I’m building a new economic engine for culture
It’s a big job. Perhaps my life’s work. Everything I’ve done and witnessed up to now in theatre, film, television and early-stage ventures has placed me in a unique position to make the world a better place for culture makers and the people who experience the cultures they make.
I’m all-in on Substack
This is going to be home base for making and sharing my creative life. Substack has built a suite of tools that better suits the way I like to work. I think text is great - and/but reading is just one way to experience the world (and a tough one - especially for me with 2 kids under three!). My heart is in the theatre - writing with face, voice and body for audiences and viewers- people who SEE AND HEAR - and Substack’s suite of tools support that perfectly now.
I’ll be figuring out ways to be personally active, while doing the job that Substack is paying me to do in a relatively intensive way, for new and existing Substackers.
I’m offering paid subscription tiers
You’re going to lose nothing and gain a ton from this. It means I’m taking my work here more seriously, and there’s a variety of stuff to experience.
It also genuinely supports me. Substack pays me for 3 days a week, I work 4 days, and I want to devote that extra day to this Substack - which creates a virtuous circle of making me better at my official Substack work, because I’ll be able to show people great ways to use Substack to profit and delight their audience from direct experience.
I’ll be publishing free stuff regularly - here and with a special focus on Substack notes (which you can find in the app - seriously, get the app)
The paywalled stuff will be longer multimedia video podcast essays - I’ll publish my first pretty soon - where I’ll introduce you to an interesting way I’ve found to explore art and the internet. I’ve been pioneering it for commercial clients for about 5 years, but haven’t brought into this world yet.
In fact, the last few years have seen me totally separate my art from the way I make money. This is my chance to bring them both together again in ways that Profit & Delight us both.
I think we’re both going to love it.
It’ll be discursive, and far-reaching. It’ll take us to some really interesting places. It will take some effort, so I’ll try to do those video podcast essays every fortnight for you to mull over the weekend.
You’ll see another founding tier too - I’ll come up with a clever name for that, but it’s more interactive and primarily designed for the comedians, wrestlers and local farmers who I’m bringing over to Substack and helping them bloom. So it’s kind of educational, workshoppy stuff, and not really for you… yet. Maybe I’ll think of something cool that we can do together over a regular monthly video call. But don’t worry about that one for now.
I’m building this plane as I’m flying it.
Expect some stuff to be janky. But also expect that your feedback and support and interest will help influence and shape what I do.
When you like, comment and share stuff, I see that and take note. So do it - for better and worse. My work has been rejected and spurned by some pretty big names over the years! I have a thick hide, and my preferred way is to make lots of offers and be happy to hear ‘no’. I can take it.
Because the upside of this mission is culture-changing. Substack is pioneering a brave new world for culture-makers and the people who experience the culture they make.
We’re working towards an incredibly positive zeitgeist shift. Part of my work here will be to help you understand how it is going to change your experience of culture by upending the dominant, crappy model that aims to transform you from the sentient, curious creature that you are into an amorphous blob of eyeballs, stomachs and clicks to be farmed for disposable income. It’s insidious. It’s powerful. It’s a buck that’s going to stop right here.
Keep doing exactly what you’re doing, or….
P.S. I reckon the best way to experience my work, and find stuff that works well with it will be in the Substack app
You can download and install it on your phone here.
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