Make Art Make Money: Lessons From Jim Henson on Fueling Your Creative Career by Elizabeth Hyde Stevens Read Free Book Online

mentorship, and
it helped him to survive in New York City. [79]
        
    Even if you plan to be a Henson, finding a
Henson is a good start. You’ll get a lot further than you could on your own.
Reaching out is the first step to any collaboration.
    HOW TO
START A SNOWBALL
    You would not be reading this book if you didn’t dream of a
career like Henson’s, and the truth is that a great deal of his success came
not from him alone but from the snowballing of a lot of creative artists
working together. The first step towards harnessing that power is to hire someone—one
person—right now. Hire someone before you believe in yourself. It is the
kind of thing that will force you to believe in yourself, for their sake.
    How can you guarantee paying someone when you’re
not even sure you can pay yourself? I think the better question is, what is worth
paying someone for ? If it has worth, it will accrue value, and it will get
you more work. You might have to start with a freelancer—hire someone for a
one-off project. Think of something that might be better with a new set of
eyes. In turn, it will likely give you a new outlook on the work. When
Jim Henson came back from Europe to see how Sam and Friends fared
without him, he was surely surprised. Let other people surprise you.
    Some artists—notably writers and painters—are
known for their solitude, but we benefit from collaboration as much as anyone
else. It was hard for me to ask an artist to illustrate one of my stories,
frankly because I know that art is invaluable and offering any amount of money
in return for it feels exploitative. But when you pay another artist to help
you, you give them more than the check; you give them the message that good art
is worth paying for. You also give yourself that message.
    How have you added collaboration to your art?
Did it cost money? Some people are able to form collectives tied together by
common values instead of paychecks, and there are many good reasons we don’t
want money to enter into creative discussions. Yet oftentimes, without money,
collaboration cannot happen. What are your strategies for handling the money
aspect of your collaborations?
    When you decide whom to hire, think about the
skills you want them to possess, but more importantly, think about how they
relate to you. What kind of humor is necessary in order to hang out with you
for as long as it takes to get the job done? Because you may be doing just that—and
at the end of as-long-as-it-takes, you will likely call that person a friend.
    Please don’t fall into the trap of becoming
professional. Be yourself. Don’t be “businesslike” because you think that’s
what business is . That’s not what business is. The essence of business
was what Henson was after. Not the suits, ties, and “best practices” of HR.
Henson didn’t need that. To him, business was a handshake—an acknowledgment
that both parties were on the same page.
    When you find good collaborators, you will do
your darnedest to keep them around. Good people are worth keeping. What
successes have you had with collaborators? What problems did you have? What
kept you together? What kept you coming to work each day? Strangely enough,
it’s easier to go into work when there’s a friend there to greet you. Chapter 9
will say more about Henson’s strategies for managing collaboration, but the
first step is very simple: reach out to other artists.
    Take some time to find your people and reach out
to them. They called Jim Henson “fearless leader.” Imagine yourself as a
“fearless leader” of artists, leaving a legacy like his. Even if you choose not
to be the guy who writes the paychecks, you will probably have to be the guy who
keeps everyone together. Money is just the best way to do it. Without that
paycheck, family and life tend to get in the way—they tend to take groups
apart. Picture money as the four walls of that little office on 2nd Avenue—as
the thing that holds the