"Butch, the Next Time You Say 'Let's Go to Bolivia', Let's Go to Bolivia."
Dear Students,
This is a great movie.
Not just good film, good dialogue, good music and fun to watch, it's got a lesson for you that could mean the difference between greatness and whatever else there is.
The line above is said by The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) to Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman).
They're surrounded on all sides and about to get captured & hung, or shot outright, when, in a moment of ultimate cool, they have a conversation about what they should do when they get out of the mess they're in--leave the American West where they were being chased for robbing banks to go to Bolivia where the US lawmen had no jurisdiction.
It illustrates a principle which has become crucial to high-level success in advertising:
Do your ideas as soon as you have them.
Time eats ideas.
If you wait, not only may someone else come up with the same idea, or a better one, someone may simply come up with an idea that gets through the gate into production before yours.
Then you're left watching while someone else eats your cupcake.
Emerson warned of this in Self-Reliance, admonishing us: "... to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another."
Move immediately when you've got an idea.
Jump on it.
Make it move right then when it's loose and jangly and feels wrong.
Don't let it get solid.
If you don't fear it some, it probably sucks.
(I don't know how many times I've suggested people read Emerson.
It's got to be boring to hear me say it again.
Look closely at that line quoted above though.
Knowing that what he's suggesting goes against our nature, he exhorts the reader to not only be a person who sticks with an idea when he has it, but to especially do so when other people speak out most against it. That's the hardest part, and the most important. Tough to put in practice. Which is why there's not many Emersons)
Intelligence is good.
But without action it's only unused potential.
I often feel I could be the king of that.
p.s. Yes, in the movie, going to Bolivia didn't work out after a while for Butch & Sundance, but that was more the fault of their professional choices, not their acting on ideas as they had them. Another good principle from the movie is the number of rules there are in a knife fight. You'll have to watch it to get that one.
This is a great movie.
Not just good film, good dialogue, good music and fun to watch, it's got a lesson for you that could mean the difference between greatness and whatever else there is.
The line above is said by The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) to Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman).
They're surrounded on all sides and about to get captured & hung, or shot outright, when, in a moment of ultimate cool, they have a conversation about what they should do when they get out of the mess they're in--leave the American West where they were being chased for robbing banks to go to Bolivia where the US lawmen had no jurisdiction.
It illustrates a principle which has become crucial to high-level success in advertising:
Do your ideas as soon as you have them.
Time eats ideas.
If you wait, not only may someone else come up with the same idea, or a better one, someone may simply come up with an idea that gets through the gate into production before yours.
Then you're left watching while someone else eats your cupcake.
Emerson warned of this in Self-Reliance, admonishing us: "... to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another."
Move immediately when you've got an idea.
Jump on it.
Make it move right then when it's loose and jangly and feels wrong.
Don't let it get solid.
If you don't fear it some, it probably sucks.
(I don't know how many times I've suggested people read Emerson.
It's got to be boring to hear me say it again.
Look closely at that line quoted above though.
Knowing that what he's suggesting goes against our nature, he exhorts the reader to not only be a person who sticks with an idea when he has it, but to especially do so when other people speak out most against it. That's the hardest part, and the most important. Tough to put in practice. Which is why there's not many Emersons)
Intelligence is good.
But without action it's only unused potential.
I often feel I could be the king of that.
p.s. Yes, in the movie, going to Bolivia didn't work out after a while for Butch & Sundance, but that was more the fault of their professional choices, not their acting on ideas as they had them. Another good principle from the movie is the number of rules there are in a knife fight. You'll have to watch it to get that one.
20 Comments:
Love the image of not letting the idea get solid.
The next level to the comparing this masterpiece in filmaking to the crazy business we've all enlisted in is in the scene that follows Butch and Sundance's conversation.
We sit and think of ideas that scare us and get all giddy about exposing them to the world while planners, AEs and clients sit outside our cubicle like the Bolivian army waiting for Butch and Sundance with their guns cocked.
We come running out with the idea that breaks new ground in the category and BLAMMO!
We never saw it coming.
We never stood a chance.
God bless the CDs that truly are the Butch and Sundances of advertising.
how similar are our professors are to Butch and Sundance's lawmen?
the idea happens
the ideas is shared
the idea gets killed.
execute before they get killed?
sure, intentions are good, they're only trying to keep our work palatable
if an idea is a smart one, who cares if it doesn't smack of advertising?
Bolivian Dreams is the very reason our work outside of class should be top priority
Cool posters.
marahaahaa-
good luck with that me-against-the-world attitude. should serve you well in agency life.
"You just keep thinkin', Fenske. That's what you're good at."
movie night?
love it.
Definitely concur. What stops us?
Dear Anonymous,
Your bringing up the question "what stops us?" makes me wonder if you don't already have an answer. I'll give it a shot too, seeing as it's an intriguing question, but yours will likely be more definitive.
We stop because we lack faith what we've thought of is a good idea.
The more belief we have in our ideas coming to fruition, the more of them we'll act on.
Hard part: to grow belief, taking the first step.
What about having something to fight against? Having a clear enemy, like the Bolivian army seems conducive to doing good work.
For example, designer Marc Newson hates cell phones, so he made one.
The enemy this weekend: the Bears.
Marcopolo-
The Colts(Count On Losing The Super Bowl)have to have an enemy to fight against because you must show up for a fight, but like in the case of the Colts you don't always win. But you must be smart enough to see what you are fighting. A bear will ALWAYS kill a colt.
And on an unrelated, yet related note, read, "Which Lie Did I Tell" by William Goldman, screenwriter of Butch & Sundance. About writing. So good.
Hey Karen, thanks for the recommendation. I checked out the book and it's filled with stories and insights. I remember reading Sidney Lumet's "Making Movies" in college and it's also a good read.
Wise Words, Mr. F.
Fenske, we need more wisdom. When shall you post again?
Dear Stacked Chairs,
I'm with you.
Believe me when I say I need more wisdom than I've got.
Last week I drove across country.
Not much web access near the interstate in the flyover states.
Something soon, from that, I promise, though I can't say it'll match the level of the comments folks leave here.
The idea of Butch & Sundance behind the wall talking about their next great idea while Bolivian riflemen are stacking themselves two deep behind every parapet waiting for them being an analogy for us in ad agencies--courtesy of marahaahaa-- strikes me stronger than anything I gleaned from my 12th watching of the film. I'm grateful for the attention you're paying, for sure.
mmmmmm...paul newman. aint' nothin finer than a young paul newman.
This is a great post. Thanks for the quality stuff
You're a very wise man, Fenske. And funny to boot. Thanks for the pick-me-up. Better than Starbucks.
Post a Comment
<< Home