THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT a year that ends with a nine. Whether it’s a birthday or the end of a decade, it’s just a big deal, a signal of the end of one thing and the beginning of something else. There’s trauma attached to turning 30 or 40 or 50 or whatever else we get to. So, in 1999, we start to anticipate the biggest global birthday we’ve all ever seen. It’s a time for reflection and, of course, a time to look forward to a new start. For those of us fortunate enough to work in our business, it is a particularly good time because we’re in the "what’s next" business, and as the millennium approaches, what’s next is on what’s on everyone’s mind. We witness and create trends. We take what the new technology gives us and push it further to make ourselves better at our craft.
I can remember a time not so long ago when ".com" was just a typo. A time when we looked at our dailies in screening rooms with plush chairs and a nervous feeling in our stomachs-a time when you had to shoot it right the first time because you couldn’t fix it in post. I remember when production companies were named for their directors.
But things have changed in our business because they always do. We are the largest congregation of type A personalities, and when we want a break, it’s usually for a day or two, and no longer, because we become bored or restless and think that maybe there are projects passing us by. We eagerly seek out what’s next. I went to a meeting the other day, and there was talk of the availability of several thousand channels on TV-of hundreds of portals on the Net. I remember a time when there were only seven channels in New York and only three networks. It wasn’t so long ago.
What we’ve always needed-past, present and future-are great ideas. "Great ideas brilliantly executed," that’s all our creative director, Ted Bell, asks for. It’s simple really. Whatever the technology and however many portals or channels we have, we will always bow to great ideas brilliantly executed. So as we move through the end of our century, and from one millennium to another (here’s the conclusion), let’s stop using up energy whining about budgets, clients, schedules, weather, whatever, and use that energy in a positive manner toward great ideas brilliantly executed. Let’s call a moratorium on whining for 1999. We are the fortunate ones, fortunate to work in such a creative industry. We are the ones who look for, ask for and create what’s next.
