Well... it is true that not everyone believes that knowing what they want, and reaching out to those who need to know it in order to perform, is a necessity for success in the world of television... and this is the part where they come out from their slimy, shit-stained hole and excuse their lack of vision (or their unwillingness to impart that vision) with a defense I consider to be the most cowardly and thieving seven words in the showrunner's lexicon: "I'll know it when I see it."
If you ever find yourself saying that, kindly consider the possibility that - and I mean this, from the heart - your impostor syndrome is most likely real and you are, in fact, a shrill, shrieking fraud. Here's what "I'll know it when I see it" means to me and to everyone who hears it from a showrunner: "I have no original ideas of my own but am perfectly willing to let everyone else spin their wheels and exhaust themselves emotionally and creatively so that I can eventually cherry-pick the best of their genius and claim it for my own."
The field of television is littered with the desiccated husks of eager artists of all stripes - from writers to casting directors, production designers, actors, scenic painters, set builders, and the people who embroider the backs of the chairs - who, in the name of their own honor and work ethic, wore themselves out on the wheel of "I'll know it when I see it"... and the high castles surrounding those fields are occupied by fat, bloated barons who sit on their comfy thrones wondering with great self pity why they can't seem to hire a staff that just "gets it."
Well... it is true that not everyone believes that knowing what they want, and reaching out to those who need to know it in order to perform, is a necessity for success in the world of television... and this is the part where they come out from their slimy, shit-stained hole and excuse their lack of vision (or their unwillingness to impart that vision) with a defense I consider to be the most cowardly and thieving seven words in the showrunner's lexicon: "I'll know it when I see it."
If you ever find yourself saying that, kindly consider the possibility that - and I mean this, from the heart - your impostor syndrome is most likely real and you are, in fact, a shrill, shrieking fraud. Here's what "I'll know it when I see it" means to me and to everyone who hears it from a showrunner: "I have no original ideas of my own but am perfectly willing to let everyone else spin their wheels and exhaust themselves emotionally and creatively so that I can eventually cherry-pick the best of their genius and claim it for my own."
The field of television is littered with the desiccated husks of eager artists of all stripes - from writers to casting directors, production designers, actors, scenic painters, set builders, and the people who embroider the backs of the chairs - who, in the name of their own honor and work ethic, wore themselves out on the wheel of "I'll know it when I see it"... and the high castles surrounding those fields are occupied by fat, bloated barons who sit on their comfy thrones wondering with great self pity why they can't seem to hire a staff that just "gets it."