The Power of Creativity \(Book 1\): Learning How to Build Lasting Habits, Face Your Fears and Change Your Life pdfdrive com

How Matthew Weiner Carved Out Time for His Side Project
Ever since he was a boy, Matthew Weiner (b. 1965) wanted to become a writer.
He  was  born  into  a  home  in  Baltimore  that  revered  writers,  but  when  Weiner
attempted to follow in the footsteps of his creative heroes, he was rejected time
and again.
He wrote poetry and stories and tried to join writing class after writing class.
A professor who read some of Weiner’s early poetry told him, “I think you know
you are not a poet.”
Weiner studied literature, philosophy and history at Wesleyan University and
attended film school at the University of Southern California.
After graduating, he stayed at home for three years and spent his time writing
spec scripts for television shows.
While  his  friends  got  real,  paying  day  jobs,  Weiner  struggled  to  break  into
show business as a writer. He relied on his wife, who was an architect, to support
him.
Like  many  new  artists,  Weiner  couldn’t  handle  the  constant  rejection  and
lack  of  success.  His  main  gig  wasn’t  paying  off.  So  he  stopped  writing  and
considered getting a real job that paid well with the rest of his friends.
Then, Weiner got a break that changed his life.
Through  an  old  college  friend,  Weiner  found  his  first  paying  job  as  a
television writer for a pilot that needed a polish or a “punch-up”.
Weiner’s new main gig involved working fourteen hour days, but his obvious
writing  talents  impressed  the  writers  and  producers,  and  they  used  some  of
Weiner’s suggestions in the pilot.
After  getting  his  first  paying  job  as  a  writer,  Weiner  went  on  to  write  for
popular comedies like Becker. When Weiner wasn’t working on his main gig, he

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spent his free time in the mornings and at night working on a side project.
This  time,  he  didn’t  expect  it  to  pay  the  bills.  He  had  an  idea  for  a  little
television show about the lives of a group of successful but unhappy advertising
executives during the 1950s and 60s.
In the book Getting There, he tells Gillian Zoe Segal about this side project:
I always wanted to create my own show, so I started researching my
“advertising project” in my spare time. It was like having a mistress.
I worked on it at night or during my off-hours when I was not with
my family.”
Weiner faced a new problem. Putting in 14-hour days at the main gig didn’t
leave him enough free time or energy to get the words down on the page at night.
Weiner could have put his big idea on the shelf, but like a lot of creative masters,
he didn’t quit.”
Instead,  Weiner  used  earnings  from  his  main  gig  to  hire  a  transcriber  to
record his ideas. He also hired a researcher to help him unearth small details that
gave his side project more authenticity. Weiner says:
I  paid  people  to  do  research,  inundated  myself  with  material,  and
even hired a writer’s assistant to dictate to because I was too tired to
type (it also freed my imagination). When I finished the script, I felt
like it was something special.”
When  Weiner  wasn’t  working  on  his  main  thing,  he  lived  with  his  side
project. He carried a script for Mad Men  everywhere  he  went.  He  showed  it  to
his colleagues and David Chase, the director, creator and writer of The Sopranos.
Chase  was  so  impressed  by  the  script  that  he  hired  Weiner  as  a  writer  and
supervising producer. He said about Weiner’s idea,
It  was  lively,  and  it  had  something  new  to  say  .  .  .  Here  was
someone who had written a story about advertising in the 1960s, and

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was looking at recent American history through that prism.”
At first, while working on The Sopranos, Weiner put his script aside for the
most part. Later when The Sopranos drew to an end, Weiner pitched his big idea
to producers on the side.
Before the final season of The Sopranos aired, Weiner sold Mad Men to the
ABC  television  network  because,  “They  were  trying  to  make  a  splash  and
wanted to do something new.”
Finally  realising  his  dream,  Weiner  became  show  runner  for  Mad  Men  and
filmed 13 episodes of season one. What started out as a side project became a hit
TV show that ran for seven seasons and won 16 Emmys as well as four Golden
Globes.