The Artist's Way

Artists often help each other. We always have, although
mythology tells us otherwise. The truth is that when we do,
very powerful things happen. I will give a case in point.
Film director Martin Scorsese developed, shaped, and fine-
tuned the script for Schindler’s List—then gave the project
to his friend Steven Spielberg, feeling the material should be
his. This unballyhooed act of creative generosity finally
gave Spielberg his shot at an Oscar as “a real director”—
even though Scorsese knew it might cost him his own shot,
at least this year. And yet, to read about it in the press, these
men are pitted against each other, artist versus artist, like
athletes from warring nations in our mini-wars, the
Olympics. Hooey, again.
Success occurs in clusters.
As artists, we must find those who believe in us, and in
whom we believe, and band together for support,
encouragement and protection.
I remember sitting in a hotel room twenty years ago with
two then-little-known directors, Brian De Palma and Steven
Spielberg. Scorsese, then my fiance, was off in France, and I
was being consoled over take-away pizza by his two
friends.
Spielberg was talking about a film he longed to make
about the UFO phenomenon. There was scant support for
the project and Spielberg was discouraged—although the
project itself excited him. What to do? De Palma encouraged
him to follow his heart and make that piece of art. That
movie became Close Encounters of the Third Kind.