Saturday Night Live's Schedule, Best-Selling Author Lee Child's Favorite Day Of The Year, And How Someone Who Hated Jerry Seinfeld Changed His Work: Why Creative Commitments Boost Creative Confidence
The 3-Word Quote: “Action Precedes Inspiration”
1.
There are very few successful comedians who are lazy.
That's because comedy is hard work.
Constantly writing, editing, testing, and tweaking are required to get the material right.
And if you love watching your favorite comedian perform those hour-long specials, you can be sure that each joke told on stage went through a long process to make it on that stage.
Most successful comedians don't 'wing' their material, hoping it will be funny; they work their material until it becomes funny.
And if you're a fan of Saturday Night Live's sketch comedy show, you're probably not surprised that the show's weekly schedule is grueling and hard work.
The show starts the week prepping with a Monday morning meeting to discuss sketches.
This means much work has already been done, with the cast having already created possible ideas and writing rough sketches to bring to the table.
The cast, writers, and producers meet in Lorne Michaels' office on Monday.
Lorne Michaels is the show's producer and has the final say on which sketches will appear in the final show.
Just being a cast member on Saturday Night Live means the comedians on the show have reached a certain pinnacle of success.
But all cast members still have to pitch their sketches. No one is guaranteed airtime, so each week there is a mini-tryout to make it on the show.
About 30-40 sketches move on as possibilities to make the show from the Monday morning meeting.
Those sketches are then obsessively worked on and adjusted throughout most of the day on Tuesday.
The cast reviews the numerous sketches on Wednesday to see which have the most promise.
This reading meeting can take hours.
Michaels and the show producers then retire to his office to make the final cuts. A few sketches stay, but most are eliminated and won't make the show.
On Thursday, those sketches still in the running for the final show are workshopped more.
Settings are built; costumes are designed.
Some comedy bits may still be thrown out if they're not showing promise.
Often, there is also a dress rehearsal on this day.
There are more rehearsals on Friday and Saturday.
More long hours, more tweaking, and additional changes are made.
Ultimately, a final dress rehearsal will be in front of a live audience at 8:00 PM on Saturday.
This takes about two hours. The live audience is used as a test to see if any additional changes are needed.
Comedy is a complicated business.
The schedule is a grind. It takes a lot of time.
But there is one exact time during that grueling week that is crucial.
2.
He's killed dozens of people in the last twenty years.
He has spent time in jail but not for any of the people he has killed.
Despite the deaths, he continues to travel, crisscrossing the country, usually by bus or hitchhiking.
He carries very little - no bags, just a toothbrush, a little cash, and a passport.
When he sees trouble on his journey, he stops and makes things right.
He makes people pay for their wrongdoings, sometimes with their life.
Surprisingly, people root for him to occasionally hurt people.
That's because he is Jack Reacher.
And people across the globe know Jack Reacher as the central character in Lee Child's action book series.
The Jack Reacher book series spans nearly 30 books and has sold over 100 million copies. It is one of the best-selling adult series of all-time.
Lee Child's character has spawned numerous copycats.
A movie starring Tom Cruise was made.
And Amazon has a successful TV series called Reacher that is filming its third season.
Dozens of books, thousands of pages, millions of words - all about one character.
But Lee Child's method of writing all these words, creating all these plots, and publishing all these books is far different from that of most writers.
And most creatives can take something away from Child's routine.
3.
You've probably heard of Jerry Seinfeld's calendar technique for writing jokes.
It's been written about in blogs, talked about in podcasts, and discussed in business magazines.
And for good reason.
It's a simple and effective way to stay on task for various activities.
If you're not familiar with how Seinfeld holds himself accountable, let's review.
Seinfeld is a comedian. His job is to tell jokes.
But before he tells them, he has to write them.
To help him write, he takes a yearly calendar with a box for each day - 365 days, 365 boxes.
And each day he writes a joke, he puts a large red 'X' across that day on his calendar, signifying he wrote a joke that particular day.
Some days, he writes more than one joke.
Some days the jokes are killer; other days the jokes are duds.
But his goal is to write one joke each day and then draw an 'X' on his calendar for that day.
The calendar is a visual reminder of his completed work.
Write a joke, draw an 'X.'
The next day, he does the same thing.
Seinfeld says the goal is to get a line of red 'X's on a calendar - to create a writing streak, a chain of red 'X's.
The goal then is not to break the chain of 'X's on the calendar - it is to keep working each day.
This technique is well-known.
But it requires a lot of work and determination.
Remember The Saturday Night Live schedule - very few successful comedians are lazy.
But before Seinfeld was a star, before he had a hit TV show, before he was a comedy king, and before he had created his calendar to keep him writing, he was slightly lazy.
He didn't write much.
Until early in his career when he moved to Los Angeles.
In LA, he met someone who hated him. And that someone was powerful.
That powerful owner was Mitzi Shore, owner of The Comedy Club.
She took a dislike to Seinfeld.
She told Seinfeld he was the kind of person that needed 'stepping on.'
And she told him she was the one who was going to step on him.
It could have crushed his career.
Instead, it changed the way he worked.
The Takeaway:
So, what does Saturday Night Live's schedule, a best-selling mystery writer, and someone who despised Jerry Seinfeld have in common?
They are examples of how creative commitments can propel creative confidence.
They are examples of how simply scheduling time for creative work helps produce more work and better work.
Whether aspiring pianist, painter, new photographer, or wishful writer, action is always better than intent.
We often have an intent to create.
We have these creative desires to produce something, to try something.
Usually, these creative desires are separate from our normal careers, but we rarely fulfill them.
Taking that first step of creation is difficult.
We might read about artists. We might listen to podcasts featuring our favorite writers. We play songs by our favorite musicians.
But we often need help creating - we tend to only consume.
That's why action is always better than intent.
And that's why you have to schedule your creative actions.
Saturday Night Live's schedule is a grind.
It's writing, editing, cutting, adjusting, starting over, adding, tweaking.
Each meeting is essential; each rehearsal is crucial; each day is critical.
But there is one time that is the most important.
It is 11:29 PM.
Thirty seconds after 11:29 PM, to be exact.
Because at that exact time on Saturday night, the show goes live to millions of people waiting to be entertained.
And each week, some sketches will be better than others.
Some sketches will shake the studio walls with laughter, others will bomb.
Occasional skits will go viral, and some will be criticized.
But the most important thing is that the show starts at 11:59:30 PM.
Saturday Night.
Why?
Because as Lorne Michaels says, "The show doesn't go on because it's ready; it goes on because it's 11:30."
And understanding that quote is essential for anyone who makes anything.
If SNL waited for every skit to be perfect, they might only put out one show a month.
And if you wait until you think you have a hit song, until you have a perfectly written blog, or until you’ve created a book of nothing but exquisite photographs, you won’t get much creative work done.
Lorne Michael says, "It goes on because it's 11:30."
It is a creative commitment.
It is a commitment made by the actors and writers.
They will write, produce, act, and ship a show at 11:29:30 every Saturday Night - no matter what.
They've done it for nearly 50 years.
Because it's what they do.
While you might not be a professional comedian, you might need to commit to creating too - no matter what.
Commit to create at constant times.
Build it into your schedule.
You don't wait until you're inspired.
You don't wait until you have a killer idea.
And you especially don't wait until you think you're good enough.
You establish a time on a regular basis and commit to a time to be creative.
And then you show up and write, draw, paint, or photograph.
When you do, you'll produce like SNL - occasionally it will seem like garbage, but often it will feel like gold.
But show up.
Because it's what you do.
***
Author Lee Child is handing over his Jack Reacher character to his brother.
Child is retiring, but the character will live on with his brother set to take over writing upcoming Reacher books.
Child started writing novels when he was fired from a television writing job decades ago.
A string of best-selling novels followed.
One book after the other. Nearly 30 in all.
When he was first fired, he grabbed a pencil and some paper and began writing what would turn into Killing Floor, his first book.
He started writing that first book on September 1.
Now, September 1 is the most crucial day in Child's writing routine.
It's not solely because he started his first book on that day.
September 1 is the day he starts every new book.
Child, Like Saturday Night Live, doesn't wait until he has an incredible idea for a new novel.
He doesn't wait until he has all the intricate details of his plot figured out.
He starts each novel on September 1 because he has scheduled that day to start writing a novel.
He puts it on his calendar every year.
It's his creative commitment.
In fact, most of the time, when September 1 rolls around, Child has no idea what he will write about.
He has an established character, Jack Reacher, but Child doesn't have the story's plot planned out.
Andy Martin wrote a profile on Child and watched Child start a novel on September 1. He was in the room when Child sat down to start a new Reacher book.
Martin said, "Lee Child is fundamentally clueless when he starts writing. He really is. He has no idea what he is doing or where he is going. And the odd thing is he likes it that way."
'Fundamentally clueless.'
'No idea.'
Not quotes that would fit most best-selling authors.
While Child may not have a clue or an idea of what he will write when he sits down, he does have one important thing.
He has a creative commitment.
He knows when September 1 shows up, he will be writing.
He figures out the rest as he goes; he trusts himself.
And that's what we can all learn from.
Often, in creative fields, people wait to be inspired.
But action proceeds inspiration.
The work comes first.
As writer W. Somerset Maugham says in his famous line, 'I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.'
Like Child, Maugham had a creative commitment too. Inspiration only found him when he was working.
The work came first.
***
Jerry Seinfeld writes a joke every day.
He has a blue-collar approach to writing and comedy.
But he had a different work ethic before he had his calendar and his 'don't break the chain' mentality.
He wrote about three days a week and had some success as a comedian in his first few years doing stand-up.
But he wanted to be great.
At the time, Los Angeles was where the great comedians were performing.
So he went to LA.
And the great comedians were performing at the famed Comedy Store.
So he went to The Comedy Store.
The owner was Mitzi Shore.
She had the ability to help launch comedians' careers, and Seinfeld was eager to book some spots at her comedy club.
But Shore took an instant dislike to Jerry Seinfeld.
She told him she wouldn't give him any spots to perform at the club.
Not only would she not book Seinfeld, but she actively conspired against him.
That's when she told him some people needed to be 'stepped on,' and she was the one who was going to step on him.
She made it clear Seinfeld wouldn't get an opportunity at The Comedy Store like the other popular comedians.
But Seinfeld didn't respond angrily.
He simply went to work.
Recall, prior to moving to LA, he was writing about three days a week.
He said after The Comedy Store experience, he started writing material seven days a week.
From three days a week to seven.
He made a commitment.
His calendar system would come later - it was a visual reminder of the creative commitment he made.
So he started writing seven days a week. It didn't matter if the jokes were funny or if they wound up in his routine.
The point was that he was a comedian. And comedians write jokes.
Saturday Night Live comes on at 11:29:30 - not because they're ready, but because they have a standing commitment.
They're scheduled to be funny at 11:29:30.
Lee Child starts a new book September 1 of every year - not because he has a brilliant idea every year on this same date.
But because he scheduled himself to start writing on that day and for the months it takes to finish a novel.
And Seinfeld has always put in the work.
However, he rededicated himself and scheduled a writing session every day of the week.
SNL, Lee Child, Jerry Seinfeld - all top performers.
All have creative commitments and stick to them.
Some SNL shows are better than others; some Lee Child novels are more engaging than others; and some Jerry Seinfeld jokes are funnier than others.
But they always produce.
Because they schedule a time to create.
3 things before you go:
“Stupid Bravery” : Singer John Mayer writing a song live - with no idea and no notes. A perfect example of action first, then inspiration.
Wave Photographer: Photographer Clark Little on how he started his photography passion. Great mini-documentary on creativity. Notice he took action before he knew good technique. This could be my new dream job.
The Broom Maker: Great short video on a true craftsman; dedicated to a lost art. Entertaining.
As always, thanks for being a reader. I’d love it if you’d share this with 3 friends.
-Jeff