13128: A Huge Lesson From Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act

Raw transcript:

they say you should never judge a book
by its cover and sometimes that’s true
sometimes it’s not but once you get into
a book there may be a takeaway that is
life-changing
and I’ve got one of those for you in
this episode of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
in the early 80s I was a radio DJ I was
a producer at the American Comedy
Network it was the Heyday of my radio
career and I remember hearing about this
guy in New York I was in Connecticut I
used to go down to the city every
weekend to go to the clubs and there was
this guy in New York named Rick Rubin
and Rick Rubin was this you know pudgy
guy that went to NYU fellow Jew uh who
somehow had figured out how to waggle
his way into the world the the just
beginning world of hip-hop it was called
rap then I mean you know Sugar Hill Gang
and and uh Beastie Boys and you know
whatever uh but he he hooked up with uh
Russell Simmons and created Def Jam
records Def Jam Productions what really
a a student from NYU Andy was running it
out of his dorm
well fast forward many decades and Rick
Rubin is a legend in the world of uh
music production not just in the world
of hip-hop
but in almost every other category of
work and he has become there he is he
has become he has become quite the
stunning looker I mean he’s just got to
look about him that basically says uh I
I know what I’m talking about and I’m
willing to look however I feel like
looking
um he has a new book out called the
creative act a way of being
um I listen to it it’s short it’s about
five hours
um reading it would have been just as
enjoyable for me uh Rick is not a voice
talent but you get used to his kind of
sing-songyu delivery when you’re reading
when you’re listening to the book
in there
are hundreds of little tiny statements
aphorisms uh sayings uh platitudes that
all have meaning for us as performers
because what he’s talking about is
something we go through every day we
sometimes think about our lives as voice
talent and actors as executing technical
skills on behalf of a writer or on
behalf of a copywriter or an animator or
a director the truth of the matter is is
that we’re executing a creative approach
to material to executing material
and in this book he talks about being
brave enough and being resourceful
enough and giving yourself the
permission to be a true artist a true
creative and one of the big things that
he said in the book there was a big
takeaway for me and something that
reinforced a feeling that I’ve had for a
long long time
is this notion of
don’t worry about what the audience
thinks the audience comes last
and it’s a different way of saying what
I’ve said the whole time I was on radio
when people would say oh you know what
you should do with your your talk show
you should do this or you know what kind
of music you should play on your your
morning show you should play this or you
should I you know you you’ll get more
listeners if you do this or I don’t like
what you said there because you know I
don’t agree with you and I think you
should change that and you should do
this
I always used to say to people listen it
doesn’t matter what you think it really
doesn’t no offense but I do the show for
me
because I’m the only one that I’m damn
sure I can make happy no matter what I
do on the air
I’m going to make some people happy
satisfy some people and I’m going to
make other people upset or indifferent
or some other feeling
I don’t have any way of gathering the
entire audience together and having them
be in agreement about the creative
choices that I’ve made and for those of
you that don’t get it for those of you
that perhaps say to yourself why doesn’t
Fox why doesn’t MSNBC why doesn’t you
know uh channels that have clear
political divisions why don’t they uh be
more fair why don’t they uh why don’t
they show both sides to the story and
give them equal time well because that’s
not the way they make money that’s not
the way it works they don’t
care about whether or not part of Their
audience understands or approves of or
agrees with them in fact they hope that
they don’t
right
so both of those things kind of tie
together when you think about the fact
that you really need to understand that
doing what you do the way you do it that
makes you happy with your creative
output is the only litmus test that
matters
it also ties into the whole notion of
you can’t know what a casting director
wants or what a a director wants a
director will tell you but a casting
director isn’t going to give you the map
ahead of time and say do it like this
they may give you things about what
they’re looking for in terms of the type
of character or the fact that it’s a
comedy they’ll give you stuff to read
but
in general it’s a good idea to Simply
sit down and have a talk with yourself
and say
you’re who counts meaning
I’m who counts
I’m the one creating this I’m the one
that needs to be at peace with what I’m
doing I am the only Arbiter of what I
like and what I want to put out in the
world I’m not trying to solve an issue
for the audience I’m not trying to make
sure I gather the biggest audience in
the world because it’s next to
Impossible
the joy is when what you do is so
authentic and so creative and so potent
that an audience is just simply drawn to
you and your audience may be the casting
Community maybe the production Community
maybe the public maybe consumers
but do this work for you
the audience comes last
they don’t know what they want they only
know what they’ve already seen
and surprising them with something new
and different
is always a joy and then you become the
thing that they’ve already seen and that
somebody else is going to surprise them
with it’s a hard thing to have
confidence about because you think to
yourself who am I who I’m just this this
this woman or this guy in a in a closet
somewhere or under the stairs somewhere
working with my little microphone and
doing what I do
have that Joy have that faith
tell me what you think give me a comment
is this something that you think would
be helpful to you is this something that
you think would make a difference in
your creative career in your work as a
voice Talent or as an on-camera
personality I’d love to hear go to view
heroes.com leave me a comment below this
video if you’re already here welcome
thank you for doing that you can hit the
uh the like button if you really like
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when new episodes come out and if you
want to share this with another actor
who you just know is awesome but they
don’t know how awesome they are and
they’re constantly second guessing
themselves going well how do I do this
what do I do who do I how do I please
the biggest part of the audience forward
this on to them go up to the address bar
grab it and forward this on to them I’d
really appreciate that I’m David H
Lawrence the 17th I thank you so much
for watching and for listening and I
will see you in the next episode of the
vo Heroes podcast
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(from YouTube)