We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aaron Milus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aaron, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I would say these are still in-development, if I’m being honest. A lot of it comes from being surrounded by good friends and family — which I think you have to cultivate, it’s an intentional thing. You have to be mindful of the sources of feedback around you. You don’t want ‘yes men’, but you also don’t want sources of negativity and cynicism and doubt. I also think a lot of confidence comes from experience, or from allowing yourself to maybe fail… When I was younger, I avoided competitions because I was afraid of losing or looking bad — so I never really trained that part of the confidence muscle. BUT, as I’ve grown up (some), I’ve started putting my self and my work out into the world more, ready for feedback, good or bad. When you’re open to feedback, you’re open to growth — and sure enough, over time I think I’ve grown into a more confident artist and person.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m excited to be starting a new path in my career as a creative. I spent the first 15 years of my post-college life working as an animator and designer for all kinds of TV, movies and commercials — and I loved it. But since I was a little kid (when my dad showed me Star Wars for the first time), I always wanted to write stories and see those stories come to life on screen. Now, I’m a show runner’s assistant on a real-deal TV show, learning the ropes in a writers room, and building a path toward becoming my own show runner one day. I recently won the Austin Film Festival with a drama pilot I wrote, and have since secured management! So, a lot of good movement this year…
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Number one, I think you have to love what you do. If it’s not coming from a place of sincere passion — if you’re not doing it because you just love to do it — then what’s the point? For me, writing brings me joy; it’s hard and frustrating and usually feels like pushing a boulder up a mountain, but I love it so much, I can’t imagine doing something else for the rest of my life.
Two, I cannot understate the importance of Humility. I’m not talking about self deprecation, I mean the kind of humility that makes you teachable. No matter how much I know, someone else knows more. No matter how good I am at something, there is always someone better. When I’m open to this reality, I not only learn more, and improve more in my craft, but I also form better, more genuine relationships with people. In my experience, those relationships have more to do with success than anything I can do on my own. And that’s beautiful.
Third, Authenticity is key. Be honest. Be vulnerable. No amount of schmoozing at industry mixers will build the kind of reputation or relationships that matter. There’s a lot of ‘Fake’ out there, a lot of artifice. So when someone is just simply, authentically themself, it’s intoxicating!
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 such an interesting question. I think it might depend on the strengths in question, but in my case, I’m incredibly grateful for the various experiences and disciplines I’ve collected over the years. There’s something to be said for focus — and I think it’s obviously incredibly important to work hard at improving and honing your strengths. BUT– you never really know what other opportunities might teach you.
Right now, for example, I am filling in as a Script Supervisor for the TV show I’m on — I’ve never done this before. I’m not particularly passionate about this specific job or this set of responsibilities — BUT, I can say without a doubt that it is giving me a real appreciation for — not just other Script Supervisors — but for the intricacies of script format, why its important, and what to look out for in my own writing. It will make me a better Show Runner.
My designer career is also strangely applicable. For this same job, I’ve been tapped to create maps and organize documents in more visually appealing ways. Maybe its not a vital position in a traditional writers room, and you may never notice the fruits of my labor on screen, but it’s helped align the other writers on certain details, and made everyone’s job that much easier. I couldn’t have done that without a background in an almost completely unrelated field.
So I guess my short answer would be, being open to improvement in various areas means you’ll be prepared to take advantage of more opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aaronmilus.com
- Instagram: @marsmilus
