I was freelancing at Saatchi and Saatchi recently, where I ran across a column written by my blogosphere buddy Ernie Schenck. Ernie is a legend in this business with more awards than I have gripes. In his latest salvo, "I Miss the Lunatics", Ernie makes the case for the old days of advertising (like 10 years ago) when the creative department hallways were filled with tormented hotheads who simply wanted to do great adverting and get paid outrageous sums of money.
He pleads, "God almighty, people, doesn't anybody fight for creativity anymore?"
I can't speak for the current crop of creatives, but as a former purist with a volcanic temper I can tell you that fighting, throwing tantrums and displaying contempt for the bullshit that pervades this business, has not served me well.
Oh sure, I've won the awards, fathered several universally-recognized campaigns, made a full-length documentary film that premiered at Sundance, even got to jet around on a Gulfstream IV with Lee Clow, but look where that fiery lunatic-ism landed me -- the hard-scrabble land of freelance, where, if I'm lucky, I'll be awarded the assignment to write the next batch of coupon ads for the Mr. Mattress Sleep Emporium.
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