Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sean Mullens. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Sean with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I grew up working on farms as a kid in Ohio. Cleaning out pig pins, gathering eggs, feeding horses all before 5am and all before walking a quarter mile to catch a school bus. My dad believed in earning a living with your hands, your sweat and a drop or two of blood. That was passed on to me and combined with a notion that if you do something you might as well do it well and if you do it well you might as well do it better than anyone else. When you’re raised like that, putting in a few more hours after everyone’s gone home for the day and never missing a deadline seems easy in comparison.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I started my career as an art director who could write. My first real creative job was in advertising at FCB San Francisco where I worked on Levi’s and MTV. During that time, I fell in love with film. So I left advertising and became a music video director and eventually a commercial director. I knew very little about tech side of film making…cameras, lenses, lighting. But I knew how to tell a story and I could see the finished film in my head before ever running a foot of film through the camera.
Over the years I taught myself about the tech side. In doing so I bought a camera, some lenses and a used lighting package. I began shooting short documentaries about people who I found interesting. Mostly people that get passed over or ignored. The guy down the street who every day went surfing and was paralyzed from the waist down. Or a hated group of parking meter officers who started a gospel choir to spread joy. Or a group of punk rock drag performance artists who were misfits and outcasts who would radically reshape drag into what it is today.
Film was a passion but not my only creative outlet. My creative center is rooted in storytelling. Along my journey those stories have been told in the form of architecture, motorcycle design / builds, car builds, furniture designs, painting, music and fashion design.
Currently, I’m researching and writing two documentaries, starting a new clothing brand and directing commercials.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think from the beginning I had a clear sense of the role I played in the creative process. I was never good at taking full credit for what I make. I really have always known I was just a passenger on the train. Putting it more clearly, I never believe my best work came from me rather it came through me. I am a conduit. My job really has been to get out of the way of what is coming through. I feel lucky that I get to witness it and touch it here and there. Whenever I’ve fallen into the illusion that I’m the one making this stuff it all goes horribly wrong.
The most powerful, moving work of my career has often been the most magical and mysterious of origin. Most of the time I have no recollection of how it got made. Where the idea came from etc… I guess the art of it all is having enough awareness to keep one’s self open to random chance or consequence or fate or the flow or whatever name you want to give it.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
In the early nineties I stumbled across a book by John Chris Jones titled “Designing Designing”. It fundamentally changed my process opening me up to random chance process. It was the beginning of working the way I described earlier. Essentially becoming a conduit or a funnel with a bit of a filter built into it. Being open to and integrating synchronicity into my process. Active listening or viewing and responding to what feels right and more importantly being open to whatever comes to you know matter where it comes from.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seanmullens.com
