Icarus on the 'Gram

Artists raised in the age of social media have this amazing practiced ability to deliver the eye-popping concept. They can give you the dazzling pitch, the action movie tagline, the instagrammable pic, the sizzling 2 sentences that make you think 'wow, I would love to see how they're going to pull THAT off.'  But much like ppl raised on thumbs-up and hashtags, things fall apart in the actual execution. An artist with an amazing concept and no actual plan becomes Icarus in flight: soaring higher and higher to their demise. As they fall they blame critics or audiences or the stage or the lighting, but their wings were made out of a shimmering, dazzling wax. They fall again and again, never trying to learn storytelling skills b/c it's easier to move on to the next sexy tagline than to develop actual craft.

In the past, the one exception to the rule was Hollywood. An Icarus could go out to Hollywood and live for years off of selling pitches. And as each concept melted underneath the demands of an actual script, they would get a lovely parachute. You could fall for years, switching over to different parachutes. When I was in college I interned at a major agency and at 2 studios which I will not name. I saw execs grumble about hacks not having an ounce of talent and then turn around and hand these maligned hacks a six-figure deal and Deadline article b/c...that hack was the new Icarus. Maybe their failure parachutes could be painted to look like wings, maybe the waxy combination of bragging, ego, and publicity will hold out under the glare of the sun. 

On my first day as a studio intern, I was handed the 'next big thing.' The packaging was there, the emerging hot talent was there, the concept was killer. I greedily read the script thinking I was getting my hands on the next Apocalypse Now. The actual story was an empty shell. I returned the next day and gave my very guarded, constructive, polite criticism and...I was told I was a fool. Of course the movie was going to be a hit: look at the packaging. I told them people don't flock to movies for the packaging. That's like people buying a car because of the hood ornament. If there's no engine, the manufacturer will be exposed. But the packaging, the marketing, the sizzle. During my internships I heard that a lot. Oh, you don't know how these wax wings work: 99% of the time the projects would come crashing back to earth, careers ruined, studios sold, houses mortgaged on a concept. 

I wish there could be some honest discussion of craft that separates the two different areas: concept and execution. If you can't execute, you shouldn't be able to hide behind concept. There are so many people riding on the wings of stories. It's not just the storyteller. But the crew, the actors, lives and jobs are all trying to fly. But they fall too when the work hasn't been done.