How Connectivity, Ironically, Killed Collaboration☠️
And how AI is coming for the creative process next.
I’ll admit I am coming down from a high.
Last week I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia filming for a new series in which I play Chief Inspector Ian Duncan of the Straits Settlement Police Force in 1920s Singapore. I am contractually forbidden from uploading any photos but, trust me, I looked cool in my Peaky Blinders-esque pleat front trousers and waistcoat, dispatching corrupt cops and gangsters in sweaty, smoky rooms with my British issue Webley Revolver
For several days I was surrounded by scores of talented, creative people bringing their passion and craft to hair and makeup, costume design, weapons, stunts, camera, sound, lighting, production, all collaborating to create magic. It was a buzz and, for now, it’s over, which makes me sad.
Sitting alone in Starbucks a week later, I have calculated that of my 112 waking hours each week I spend half alone either working from home, here, or going to gigs and screenings that no one else wants to go to. Mostly I don’t mind, in fact I often prefer it, but right now I am severely missing the energy of other creative people pushing each other to try harder, go further, be better.
Let me give you an example. In one of my scenes I had to shoot another police officer as he attempts to abscond back to England. I had a real gun, loaded with blanks, and we blocked the shot multiple times because even blanks can be dangerous if pointed in the wrong direction. Finally the director shouted “Action!”, and I stepped into the scene, delivered my lines, raised the gun and squeezed the trigger. My fellow actor Tom (a.k.a. Handsome Tom), fell to the floor and I stood over his body to deliver my final line but it felt...incomplete. I can’t explain why, just that the grammar of the scene felt off. It needed more of a full stop at the end so I suggested to the Director that I fire off one more shot over his body. The Director of Photography immediately leaped on this idea, suggesting he capture it from the floor so I would look intimidating, silhouetted by the overhead lights. The Producer informed us that, in Malaysia, every time a gun appears on screen they have to pay the government 2,000 MYR (USD $509) and, once he got on the floor, the DoP said they they’d need to apply special effects to cover all the rigging on the ceiling. But we all agreed it would look cool and so phone calls were made, schedules were updated, lights were moved, lenses swapped and we captured the shot simply because it looked cool.
What we did wasn’t planned or scheduled, it wasn’t budgeted or approved, it wasn’t necessary or efficient. We did it because it was cool. We did it because, collectively, we saw a creative opportunity; a chance to enhance the drama, capture a beautiful frame and make it more fun for the audience. And it couldn’t have happened without everyone collaborating, seamlessly, almost soundlessly. Once the idea was agreed a collective sense of purpose descended upon everyone - I’m talking about 20 or 30 people - and we all silently went about making it happen and it was electric.
And now, as I sit here alone, coming down from the high of last week and looking for opportunities to meet and hang out with other creative people I find myself lacking and I have a theory as to why; connectivity killed collaboration.
When I came to Singapore in 2009 I knew no one except my Singaporean girlfriend, now wife. I had been sent to open the Asian branch of a B2B publishing company and I needed to get to know the tech industry and its marketers ASAP, which I did by attending Mobile Mondays, Web Wednesdays and Content Conversations at bars along Boat Quay. By volunteering at AdTech, Brand Summit and Agency Summit in Singapore, Kota Kinabalu and Bali. By simply hanging out at Gem Bar on Club Street, Moo Bar on McCallum Street and My Awesome Cafe of Telok Ayer Street where brands and agency types would gather to drink and swap gossip nightly. NONE of these events or scenes exist since the pandemic. If I were arriving in Singapore now, I don’t know how I would ever get to meet anyone.
The Covid pandemic proved we can work entirely from home. AI is making it so that we can work entirely alone and the upshot is the death of collaboration. There is a tech-bro fantasy of the one-man unicorn - a billion dollar company created and run by an individual using only AI. This is amongst the most miserable, dystopian visions for the future I can imagine. Just a sad, lonely nerd optimising every aspect of their existence to make as much money as possible with no one to share it with and nothing else to do. This, I fear, is where we are headed.
As an actor and screenwriter I need to collaborate with others but I can’t tell you how or why or what I need. It’s not as transactional as that. But the Internet makes it transactional; you can only reach out if you have a need. No one on our set knew we needed another shot to complete the scene, it wasn’t in the script, but the idea arose almost telepathically and, together, we made it happen. Yes, I know that technically I can make an entire movie by myself, but I don’t want to, because it won’t be as good and JUST AS IMPORTANTLY it won’t be as fun!
Connectivity killed collaboration and AI is trying to kill creativity by eradicating the process and jumping straight to the end result, entirely missing the point of creating anything in the first place.
I am so grateful that 600 of you have subscribe to Pro-Human, and that around 250 of you open my emails when they arrive but I would swap all of that to have 5 of you join me around a pub table, weekly, to talk about this stuff and collaborate on something bigger, together.
To Do List
My recommendations for new things to read, watch, look at, listen to and do this week:
First, a favour. I submitted a poem to Poems On The MRT in Singapore and I;d really like to see it printed at the station so could you kindly take a look (it’s short) and drop a heart if you like it? ❤️ https://poemsonthemrt.com/wp/poems/a-timeless-space-ode-to-changi-airport
Rightly or wrongly, one of the best way to find collaborators used to be smoking and, though I quit 16 years ago, I have to admit I still miss it and this essay, shared previously by James Marriott, does a good job at explaining why: https://thepointmag.com/examined-life/quitting/.
Indonesia’s Grrrl Gang are back with a 3-track maxi-single of punk-pop catchiness and, for American readers, they are about to embark on their first US tour, which I would thoroughly recommend attending - find dates at https://www.instagram.com/grrrlgang/.
I know you’ve heard British soul diva Raye’s single ‘Where Is My Husband’ all over your socials, but have you seen her performance on the Graham Norton show? This is what epic, timeless talent looks like…
Finally, I’ve been missing a magazine in my life so this year subscribed to ‘The Idler’ which has the motto, ‘Slow down, have fun, live well’ - excellent advice I am sure you’ll agree. Find it at https://www.idler.co.uk.
Right, that’ll do ya! Nx
Thanks for the Idler tip. Had a look and it looks great, have treated myself to a sub.
Let’s organize that pub table…