We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jon Passow a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jon, thank you so much for making time for us today. Let’s jump right into a question so many in our community are looking for answers to – how to overcome creativity blocks, writer’s block, etc. We’d love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
Really great question! I feel lucky that I don’t really get creative blocks when it comes to acting or voice over. When I do it’s usually because there’s something in the script that I’ve missed or am not understanding and going back to the text solves the block. However, as a playwright and a screenwriter, that’s where I get my most creative blocks. My first solution is through prevention. I try to prevent writers block by having a set time I write, usually in the morning, every day, from 9-10. That’s all the writing I do but I stay consistent with it every day. Even if I don’t have anything to write, I find that if I just start typing words, doesn’t matter what, then eventually something starts to pop out and flow. When I do hit a major block, and I haven’t been able to prevent it, I make sure I’m giving my brain time to wander. If my brain is constantly stimulated externally (ie: going from task to task, web application to web application), my unconscious mind doesn’t have the down time it needs to process. When I give it time to process, I find that the solutions to those blocks just pop out naturally through the day when I’m taking a walk or making coffee.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a classically trained actor living in London. While I have a recent Masters in Acting from the prestigious East 15 Drama University, I got my start professionally in 2001 and have worked on over 50 movies, tv shows, plays, commercials, voice over projects, and more ever since. In addition to that, I am also a published poet and author, screenwriter and playwright. One of my plays is currently in the hands of both the Royal Court and the BBC, and I’ve just finished writing two feature length screenplays. I’ll be starting the process of looking for a producer for one of those scripts very soon.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Persistence, knowing your craft, and professionalism. Study, study, study. Learn everything you can about what you want to do, apply the knowledge, throw out what doesn’t work, and improve on what does. Always be willing to learn, adapt, change, and grow. Life is tough, it’ll knock you down at every turn but you have to keep going. There are rarely overnight successes but you can never achieve success if you let things stop you. Also, be professional. Do the work in advance (know all your lines and your character even if you have 1 sentence in the script), show up on time (which means 15 minutes EARLY), treat everyone equally (from catering all the way up to the producer), build your network, love what you do and have fun.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
This is a tough question for me because I don’t feel it has a binary answer. I think playing to your strengths is necessary and improving your weak spots is equally necessary… to a point. While you shouldn’t give up on improving an aspect of yourself, you also have to know what’s realistically in your ability to change and where your time is well spent. Know what your strengths are and hire people/get help with the areas you are lacking in. Being severely dyslexic, I know that no matter how hard I work at it, there are things I’ll just not be able to do, so I get help with those things. It’s not shameful or admitting defeat, it’s knowing what I am capable of, what my limits are, and working WITH it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jonpassow.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jon_passow/
- Other: Spotlight: https://app.spotlight.com/7331-7833-4411
Image Credits
Jon Passow, Ivan Weiss London, and Cai Marle-Garcia.
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