Moments of Conception 075 - The Pencil Scene from Dark Knight

August 13, 2014 12:57 PM

All creativity begins with the moment of conception.

That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here.

And so, in this new blog series, I’m going to be deconstructing my favorite moments of conception from popular movies. Each post will contain a video clip from a different film, along with a series of lessons we can learn from the characters.

Today’s clip comes from the pencil scene in Dark Knight:

What can we learn?

You are what you
charge. Years ago, one of my books was featured in a major international
publication. I was so elated, I nearly pissed myself. And I remember buying a
copy of the paper from the newsstand and bringing it to my mentor’s office. He took one look
at the article and said, you just doubled
your fee. Really? Just like that? Turns out, he was right. Artists raise
their fee when they raise their value. Not when they need to make more money. Not
when their landlord hikes up the rent. Not when the client offers to pay more. And
not when their friends start raising their fees. When they raise their value. And so, the goal is to constantly seek out
experiences and projects and accomplishments worth pointing to. Opportunities
that raise your value, no matter what. That way, your self worth is not subject
to negotiation. That way, when you pull your chair up to the table, there’s no
guilt around asking to be paid what you’re worth. Joker may be an insane, evil freak,
but he’s also a criminal mastermind with a sound, lucid strategy for solving
the mob’s jurisdiction problem. Joker knows his value, and he asks to be
compensated accordingly. Because if you’re good at something, never do it for
free. Does a lower fee make you more affordable, or less attractive?

Schedule time to do
business. Watterson famously said that his purpose in
writing cartoons was to say things, not to sell things. I’ve always felt the
same way, although as I grow as a creator, I know that every artist has
to admit they’re in business for themselves. If we intend to contribute to the
world’s reservoir of truth and beauty, we should also insist that the world
contributes to our reservoir of
dollars and cents. Otherwise our overriding sense of mission prevents
me from doing business. When I first started my company, I knew money was the
inevitable hurdle I was going to have to vault. And so,

my mentor forced me to spend two hours a day, every day, asking
customers to buy. In person, over the phone, via email, it didn’t matter. Every morning from nine to eleven, I put on my sales hat. And I hated every goddamn
minute of it. Assigning monetary value to my intellectual property tied my guts
into knots. In fact, every time I picked up the phone, I prayed for the call to
go to voicemail. But that standing daily appointment was exactly what I needed
to grow as an artist. Joker, on the other hand, doesn’t have such anxieties. He
saunters into the room laughing and doing magic tricks. Those mobsters didn’t
stand a chance. We should all be so confident in the selling arena. Is the problem that they can’t afford you,
or that they don’t understand how they can afford you?

What business could
you be in? Everyone diversifies. Even comic book villains. Being religious
about how you make your money is the quickest way to go out of business.
Successful artists and creators engage the muscle of yes. Instead of locking
themselves into limited concepts of how they earn, they stay engaged with the
growing list of financial avenues that are available to them. The modern
musician, for example, can make money in any number of venues, including giving
music lessons, performing at church services, playing background music for
theater, releasing albums under multiple monikers, selling songs to other
artists, managing other musicians, earning online streaming royalties, building
digital products and subscription programs, writing commissioned pieces,
arrange charts for bands, selling band merchandise, writing sheet music, selling
songs to music libraries, creating ringtones, earning collaboration royalties,
selling website advertising and licensing songs for commercials. As long as
they keep a finger on the pulse of their various streams of musician income,
they can stay afloat. Because every opportunity is another chance to get paid
to do the things they love. Are you
governing your growth by insisting you never diversify?