- Hide menu

Rules (Updated)

Rule 1
Never screw over a collaborator

Rule 2
Focus on process, not results

Rule 3
Don’t believe what you’re told

Rule 4
Never be unreachable

Rule 5
Never make excuses

Rule 6
Never waste talent

Rule 7
Always work as a team

Rule 8
Put in more than you want out

Rule 9
Never take anything for granted

Rule 10
Always carry a knife

Rule 11
Talking about work and work are not the same thing

Rule 12
Leave the site exactly as you found it

Rule 13
When the show is over, walk away

Rule 14
Never date a collaborator

Rule 15
Consider everything an experiment
(thank you John Cage)

Rule 16
Never involve lawyers

Rule 17
Bend the lines, don’t break them

Rule 18
Instinct is not the same as impulse

Rule 19
Appreciate failure, this is where growth occurs

Rule 20
It’s better to seek forgiveness than ask permission

Rule 21
Protect the time and space in which you work

Rule 22
Always carry a note-book and a pencil

Rule 23
Always carry a camera

Rule 24
Watch those watching

Rule 25
Snacks are surprisingly really important

Rule:26
Always remember we’re doing this because we love it

Rule 27
If you feel like you are being taken advantage of … you are

Rule 28
Avoid wearing shoes, they break your connection with the space

Rule 29
Don’t waste people’s time, and don’t let others waste yours

Rule 30
There is no such thing as coincidence, the universe is telling you something
sometimes it’s saying “no”

Rule 31
Be transparent with your collaborators:
they can do more when they have a complete understanding of what is going on
and very helpful when you do not

Rule 32
Clean up any mess you make

(a) the reverse for you: show up clean/leave dirty

Rule 33
Be the first to arrive and the last to leave

Rule 34
Don’t work on Monday

(a): Ghosts exist, give them one day/night a week alone in the space

Rule 35
Don’t work for free; don’t ask others to work for free

Rule 36
Think twice about picking a site that doesn’t allow dogs

Rule 37
Everybody off book: actors, musicians, stage manager, crew

(a) music stands are amateurish

Rule 38
If you have nothing to say
don’t feel obliged to pretend you do

Rule 39
Respect your performers
Their job is 10 times more dangerous than yours

Rule 40
Never expect dogs, cats, birds, or any other animals to do what you’d like them to do

(a) Sharka is an exception to this rule

Rule 41
Don’t quote other artists or productions unless you have to

Rule 42
Make up for a lack of (financial) means with an increase in imagination

Rule 43
A tight schedule can be difficult…
having too much time is worse

Rule 44
Less make-up is better

Rule 45
Fewer words are always better!

Rule 46
The more you know about “performance”
the tougher it gets to leave that knowledge behind
As soon as you do things “because you know how to do them”
you’re fucked

Rule 47
A “beautiful image”
can very well be the worst thing that can happen to your work

Rule 48
If you aren’t making art
you aren’t an artist
Work

Rule 49
If an idea doesn’t terrify you
if you aren’t fairly certain you will fail
it probably isn’t good enough

Rule 50
Know when your work is shit
Never be afraid to throw it all out and start over

Rule 51
Photographing is easy
Directing is hard
Neither is as hard as real work
So, never complain
No one will give you any sympathy anyway

Rule 52
Embrace mistakes
If you are working with good artists
they will use a mistake
make the work richer and more the stuff of life

Rule 53
Most bloggers are not critics
most are guys who can afford a laptop
Take them as seriously as that
even if they love you

Especially if they love you

Rule 54
A lot of critics are not qualified
they are just guardians of normalcy

(a) Susan Sontag was a genius

Rule 55
Don’t have style
Maybe you do
but you should never know what it is

(a) A performance should have a style
your job is to figure out what that is and execute it

Rule 56
Above everything else, you are a storyteller
Tell the story

Rule 57
When someone tells you something can’t be done
have patience and ask them to try it again

(a) maybe it can
if you just ignore one of your stupid rules

Rule 58
Be grateful
in failure or success

Rule 59
Be brave
if you aren’t brave
you are not an artists
and whether you are artists or not
that’s what you should strive to be

Rule 60
You are never the smartest person in the room
just the luckiest

3 thoughts on “Rules (Updated)

  1. warren says:

    this is how we ROLL

  2. Andre says:

    for someone who breaks the rules you have a lot of rules!

  3. admin says:

    Rule 61?
    None of the above is necessarily correct.

×