Blogocentric Formulations

Wodehouse/WTMR Entry #4 - Dream Job

ACTIVITY: "a very Wodehouse challenge" 
GROUP AFFILIATION: "Welcome To My Reality Forum" 
PROMPT: What is your dream profession and why?

                   

I suppose that "writer" is going to be a pretty popular answer for this topic, so let me expand a little and say that I would more specifically like to be a "producer" or, even better, a "creator." I don't think I would be happy as someone who just cranked out screenplays or novels, one after the other, year after year after year. I have too many varied interests, too short of an attention span, and an excitement about too many different mediums to be satisfied with doing the same kind of thing over and over. My dream job, as a result, wouldn't be so much a writer day-to-day as much as an overall creative voice that contributes to the process in a variety of ways.

I suppose the closest analog to this kind of job would be someone like George Lucas with the Star Wars universe, or J.K. Rowling with the Harry Potter franchise. There was a point, after he created the world and watched it increase in popularity, where Lucas stopped being a "writer" per se, and instead became an overall creative director for this thing he created. He supervised writers who wrote screenplays and books, craftsmen who created merchandise, programmers who developed the technology to bring it to life, etc. Similarly, even though Rowling is still far more of a writer than Lucas is, there's a significant portion of her daily responsibilities that's involved in shaping the world of Harry Potter long after the last book has been written. I think being someone like that, where the job isn't just cranking out pages but also considering how best to realize the vision of the worlds I've created in terms of a movie, a comic book, a theme park attraction, a lunch box, a deck of playing cards, and/or a board game would be immensely fun and satisfying. It would keep me actively engaged in the art of creating something, while also allowing me to exercise my business skills.

If that weren't an option (after all, I just need to create a bestselling, blockbuster franchise property, right? ), I would want to be a writer/producer of various things, like J. Michael Straczynski, who has done everything from screenplays to novels to comic books to radio programs to stage plays. If that grand idea of mine doesn't catapult me into the stratosphere and make me the next George Lucas or J.K. Rowling, I could definitely see myself being a creative writer/producer who takes on different roles on different projects, based on whatever creative input I feel like I could lend to the project.