It is currently just before six in the morning. I’ve just finished a cross to an overseas radio station, so while my body is having serious second thoughts about being awake, my mind is firing on all cylinders. And when my mind is awake at this hour, I start thinking about the state of our industry.
Specifically, what does it actually mean to be "creative"?
If you look it up, the internet offers some predictably clinical answers. The Cambridge Dictionary defines creativity as:
"The ability to produce original and unusual ideas, or to make something new or imaginative."
But what do people actually mean when they say it?
Lately, it feels like they mean "following a template." This train of thought started for me over on Threads, where I mentioned that I find the current trend of people holding a fluffy lavalier mic, one explicitly designed to be clipped to clothing, a distraction. Now, look, I don’t really care where people put their microphones. But this prescriptive influencer aesthetic has nothing to do with creativity or "urgency," despite what some YouTubers would have you believe. It’s just process. It’s content for the sake of content.
To me, creativity isn’t a style choice or a gear trend. Creativity is the ability to see and feel, smell and think, imagine, and share. And honestly? It can be a bit of a lonely place.
The Gilded Cage of the Five-Day Week
I’ve spent my life in the creative industries. I trained as an actor and in cinematography. I’ve been in a few feature films you would absolutely have heard of, and a few others I wish I hadn't heard of. But for a large chunk of my career, I did radio presentation.
If I’m honest, I regret staying in it for so long. I became used to being paid, but very little of it felt truly creative. Sitting there five days a week, playing music that was okay but never my choice, and talking to people I was told to talk to,it all felt a bit flat.
Yes, I won awards. Yes, I had great listening figures, and on paper, some might say I created a brilliant career. I enjoyed elements of it, sure. But the bits I actually loved were the off-script, spur-of-the-moment flashes of chaos. A conversation with a caller that took the entire radio hour in a completely unscripted direction. Real people, nattering, being interesting, funny, and actually thinking on their feet. That was the closest I came to being truly pleased.
Doing the exact same thing every single day in that studio drained me. To be creative, you have to change, renew, and try something different. It might end up being worse, but the victory is in the attempt to make something new. When you fall into a repetitive routine, the creative spark just suffocates.
The Brilliant Curse
Having a creative bent isn't some magical, airy-fairy gift—it’s a bit of a curse. You want perfection. You never really get it. And half the time, people just laugh, tease, and call you "arty-farty."
Because of that, most creatives suffer from rampant imposter syndrome. We worry too much. We see things as red when everyone else sees them as blue. But the payoff is that creatives reward the world with their work.
Years ago, a radio listener said to me: "You made us feel better."
Wow. I was playing largely crap music and doing my level best not to sound like a total cheese-fest, but I made someone smile. I took that as a massive win.
The Problem with Modern "Content"
Maybe I’m just middle-aged and grumpy. Actually, scratch that—I am definitely very grumpy. But too much current creative content is entirely process-driven.
I hear people on the airwaves making radio sound like hard work. It is not hard to talk. If it is, why on earth are you on the radio? I see video content online that isn't well-lit, features absolutely nobody talking, and yet we are told this is the standard. We’ve reached a point where we judge a videographer by their showreel.
Why? A showreel is just a highlight clip of the best bits. Surely we should judge them by their last piece of work as a whole?.
True artists never stop trying to be better. Their latest work should be their best work. Former pieces belong in the past,still shining a light on what they wanted to say at the time, but ultimately left behind.
Whether you are making a podcast, a video, a radio show, or creating an advert for your brand, you have to inject creative thought and care into it. Otherwise, what is the point? If you are only doing it because it’s what you’ve always done, or because an algorithm told you to hold a microphone a certain way, you’ve missed the mark.
Stop playing it safe. Try something new. It might fail, but at least it will be alive.