[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:01.27,0:00:04.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thank you
Dialogue: 0,0:00:04.42,0:00:07.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I never really expected
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.50,0:00:11.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to find myself giving advice to people graduating
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.69,0:00:16.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from an establishment of higher education.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.30,0:00:20.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I never graduated from any such establishment.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:20.10,0:00:24.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've not even started at one. I escaped from school as soon as I could,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.92,0:00:28.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when the prospect of four more years of enforced learning
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.90,0:00:33.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,before I'd become the writer I wanted to be seems stifling.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:33.64,0:00:36.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I got out into the world, I wrote till I became a better writer the more I wrote,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.10,0:00:39.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I wrote some more, and nobody ever seemed to mind
Dialogue: 0,0:00:39.70,0:00:43.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I was making it all up as I went along, they just read what I wrote
Dialogue: 0,0:00:43.80,0:00:48.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they paid me for it, or they didn't,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.14,0:00:50.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and often they commissioned me to write something else for them.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.62,0:00:57.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which has left me with a healthy respect and fondness for higher education
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.41,0:01:00.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that those of my friends and family, who attended Universities,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:00.29,0:01:03.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were cured of long ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.72,0:01:06.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Looking back, I've had a remarkable ride.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.80,0:01:09.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm not sure I can call it a career,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.15,0:01:13.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because a career implies that I had some kind of career plan,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.20,0:01:15.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I never did.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.99,0:01:19.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The nearest thing I had was a list I made when I was 15
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.41,0:01:23.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of everything I wanted to do. I wanted to write an adult novel,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.64,0:01:27.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a children's book, a comic, a movie, record an audiobook,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.32,0:01:31.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,write an episode of Doctor Who... and so on.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:31.84,0:01:34.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I didn't have a career. I just did the next thing on the list.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.64,0:01:39.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I thought I'd tell you everything I wish I'd known starting out,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.79,0:01:43.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a few things that, looking back on it, I suppose that I did know.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.35,0:01:47.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that I'll also give you the best piece of advice I'd ever got,\N
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.47,0:01:50.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which I completely failed to follow.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.72,0:01:54.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,First of all, When you start out on a career in the arts
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.94,0:01:59.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have no idea what you are doing.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.40,0:02:02.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is great. People who know
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.52,0:02:07.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what they are doing know the rules, and they know what is possible and impossible.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.43,0:02:10.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You do not. And you should not.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:10.46,0:02:14.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The rules on what is possible and impossible in the arts were made by people
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.25,0:02:19.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who had not tested the bounds of the possible by going beyond them.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.11,0:02:22.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you can. \NIf you don't know it's impossible
Dialogue: 0,0:02:22.33,0:02:25.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's easier to do. And because nobody's done it before,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.75,0:02:29.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they haven't made up rules to stop anyone doing that again.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.25,0:02:39.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Cheering)
Dialogue: 0,0:02:39.75,0:02:41.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Secondly, If you have an idea
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.67,0:02:45.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of what you want to make, what you were put here to do, then just
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.28,0:02:48.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go and do that. \NAnd that's much harder
Dialogue: 0,0:02:48.83,0:02:53.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than it sounds and, sometimes in the end, so much easier than you might imagine.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:53.10,0:02:56.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because normally, there are things you have to do before you can get
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.56,0:03:00.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the place you want to be. I wanted to write comics and novels
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.65,0:03:03.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and stories and films, so I became a journalist,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.63,0:03:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because journalists are allowed to ask questions, and to simply go and find out how the world works,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.75,0:03:11.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and besides, to do those things I needed to write
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.55,0:03:16.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to write well, and I was being paid to learn how to write economically,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:16.50,0:03:20.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,crisply, sometimes under adverse conditions,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.81,0:03:23.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and on deadline.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.46,0:03:27.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes the way to do what you hope to do will be clear cut, and sometimes it will be
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.93,0:03:31.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,almost impossible to decide whether or not you are doing the correct thing,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.15,0:03:36.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because you'll have to balance your goals and hopes with feeding yourself,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.08,0:03:40.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,paying debts, finding work, settling for what you can get.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.73,0:03:43.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Something that worked for me was
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.50,0:03:47.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,imagining that where I wanted to be
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.68,0:03:55.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is an author, primarily of fiction, making good books, making good comics, making good drama
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.60,0:04:00.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and supporting myself through my words
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.88,0:04:04.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Imagining that was a mountain. A distant mountain. My goal.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:04.70,0:04:10.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I knew that as long as I kept walking towards the mountain I would be all right.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.51,0:04:13.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And when I truly was not sure what to do, I could stop,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.95,0:04:20.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and think about whether it was taking me towards or away from the mountain.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:20.25,0:04:23.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I said no to editorial jobs on magazines,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:23.25,0:04:26.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,proper jobs that would have paid proper money because I knew that,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:26.87,0:04:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,attractive though they were, for me they would have been walking away from the mountain.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:32.20,0:04:35.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And if those job offers had come along earlier I might have taken them,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:35.63,0:04:41.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because they still would have been closer to the mountain than I was at the time.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.10,0:04:43.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I learned to write by writing.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.36,0:04:46.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I tended to do anything as long as it felt like an adventure, \N
Dialogue: 0,0:04:46.22,0:04:53.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to stop when it felt like work, which meant that life did not feel like work.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.66,0:04:56.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thirdly, When you start out, \N
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.35,0:04:59.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have to deal with the problems of failure.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:59.84,0:05:04.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You need to be thickskinned, to learn that not every project will survive.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.66,0:05:07.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like
Dialogue: 0,0:05:07.01,0:05:10.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,putting messages in bottles, on a desert island, and hoping that
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.94,0:05:15.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.91,0:05:19.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you:
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.64,0:05:23.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,appreciation, or a commission, or money, or love.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.91,0:05:27.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you have to accept that you may put out a hundred things for every bottle
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.78,0:05:31.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that winds up coming back.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.58,0:05:34.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problems of failure. The problems of discouragement,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.19,0:05:38.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of hopelessness, of hunger. You want everything to happen and you want it now,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:38.39,0:05:43.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and things go wrong. My first book – a piece of journalism
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.22,0:05:46.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had done only for the money, and which had already bought me
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.31,0:05:51.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an electric typewriter from the advance – should have been a bestseller.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:51.33,0:05:54.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It should have paid me a lot of money. If the publisher hadn't gone
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.03,0:05:57.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into involuntary liquidation between the first print run selling out
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.18,0:06:00.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the second print run never happening, and before any royalties
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.98,0:06:05.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could be paid, it would have done. And I shrugged,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.59,0:06:08.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I still had my electric typewriter and enough money
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.76,0:06:12.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to pay the rent for a couple of months, and I decided that I'd do my best in future
Dialogue: 0,0:06:12.76,0:06:17.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not to write books just for the money. If you didn't get the money,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:17.26,0:06:20.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then you didn't have anything. If I did work I was proud of, \N
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.44,0:06:23.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I didn't get the money, at least I'd have the work.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:23.71,0:06:28.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Every now and then, I forget that rule, and whenever I do,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:28.88,0:06:33.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the universe kicks me hard and reminds me.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.09,0:06:36.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know that it's an issue for anybody but me, but it's true
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.90,0:06:40.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that nothing I did where the only reason for doing it was the money
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.18,0:06:45.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was ever worth it, except as bitter experience.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.86,0:06:50.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Usually I didn't wind up getting the money, either.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:50.24,0:06:52.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)\NThe things I did because I was excited,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.93,0:06:55.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and wanted to see them exist in reality have never let me down, and I've
Dialogue: 0,0:06:55.76,0:06:59.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,never regretted the time I spent on any of them.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.89,0:07:05.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problems of failure are hard.\NThe problems of success
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.06,0:07:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can be harder, because nobody warns you about them.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:08.75,0:07:11.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first problem of any kind of even limited success
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.79,0:07:15.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the unshakable conviction that you are getting away with something, and that
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.27,0:07:21.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,any moment now they will discover you. \N(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.17,0:07:24.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Cheering)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:24.02,0:07:26.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's Imposter Syndrome, something my wife Amanda christened
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.80,0:07:30.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Fraud Police. In my case,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.74,0:07:34.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was convinced that there would be a knock on the door, and a man with a clipboard
Dialogue: 0,0:07:34.34,0:07:38.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know why he had a clipboard but in my head
Dialogue: 0,0:07:38.79,0:07:43.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he always has clipboard, would be there to tell me
Dialogue: 0,0:07:43.64,0:07:49.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was all over, and they had caught up with me, and now I would have to go and get a real job,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.05,0:07:52.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one that didn't consist of making things up and writing them down,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.35,0:07:55.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and reading books I wanted to read. And then I would go away
Dialogue: 0,0:07:55.40,0:07:58.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quietly and get the kind of job
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.44,0:08:02.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I would have to get up early in the morning, and wear a tie
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.62,0:08:06.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not make things up any more.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.15,0:08:09.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The problems of success. They're real, and with luck
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.37,0:08:14.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you'll experience them. The point where you stop saying yes
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.32,0:08:15.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to everything, because
Dialogue: 0,0:08:15.59,0:08:19.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now the bottles you threw in the ocean are all coming back, and you have to
Dialogue: 0,0:08:19.15,0:08:22.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,learn to say no. I watched
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.32,0:08:27.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my peers, and my friends, and the ones who were older than me and watch how miserable
Dialogue: 0,0:08:27.10,0:08:30.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some of them were. I'd listen to them telling me that they couldn't envisage
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.57,0:08:34.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a world where they did what they had always wanted to do any more,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.39,0:08:39.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because now they had to earn a certain amount every month just to keep where they were.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.20,0:08:42.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They couldn't go and do the things that mattered, and that they had really wanted to do;
Dialogue: 0,0:08:42.77,0:08:46.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that seemed as a big a tragedy
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.52,0:08:50.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as any problem of failure. And after that
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.85,0:08:53.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the biggest problem of success is that the world conspires
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.74,0:08:59.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to stop you doing the thing that you do, because you are successful.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:59.05,0:09:02.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was a day when I looked up and realised that
Dialogue: 0,0:09:02.02,0:09:07.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had become someone who professionally replied to email,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:07.20,0:09:10.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and who wrote as a hobby.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:10.12,0:09:13.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I started answering fewer emails, and was relieved to find
Dialogue: 0,0:09:13.42,0:09:17.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was writing much more.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:17.57,0:09:22.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fourthly, I hope you'll make mistakes.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.29,0:09:26.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you're making mistakes, it means you're out there doing something. And the mistakes
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.37,0:09:29.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in themselves can be useful. I once misspelled
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.99,0:09:34.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Caroline, in a letter, transposing the A \N
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.17,0:09:37.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the O, and I thought, “Coraline
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.42,0:09:41.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,looks almost like a real name...”
Dialogue: 0,0:09:41.57,0:09:46.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.62,0:09:50.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a singer
Dialogue: 0,0:09:50.32,0:09:53.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a designer, whatever you do you have one thing that's unique.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.42,0:09:58.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You have the ability to make art.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:58.47,0:10:03.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that's been a lifesaver.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:03.09,0:10:05.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The ultimate lifesaver. It gets you through good times and it gets
Dialogue: 0,0:10:05.97,0:10:11.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you through the other ones. \NSometimes life is hard.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:11.30,0:10:12.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Things go wrong, in life
Dialogue: 0,0:10:12.97,0:10:18.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all
Dialogue: 0,0:10:18.02,0:10:22.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:22.66,0:10:26.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is what you should do.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:10:26.07,0:10:29.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:29.50,0:10:33.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:33.45,0:10:38.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.92,0:10:42.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor?
Dialogue: 0,0:10:42.54,0:10:46.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.19,0:10:48.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,IRS on your trail? Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:48.02,0:10:52.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cat exploded? Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.10,0:10:57.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Somebody on the Internet thinks what you doing is stupid or evil
Dialogue: 0,0:10:57.25,0:11:02.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or it's all been done before? Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:02.02,0:11:05.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:05.84,0:11:08.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but that doesn't even matter.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:08.39,0:11:14.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do what only you could do best. Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.62,0:11:16.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make it on the bad days
Dialogue: 0,0:11:16.66,0:11:19.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Make it on the good days too.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:19.74,0:11:23.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Fifthly, while you are at it, make your art. Do the stuff \N
Dialogue: 0,0:11:23.66,0:11:26.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that only you can do. The urge, starting out, is to copy.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.39,0:11:31.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's not a bad thing. Most of us only find our own voices after we've sounded like
Dialogue: 0,0:11:31.19,0:11:35.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of other people. But the one thing
Dialogue: 0,0:11:35.30,0:11:40.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that you have that nobody else has is you.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.47,0:11:43.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Your voice, your mind, your story,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:43.72,0:11:46.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your vision. So write and draw and build
Dialogue: 0,0:11:46.75,0:11:51.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and play and dance and live as only you can.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.90,0:11:56.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The moment that you feel that, just possibly,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.79,0:11:59.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're walking down the street naked,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:59.12,0:12:03.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exposing too much of your heart and your mind and what exists on the inside,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:03.02,0:12:06.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,showing too much of yourself. That's the moment you may be
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.48,0:12:11.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,starting to get it right.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:11.12,0:12:14.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The things I've done that worked the best were the things I was
Dialogue: 0,0:12:14.02,0:12:17.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the least certain about, the stories where I was sure they would either work, or more likely
Dialogue: 0,0:12:17.87,0:12:22.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be the kinds of embarrassing failures people would gather together \N
Dialogue: 0,0:12:22.20,0:12:26.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and discuss until the end of time. They always had that
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.25,0:12:31.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in common: looking back at them, people explain why they were inevitable successes.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.17,0:12:34.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,While I was doing them, I had no idea.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.44,0:12:40.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I still don't. And where would be the fun in making something you knew was going to work?\N
Dialogue: 0,0:12:40.10,0:12:43.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And sometimes the things I did really didn't work.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:43.56,0:12:46.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are stories of mine that have never been reprinted.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.42,0:12:50.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of them never even left the house. But I learned as much from them
Dialogue: 0,0:12:50.25,0:12:53.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as I did from the things that worked.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:53.54,0:13:00.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK. Sixthly. I gonna pass on some secret freelancer knowledge.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:00.35,0:13:02.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Secret knowledge is always good.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:02.12,0:13:05.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it is useful for anyone who ever plans to create art for other people,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:05.72,0:13:10.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to enter a freelance world of any kind. I learned it in comics,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:10.12,0:13:12.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it applies to other fields too. And it's this:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.17,0:13:17.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People get hired because, somehow,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:17.52,0:13:21.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they get hired. In my case I did
Dialogue: 0,0:13:21.74,0:13:25.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something which these days would be easy to check, and would get me into trouble,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:25.75,0:13:30.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and when I started out, in those pre-internet days, seemed like a sensible career strategy:
Dialogue: 0,0:13:30.59,0:13:33.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I was asked by editors who I'd written for,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:33.75,0:13:38.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I lied.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.09,0:13:40.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I listed a handful of magazines that sounded likely,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:40.73,0:13:44.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I sounded confident, and I got jobs.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:44.39,0:13:53.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Cheering)
Dialogue: 0,0:13:53.79,0:13:56.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I then made it a point of honour to have written something
Dialogue: 0,0:13:56.58,0:14:00.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for each of the magazines I'd listed to get that first job,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:00.34,0:14:06.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so that I hadn't actually lied, I'd just been chronologically challenged...
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.71,0:14:08.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But you get work
Dialogue: 0,0:14:08.25,0:14:11.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,however you get work. But people keep working
Dialogue: 0,0:14:11.55,0:14:15.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a freelance world, and more and more of today's
Dialogue: 0,0:14:15.96,0:14:20.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,world is freelance, because their work is good,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:20.09,0:14:25.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and because they are easy to get along with, and because they deliver the work on time.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:25.48,0:14:29.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you don't even need all three.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.35,0:14:33.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Two out of three is fine.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:33.65,0:14:35.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People will tolerate how
Dialogue: 0,0:14:35.22,0:14:42.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unpleasant you are if your work is good and you deliver it on time.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:42.99,0:14:44.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People will forgive the
Dialogue: 0,0:14:44.14,0:14:47.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lateness of the work if it's good, and if they like you. And
Dialogue: 0,0:14:47.37,0:14:50.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you don't have to be as good as the everyone else if you're on time and
Dialogue: 0,0:14:50.99,0:14:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's always a pleasure to hear from you.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:54.66,0:15:05.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Cheering)
Dialogue: 0,0:15:05.30,0:15:07.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So when I agreed to give this address,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:07.75,0:15:11.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I though what is the best piece of advice I'd been given.\N
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.78,0:15:14.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I realised that it was actually a piece of advice\N
Dialogue: 0,0:15:14.83,0:15:19.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that I have failed to follow. And it came from Stephen King
Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.84,0:15:22.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was twenty years ago, at the height of the success
Dialogue: 0,0:15:22.14,0:15:27.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Sandman, the comic I was writing.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:27.69,0:15:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh! Thank you. I was writing a comic that people loved
Dialogue: 0,0:15:30.38,0:15:34.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I was taking it seriously. And Stephen King liked Sandman
Dialogue: 0,0:15:34.63,0:15:38.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and my novel with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, and he--he saw the madness that was going on
Dialogue: 0,0:15:38.88,0:15:42.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the long signing lines, all that stuffs, and his advice was this:
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.96,0:15:49.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,“This is really great. You should enjoy it.”
Dialogue: 0,0:15:49.72,0:15:52.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I didn't. Best advice
Dialogue: 0,0:15:52.40,0:15:56.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've ever got and I ignored it. Instead I worried about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:56.47,0:16:01.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I worried about the next deadline, the next idea,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:01.27,0:16:04.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the next story. There wasn't a moment for the next
Dialogue: 0,0:16:04.16,0:16:08.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fourteen or fifteen years that I wasn't writing something in my head, or wondering about it.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:08.09,0:16:11.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I didn't stop and look around and go,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:11.01,0:16:16.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is really fun. I wish I'd enjoyed it more.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:16.57,0:16:19.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's been an amazing ride. But there were parts of the ride I missed,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:19.54,0:16:23.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because I was too worried about things going wrong, about what came next, to enjoy
Dialogue: 0,0:16:23.41,0:16:27.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the bit that I was on. That was the hardest lesson for me,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:27.94,0:16:31.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think, to let go and enjoy the ride,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.56,0:16:37.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the ride takes you to some remarkable and unexpected places.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:37.24,0:16:39.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And here, on this platform, today,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:39.54,0:16:42.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for me, is one of those places.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.78,0:16:46.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I am enjoying myself immensely.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:46.09,0:16:57.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Cheering)
Dialogue: 0,0:16:57.67,0:16:58.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I actually put that in bracket
Dialogue: 0,0:16:58.82,0:17:05.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Just in case I wasn't. I wouldn't say
Dialogue: 0,0:17:05.57,0:17:08.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To all today's graduates:
Dialogue: 0,0:17:08.41,0:17:11.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I wish you luck. Luck is useful.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:11.11,0:17:15.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Often you will discover that the harder you work, and the more wisely you work,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:15.22,0:17:18.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the luckier you will get. But there is luck,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:18.91,0:17:22.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it helps. We're in a transitional
Dialogue: 0,0:17:22.36,0:17:26.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,world right now, if you're in any kind of artistic field,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.64,0:17:30.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the nature of distribution is changing, the models
Dialogue: 0,0:17:30.16,0:17:34.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by which creators got their work out into the world, and got to keep a roof over
Dialogue: 0,0:17:34.21,0:17:39.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their heads and buy sandwiches while they did that, are all changing.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:39.81,0:17:42.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I've talked to people at the top of the food chain in publishing,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:42.14,0:17:46.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in bookselling, in music, in all those areas, and
Dialogue: 0,0:17:46.14,0:17:50.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nobody knows what the landscape will look like two years from now,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:50.52,0:17:53.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let alone a decade away. The distribution channels that people
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.96,0:17:57.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had built over the last century or so are in flux
Dialogue: 0,0:17:57.57,0:18:03.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for print, for visual artists, for musicians, for creative people of all kinds.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:03.27,0:18:06.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which is, on the one hand, intimidating,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:06.54,0:18:09.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and on the other, immensely liberating.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:09.33,0:18:11.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The rules, the assumptions, the now-we're
Dialogue: 0,0:18:11.59,0:18:16.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,supposed to's of how you get your work seen, and what you do then,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:16.91,0:18:19.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are breaking down. The gatekeepers
Dialogue: 0,0:18:19.99,0:18:23.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are leaving their gates. You can be as creative
Dialogue: 0,0:18:23.28,0:18:27.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as you need to be to get your work seen. YouTube
Dialogue: 0,0:18:27.61,0:18:31.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the web and whatever comes after YouTube and the web can give you
Dialogue: 0,0:18:31.32,0:18:35.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more people watching than old television ever did.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:35.59,0:18:40.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The old rules are crumbling and nobody knows what the new rules are.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:40.81,0:18:43.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So make up your own rules.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:43.81,0:18:47.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Someone asked me recently how to do something she thought was going to be difficult,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:47.31,0:18:51.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this case recording an audio book, and I suggested
Dialogue: 0,0:18:51.07,0:18:55.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she pretend that she was someone who could do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:55.12,0:19:00.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not pretend to do it, but pretend she was someone who could.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:00.52,0:19:03.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,She put up a notice to this effect on the studio wall,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:03.62,0:19:08.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and she said it helped. So be wise,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:08.41,0:19:11.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the world needs more wisdom, and if you cannot
Dialogue: 0,0:19:11.27,0:19:19.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise, and then just behave like they would.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:19.62,0:19:29.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Cheering)
Dialogue: 0,0:19:29.42,0:19:31.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And now go, and make interesting
Dialogue: 0,0:19:31.74,0:19:34.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mistakes, make amazing mistakes, make glorious
Dialogue: 0,0:19:34.98,0:19:38.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world
Dialogue: 0,0:19:38.89,0:19:43.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more interesting for your being here. Make good art.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:44.18,0:19:48.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you\N(Cheering)