[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
John Vorhaus, Author/Artist/Screenwriter: I can tell you that there’s a difference between content that people want and content that people need.
I told you I’ve written several novels. They didn’t sell that well because at the time that I wrote them, the whole bookstore paradigm was shifting a little bit.
But the how-to books, I was writing lots of poker books and comedy writing books, the how-to books always sold quite strong.
It occurred to me people don’t have to pay for content they just want.
There’s plenty of free content out there, but people will pay for content they need because they want to be comic writers themselves or they want to be standup comics or whatever.
That’s content that they’ll pay for.
It may be that people are drawn to consuming content that is of direct benefit to them.
That’s completely incorrect.
The world is full of people who just consume content for entertainment.
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But your audience, I can imagine, and my constituency for sure, these are people who want to evolve.
They want to find and serve their own creative mission.
It’s natural that they’ll be drawn to topics that have something of concrete benefit to them, something they can use now.
Film Courage: And apply hopefully also about making money, which is segue into our topic here.
And that is how have you handled the relationship between money and art throughout your life?
John: In many, many different ways.
It’s an evolving thing.
The slogan we have in this house is Never leave money lying on the table, which is just a way of saying if there’s an opportunity to earn money honorably, don’t turn down your nose turn up your nose at it.
Don’t reject it.
Don’t ever think you can’t do it.
Lean into it.
I‘ve done this over and over again. I’ve gotten writing jobs all through my life…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
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BIO:
John Vorhaus is best known for his comedy-writing classic, The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not. He has taught and trained writers in 37 countries on five continents at last count, and created TV shows of his own in Nicaragua, Romania and elsewhere. His writing credits include dozens of teleplays and screenplays, plus seven novels and some two dozen works of non-fiction. His latest book is the little book of STANDUP. Vorhaus is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the Writers Guild of America. He lives in Southern California and secretly controls the world from JohnVorhaus.com.
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