20% overnight according to the Artistic Director.
Monument Theatre Podcast
Inspiration: Monument's mission is to create theatre that provokes social change and advocacy. Their podcast logo had to match that energy. So I thought neon and the title “Do it Justice” felt in your face, but in a good way.
Fat Turtle Theatre
This was my first experience with branding and logo design. Though I did not directly design this logo because we outsourced it to freelancers at the time, I came up with the concept and was the final decision on the logo and feel.
The direction I gave the designer was to find a way to combine traditional theater masks with a turtle in someway. This was the closest one to the sketch I had drawn out. The feel of it was professional and clean. Making the name of the company stand out even more.
