When we’re making stuff, it’s gotta be for someone. This is a point I’ve missed before.
I made a cooking show on stage in San Francisco. It ran for a year total every week and it was really fun. It was originally Culinery Tuesdays. Then, I left town for a gig and came back to call it Crash Course.
It was chaotic and wild and fun and I cooked a different meal every week. I thought it was for people who wanted to see something fun. People who wanted a creative theater experience. Those people exist, but they didn’t know my show was the thing. I wasn’t clear about what it was for them.
My slogan eventually was “Cooking, Juggling, and Getting Hurt!” SF Chronicle called it “Emeril meets Johnny Knoxville!” People loved this, but not the people my age who were seeking entertainment. The people that came were women in their 40s. Fans of TV cooking shows. My show was accidentally for someone. I wouldn’t have had the success that I had without them finding it.
At the time, I thought maybe these women were attracted to a young creative man, but I think now they were attracted to the outside message. What they picked up was that, if you like cooking shows, and you want to see a twisted take on them, you can see one in person.
I got complaints a few times that it was not what they expected, but as I got better with making the show entertaining, those complaints started turning into “I did not know what to expect.”
If I knew then what I know now, I would have made the show even more for them.
We need what we create to be made for someone. We need that person to say, “This is for me!” Even if it’s one person… We need to know who they are and how to find them… or we can hope for luck and work way to hard making a cooking show for a year.
