Answer The Call

God doesn’t call the qualified. He qualifies the called.

Don't wait until you feel you have enough research or expertise or craft to do something perfectly. Making preparation to be perfect is a trap. It's a tool of procrastination. It's a way to avoid 99% of the things that scare you. 

My friend called me about a web video. It was 2012 and I was sitting in an airport about to fly back to NYC to volunteer at a church. Suddenly the church contact person not only stopped calling me, he blocked my number and emails. We had no argument or fight. To this day it was one of the biggest mysteries. So now I was sitting in this airport going back to a volunteer job that had vanished. I had nothing going on and my friend called me. I wasn't that interested in web videos and I had almost no experience but it was intriguing. His company wanted to produce some web videos: would I read the scripts? I told him 'yes later.' And then it hit me 'you have nothing going on in your life and the one thing you were going to do for free...has vanished.' So I read the script in the airport. I texted him back my thoughts, he asked when we could meet in person to talk further and I said...'I guess tonight. I'm flying back to NYC.' 

Thus began one of the truly wackiest series of events in my life, starting with an answer to a call. We had dinner that night and I gave my general observations about the script. My friend pivoted. Can you write them?' Yes...I guess I can. Great, now we just need a producer. And out of my mouth I heard the words 'Oh, I can do that too?' My friend looked at me...really? I nodded, Sure. How hard can it be?' To write and produce a series of videos from scratch with no experience? It was much harder than I expected and much easier than I feared. 

Things just started sliding into place. I was willing to answer the call. Every anxiety I faced was overcome. Not perfectly. Not with Spielbergian precision. But with a growing sense of confidence I started writing and producing a series of web videos as my primary source of income. And then I went to another business and pitched my expertise and was hired to write and produce several more videos. I set up a producing bank account so that I could pay myself and others, found the contract templates for directors, crew, and actors, drew up budgets and plans. And it just happened. One fear after another melted just because I woke up everyday like 'what can I do right now? Imperfectly or feeling my way out. And then what help can I ask for now?' A few months later I got into Juilliard and these videos became a financial support for being a playwright there. Some actors dismissed me, some doubted me, I had people hang up on me, outraged that I wasn't enough for them. And it was thrilling to just 'know' this is going to happen. And some of those actors and crew people who hung up on me are still broke, prima donnas waiting all these years later for their perfect ship. As my career advanced from web videos to Juilliard plays, to West-End dramas, Broadway musicals, and 10 yrs of tv writing on hit shows. And one of the foundation moments for me was getting pre-fired from a volunteer job and just reading a web script in an airport and being 'willing.' Willing to say 'ok this web video isn't my ideal...but it could be interesting.' And some of those broke prima donnas are still waiting for perfection and not willing to answer the call they're getting. 

Don't wait for perfect conditions. Start on a Tuesday. Start on your left foot. Start when you only have 5 min. Jot it down on a napkin and get yourself excited with a spark. And if you keep piling up the napkins, awkward 5 min sparks, the circumstances of life start bending around your willingness to answer intuition. 

Don't wait. Answer the call. The qualifications are given on the journey.