It's hard to create
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rules or maxims or principles around
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creative collaboration. The chemistry of
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it is so specific to each scenario, you
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know? I mean, I've made
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I've made like 50 films, and I'm not
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sure that there's a single methodology
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an ef- an effective or positive
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collaboration. Different people work in
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very different ways. You know, you need
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you need leadership in the sense that
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you need someone who almost
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the frame in which you're inside which
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you're all working and
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the goals and articulates in some sense
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if there are principles or values
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that you want to work within.
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I think people are actually very
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adaptable, very malleable, and can get
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excited about lots of ways of working,
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but I do think leadership is sometimes
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getting people tuned into the same
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at the front end so that you can get
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the you know, um I don't want to say
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happiest, but you can get a effective
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I've had certain creative experiences
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were really inspiring. I I mean, working
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Alejandro Iñárritu on Birdman, where he
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analogized to the process before we even
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Philippe Petit walking on the the the
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wire between the World Trade Centers
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without a net. He He established that it
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was going to be risky, that the idea of
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a film in one take might not succeed,
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but that it was worth going for, that
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that putting ourselves out
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into a position where there wasn't a
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workaround was going to produce
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something interesting. And he And I
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think he got he got everybody pulled
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together around the idea of creative
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Olivia Wilde did that really recently on
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this film The Invitation that we did.
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She used a phrase I love. She said,
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"We're going to stitch the parachute on
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with the faith that it's going to open."
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And I think what she meant in that case
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is that she was willing to set out on
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without knowing what the the end of the
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story was going to be that we were going
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that we were going to actually find the
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end of the story and route to making it
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that she kind of gave us a scenario. She
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asked us to bring our own ideas about
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our characters into the mix and
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permitted us to not know precisely where
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Instead of uncertainty, it turned it
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into discovery. You know, and discovery
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is fun and vital and feels alive and you
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could take the same set of circumstances
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and if everybody feels like you know,
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insecure or I don't know what we're
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doing or aren't we supposed to know what
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it has a very different feedback loop
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that gets created. So, you can have the
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same scenario and the way that you frame
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to people can make it a positive an
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emotional positive versus an emotional
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A good leader I think communi-
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communicates the rules of engagement,
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communicates the modality that you're
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going to work in because then people can
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say themselves, "Oh, that's what we're
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supposed to feel uncertain. Feeling
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uncertain is good."
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>> I mean, why don't you try it? I'll put
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it in I'll come in in the night.
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We'll put them in. We'll put them in for
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And if you don't like it, you know,
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we'll take it away.
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Um we'll we'll we'll take it away and
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you know, what have you what have you
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got to lose? And people would sort of
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say, "Okay." And as soon as he
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And I I mean, I love the image of Mike
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Bloomberg in with carpet, you know,
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pulling up carpets and getting cables
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run and putting his early terminals in.
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But he said once they got on it, then
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then they would then they never gave it
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up, you know, and that and today people
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still people are addicted to their
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Bloomberg terminal data feeds. But I I
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if you can frame up like an idea you
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have as something that can be tried, you
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know, at like like almost like the what
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have you got to lose, you know, or what
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have we got to lose?
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It's it's not always going to work, but
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it's not a bad pitch. Like the idea of
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saying, "Hey, will you let me run with
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this for a minute and and in a sense
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When I've worked with directors who are
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who have in some sense
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a video tape in their head of the way
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something's going to go,
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you know, the great thing about film is
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just like we're doing here, you can do
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takes, right? And it's like, "Why don't
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I I used to use the line like if someone
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was really giving me friction around an
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I had about a way to play something, I'd
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just say, "Look, you know,
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let me have a few. Just just give me a
05:14
few to just run an idea.
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And when I'm done with the idea, then,
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you know, if I did black and you want
05:22
white, then come in and say,
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"Great, we've got black. Can I have
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white?" And you know, and I've already
05:28
get I've I've tried my idea. Great,
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let's try another one, you know, let's
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try something else. Um
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I like to I mean, I like to put the full
05:35
of whatever my capabilities are behind
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any idea because it's it's a fun
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exercise. But sometimes, um
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sometimes I've even as an actor I've
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asked for sort of just enough rope
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just enough rope to tease an idea out
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before you you you you shut it down. And
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usually And again, usually if you put it
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to someone that way
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and they realize that all you're giving
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them is options, then maybe you can get
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someone who's negatively micro-managing
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can be encouraged to
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to see it as positive optionality for
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I've almost never started any enterprise
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by myself. I mean, you can't in film.
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I've written things
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but every business I've ever started
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I've done it with partners. Not people I
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hired who were good, but with with
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to me like 1 + 1 + 1 = 10 is like
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has always been a winning formula. I
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val- you know, I value partners
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intrinsically and I think I've been
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pretty good at picking them. I think you
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know, you have to pick your partners
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really carefully and I've been really
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really lucky. I've worked with and I've
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worked with a number of people on
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multiple enterprises because my
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experience was so good and we wanted to
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And that's true. Certainly in
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filmmaking, you build you build
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people who you're like, "Oh man, I I
07:03
don't ever want to go to battle again
07:05
without her on props or without him on
07:07
production design or without you know, I
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mean, you you build your team. You build
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a team that you can
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uh but but then other times you look at
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the bespoke needs of a project and you
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you're looking for someone with a real
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set of skills. It's funny, I mean, it's
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2026 but I still think conversation
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we're still people and the fastest way
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to determine whether
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you vibe with someone is it's to ask
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you know, I mean, it's funny. One thing
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I've kind of learned over time is
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I'm I I I can say what I think about a
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thing, but if you're really trying to
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recruit people and you're trying to
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figure out is this the right person for
07:52
me? Sometimes you got really got to
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learn to when to shut up. You know what
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I mean? And and and in a way make sure
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that you know, you leave the space open
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and see how other people fill the space
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cuz it's really the only way you're
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what they've got, you know? I mean
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anybody can sort of yes you if you over
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explain what you're looking for. I think
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if you if you [music]
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leave a lot of empty space, you'll see
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what someone else fills it with and
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you'll learn a lot more.
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