Yeah, But Is It Good Enough?

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Screen Shot 2013-05-13 at 10.20.27 AMYeah, but is it good enough?  I’ve asked myself that question a bajillion times.  It’s a valid question.  We all want to put out good work that showcases our intelligence and talent, whether that work is a play, a song, a movie script, a parody, a parody of a parody, a gender-blind puppet show, an interpretive dance flash mob, whatever your thing happens to be.  Anyway, it’s important to put out high-quality content, right?  Well, I say WRONG.  We live in a world full of Twitter wars, Buzzfeed LOLs, and YouTube Cinnamon Challenge disasters so no matter how terrible you think your latest creation is, there will always be something ten times worse coming out tomorrow.  Don’t believe me?  Just scroll down your Facebook newsfeed … or think back to how J-Lo must have felt after making Gigli.  My point is, rather than worrying about whether or not something is good enough, just make it and put it out there where we can all see it!

I make videos and put them on YouTube (sometimes for fun and sometimes for money).  A close friend of mine who is an actor asked me about the process.  But when I encouraged her to flesh out a video idea she had for herself and put it up online, she decided against it, claiming, “I don’t want to put out something that’s not going to be perfect.”  Perfect?  That makes no sense to me.  If I’ve learned anything from YouTube, it’s that I can put out any kind of content that I want even if it’s not perfect, and someone will respond to it … even if it is just that one person.  This is the greatest gift any creative person could ever ask for.  This means you can get your work out to people for free!

I don’t know how it is in other parts of the world, but here in Los Angeles – a town full of glamorous divas, fancy agents, and lawyers who look nothing like the cast of Suits – I think we can, sometimes, be too scared of what other people are going to think.  And trust me, I get it.  I know what rejection feels like.  I still have nightmares that replay that one time I asked Jim if he wanted my extra ticket to see Natalie Imbruglia.  But without putting your work out there, you’ll never know your true potential and you’ll never get any better.  You’ll just be stuck … wherever you are.  Think about Benicio Del Toro – I MEAN – your favorite actor and go look up everything he or she has done on IMDB.  I’m willing to bet at least one of those credits is pretty mediocre.  So, to bring it back full circle, just do something and get it out there where we can see it!  Who cares whether or not it’s good enough.