THE REMIX METHOD IS HERE!
I’ve been working on something for months now and it’s finally ready.
I'm thrilled to announce my new on-demand video course, The Remix Method!
This course distills two decades of creative experience into a powerful, actionable framework. In just two hours, you’ll learn the same method I’ve used for the Everything is a Remix series and commercial work with top brands like The New York Times, Bloomberg, Discovery, CNN, and more.
If you're a creator struggling to bring your projects to life, The Remix Method will give you the tools to remix your experiences into creative works across any medium.
What is The Remix Method?
Simply put, The Remix Method is a system for capturing pieces from your experiences and transforming them into creative works. It’s a system of frameworks, tools, ideas, and even some tips and tricks, that cultivate creativity and help you see projects through to completion. It’s delivered in the format of a two-hour-plus video course, along with an assortment of resources like worksheets, graphics, and documents.
Who is The Remix Method for?
The Remix Method is for creators of all types—whether you're a writer, filmmaker, or entrepreneur—who want to bring their unique vision to life. As John Romero, co-creator of Doom, said: 'We were making games that we wanted to play. We weren’t worried about the audience—we were the audience.' The same applies here. Create for yourself, and your audience will follow.
Ready to remix your world? Enroll in The Remix Method today and start creating tomorrow!
LAUNCH SALE: SAVE 50%
Plus! Get The Everything is a Remix Toolkit Bundle FREE ($70 Value)
Not ready yet?
If you’re not yet convinced The Remix Method is for you, check out the first module FOR FREE. Click below to sign up for a free preview, 22 minutes of content in total.
Did you pre-order?
If you already pre-ordered the course, your access email was sent Friday, September 6th. Search your email for “The Remix Method Course Access.” (Be sure to look in spam if you don’t see it.) If you didn’t receive the email, reply here and I’ll get you set up!
When unfinished is good
Image via Unsplash
Last week I talked about how speed is good in creative work. Creative work requires getting into a flow state. Flow state can be difficult to get into and you can only do a few hours of real creative work per day. So once you get into a creative flow, you need to protect it by setting aside non-creative work to do later, during regular work hours.
Generally speaking, you want to shunt off less demanding, boring, or tedious tasks for later. But there is an exception. I picked this up from the realm of woodworking.
Some craftspeople who do woodworking recommend leaving a rough edge between work sessions. When you start your next session, there’s a simple and obvious task to do. This allows you to quickly gain momentum and get into a flow state.
Don’t keep working until you’ve done everything you can think of doing. Because when you return, you’ll struggle to figure out what to do next. If you leave something obvious to complete, the next task is more likely to flow intuitively from the previous one. This is handy not just in a fresh work session, but whenever you lose momentum and want to get rolling again.
Rather than completing that final bit you’re working on, leave it unfinished. It’ll help you get moving more quickly in your next work session.
In creative work, speed is good
Last week I wrote about how to schedule a creative day.
In a nutshell, you divide your day into two distinct parts: a few dedicated hours for creative work and the rest for routine tasks.
This week I want to zoom in on the creative part of your day. How can you get all you can out of this small pocket of time?
Simple: you work fast.
Protect your flow
When creating, you’re in what’s called a flow state. This is a mental zone where you are fully immersed, focused, and productive. In the flow state, speed is good. Things that slow you down and make you fiddle, take you out of that speed, take you out of flow.
Now by “speed” I don’t mean manic speed. I don’t mean sprinting. Think of it more like a steady, controlled run—focused and purposeful, yet sustainable over time.
Things that break speed, break flow. Whenever a slow, difficult task pops up, bump it to your regular work hours if you can.
Tough finicky bit? Bump it to regular work hours.
Need to tediously organize something? Bump it.
Mindless chore? Bump it.
What if that slow, difficult task actually is creative work? Well, buckle up and do it. But most of the time, tedious work is not creative. It’s just monotonous or painstaking.
Flow doesn’t return easily
You only get a few hours of creative per day—at most. The flow state is fragile and once disrupted, it can be hard to get back into it. Protect that creative time and only work on creative tasks.
Your creative time is precious—use it wisely. By working with controlled speed and protecting your flow, you can get more done.
However, there is one exception to all this. I’ll discuss that next week.
How to design a creative day
Creative work is not like regular work. You can’t just do it all day long.
I’m sure some of my fellow creatives are thinking: actually, I do do creative work all day long.
Nope, you don’t. You do a few hours of true creative work (if you’re lucky), then the rest of the day is lighter work that doesn’t require much creative thought.
Creative work is brain-intensive, ultra-demanding cognitive work. You can only do it for 1, 2, 3, maybe 4 hours per day. Everybody’s different. And every day is different. Some days you’ll be capable of more or less.
And yes, you can crank day and night for a while. But not consistently, not sustainably.
Once you understand this you’ll understand those periods in the day when you’re struggling to write or solve tricky problems. Your creative fuel tank is empty.
The key to designing a creative workday is scheduling your creative work in your premium work slot, then scheduling everything else around that.
Here’s how to do that.
1) Figure out what your creative work is
This isn’t necessarily obvious. For me, I make videos but my creative work isn’t just “making videos.” Lots of video work doesn’t require much creativity. For me, the true creative work is writing and creative direction. Video editing is (mostly) not creative work. I can do that all day long. That’s craft.
2) Figure out when your best time is to do creative work and timeblock it
When are you most creative? When are you most focused? This shouldn’t require much thought. You know the answer. Schedule your creative work then. Time block it. This is private time when you are not disturbed and can focus.
For me, I do creative work in the morning and sometimes at the end of the day. I used to be a night owl and did most of my creative work past sunset. That’s how I made the original Everything is a Remix. I had a day job so it was evenings, weekends, and whatever else I could grab.
3) The rest of your work day is regular work
The whole rest of your day is regular work. This includes chores like fixing problems, doing technical stuff, proofing, admin work, filing things, replying to emails and messages, and more. But it also includes seemingly creative work that is more straightforward in nature. For me, that’s stuff like video editing, photo editing, and sourcing media. I do regular work from about noon to 5 pm or so.
It’s as simple as that.
Determine what constitutes your true creative work
Schedule this work during your most productive hours
Allocate the rest of your day to less demanding tasks
The Shelf of Forgotten Dreams
Your absolute top priority when starting a new passion project should be this: finish it.
The most common destination for creative side projects is the shelf.
The project takes too long, momentum is lost, progress lapses. The result is something you were once so excited about languishes on your hard drive, unrealized.
Trust me: you will feel better finishing a bad project, than not finishing a good one. An unfinished project can’t be good. It doesn’t exist.
The solution: make your project easier.
Creative work is always harder than you think it will be. It’s a long road and you better like it. Whenever possible, reduce complexity, reduce friction, make things less scary and more fun.
Start with a goal you can confidently complete. If you're not experienced, see the bar so low you can walk over it. If you’re excited about the complete project and think it has further potential, create the bigger and better version next.
Answer these three questions to make your project easier without compromising on your long-term goals.
1) Can I make it smaller?
Big projects are intimidating. Start with the miniature version of your project. For instance, a book is a big project. Instead, start with an article. If an article is too big, write a series of short posts.
2) Can I chunk it?
It's not just books that have chapters. Find the chapters of your project, the component parts. If you can chunk it, chunk it.
3) What is the easiest media form I can use?
I know some of you are filmmakers, musicians, developers and more. You've got your medium already. But if it's possible to work in an easier medium, do it. If you can write an article, rather than make a video, start with that.
Here is the spectrum of media difficulty.
Text is easy… and also hard
Short text is easiest of all, but long text, like a book, is extraordinarily hard and will likely take years to complete.Non-music audio is relatively easy
I'm mainly thinking of podcasts. Podcasts can be much harder if they have a lot of writing and production.Still images are also relatively easy
Graphics, illustrations, and photos often take hours or days to produce.Video and code are hardest
Video is a lot of work. You need to write, edit, mix music, add sound effects, graphics, and more. It's like all media combined into one. Similarly, software can cross the boundaries of many realms and be even more complex. (I don’t code, so I’m kinda guessing here.) Live and conversational video can be easier, similar to a podcast.
Execute a version of the project in the easiest medium possible. Move right if the project seems promising.
My two momentous new projects
Nora and little K at the lighthouse museum in Victoria, PEI, Canada
Hello from beautiful Prince Edward Island, Canada, folks! I’m having a fantastic summer with my family and working on two exciting projects that I can’t wait to share with you. As part of this work, I’ve been doing a deep dive on the origins of Everything is a Remix and breakthrough ideas. Let me tell you about all this!
The Remix Method
New video course coming September 6
The Remix Method is simply the creativity course I’ve always wanted. It’s not a collection of tips and tricks (although I do deliver plenty of those too). The Remix Method is a simple, comprehensive, step-by-step system designed to guide you through every stage of the creative process.
This two-hour video course is hosted by me and presented in a relaxed, fun, and accessible style. Whether you’ve never completed a creative project or you need to freshen up your process, this course will redefine how you think about creativity.
Everything I Know About Making Videos
Workshop runs September 20 - October 25, 2024
Everything I Know About Making Videos is what it says: it’s everything I know about making videos. In this six-week workshop I cover the full production process, from writing and research to editing, design, mixing audio, and more. It’s two decades of knowledge about video essay production distilled down into a single class.
This is a rare opportunity to learn directly from me about creating compelling video content. I’ll address your challenges and tailor the course to students’ needs. I have no plans to repeat this event. Visit here to learn more and to secure your spot now.
I believe in making creativity accessible to everyone. That’s why I’m offering several scholarships for those who need financial assistance. If you’re passionate about video production but need a helping hand, reply to this email with a bit about your situation for a chance to receive a scholarship. Spots are limited and will be granted by lottery.
The Origins of Everything is a Remix (Part 1)
As a teen, I struggled with originality, as I’m sure any creative person does. I idolized artists, especially musicians, and fully believed in innate talent. Some people had it. Some people didn’t. And that was your lot.
I had some talent and assumed that was my lot. Sure, I thought I could raise my game, but not a lot because I wasn’t highly gifted.
I was mystified as to how anybody could come up with anything original. This itch I had about originality and talent was what pulled me over the years to Everything is a Remix.
How do great artists and thinkers create original work? I wanted that answer.
That’s where your best ideas come from – some itch in your imagination.
Music was the gateway
Music was the gateway through which I would make my discovery. As a teen, my main thing was music. One album in particular wriggled into my mind like a parasite and slowly grew. That album was Paul’s Boutique by The Beastie Boys.
When I first heard Paul’s Boutique I couldn’t truly grasp what I was hearing, but I knew it was a collage. I knew it was samples. I didn’t think they were playing all this stuff.
Here’s why that album was transcendent for me. It was like you were hearing so much more than just a band. Because it was this crazy array of samples, from all genres. It had an awesome breadth that a band couldn’t capture. It was like the greatness of human genius smooshed together into one thing.
It really stuck with me. And I basically never heard music like that again… until almost 20 years later. I’ll talk more about that later.
Back to life
Big detour after that, I went to university, worked as a graphic designer, published lots of zines and articles. I was just trying to get better at craft. Better writer, better designer, learn new software. I was trying to find my niche.
It wasn’t until my 30s that I started to feel like, okay, let’s make something good now, let’s do something new, something people haven’t experienced before.
I was making videos at this point, and I’m pretty good but more importantly, I’m improving quickly. And I’m getting some attention. There is momentum.
For a year or so I was making comedic video blogs, I was also researching my big idea: how do original things happen?
I didn’t know it at the time, but the Immerse phase of the creative process had begun. I’ll explain what that means next time.
Have a wonderful week and enjoy your summers, everyone!
Kirby
P.S. If you want to learn my filmmaking process directly from me, Everything I Know About Making Videos is your opportunity. Get your spot now.
What the Psycho shower scene teaches us about creative inspiration
Stills from the shower scene in Pscyho
Our knowledge of creativity is mostly very hazy, and so is the language we use. For instance, inspiration is a widely used term with multiple, mysterious meanings.
Inspiration can be a mood. You’re feeling inspired, feeling creative.
Inspiration can be that lightbulb moment when an idea suddenly appears.
Most importantly, inspiration can be when we experience someone’s creative work, then use it to create something new. How exactly this works is not something that gets talked about.
That’s what I want to delve into here. How do we draw inspiration from other artists?
The inspiration for “Good Times”
Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards of the band Chic
Niles Rodgers from the band Chic drew inspiration from a song called “Hollywood Swinging” to write the famous and often sampled, “Good Times.” I explore this further in Everything is a Remix.
Rodgers copied the bassline from “Hollywood Swinging,” but after the first three notes, he changes it entirely. The two songs have little in common other than these few notes.
That’s inspiration in action. You copy a certain, specific element of a work, transform it, and combine it with other material.
The inspiration for Bane
Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises
Here’s another example, this one from the realm of acting.
Thom Hardy didn’t have much to draw from when conceiving the voice for Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. One of the few things he knew was that Bane is of Latin origin.
Hardy looks for a Latin character to emulate and finds a boxer named Bartley Gorman. But after Gorman’s voice gets filtered through Hardy’s imagination, there’s only a subtle similarity left. You can hear Gorman speaking here and Hardy’s Bane voice.
Without knowing this story, nobody would ever connect these voices.
Inspiration is simply this…
In all these examples, copying is the crucial starting point. Remove that bit of copying and they would have created something utterly different.
Inspiration is creative copying. It’s copying a specific part of someone’s work, transforming it, and merging it into your work.
One of the most extraordinary examples of creative copying is from the film Raging Bull. Martin Scorsese used the Psycho shower scene as the template for the storyboard for a scene where the character gets savagely beaten. Some of the compositions are similar and the pace is similar. But again, nobody knew about this copying until Scorcese revealed it.
That’s creative copying. Pick a specific element, copy it, merge it into your work, transform it to meet your needs.
There is no creative formula, but...
Creativity can’t be boiled down to a formula, but it can thrive within a system.
There is no formula for creativity.
Albert Einstein and Stanley Kubrick and Miles Davis and Toni Morrison didn’t follow formulas.
And yet I’ve created a system for creativity. It’s called The Remix Method and you can pre-order it now.
Yes, there is no formula for creativity… but I’ve made a system.
What gives? Am I just playing word games here?
A system is not a formula
A formula gives you a precise recipe for the same result every time. There is a secret formula for Coca Cola and they use it to manufacture a zillion gallons of identical product.
A system is different. A system provides a flexible framework that adapts to your unique style.
Steve Jobs famously called the computer “a bicycle of the mind.” A bike doesn’t pedal itself, and a computer doesn’t do your work for you. It makes you faster, more efficient, and more powerful.
That’s what The Remix Method does. It makes you a faster, more efficient, and more powerful creator.
One of the foundational tools The Remix Method provides is a map of the creative journey ahead. The creative process can feel mysterious and unpredictable. I orient you in the right direction, prepare you for the journey, and describe the milestones. But it’s your sweat that will deliver you to your goal.
The phases of The Remix Method
Here are the phases of The Remix Method system.
Immerse
Draft
Build
Return
The phases of The Remix Method
Phase 1: Immerse
Dive into diverse experiences and capture your insights.
Allow your mind to wander and play.
Phase 2: Draft
Develop rough drafts and iterate on your ideas.
Treat each draft as material for remixing.
Phase 3: Build
Construct your project with a focus on execution.
Shift your mindset to prioritize shipping.
Phase 4: Return
Reflect and market your work.
Prepare for the next creative cycle.
The Remix Method is a loop. Once you complete all four phases, you rest and renew, then return to phase one.
The Remix Method is a loop
The more times you run this cycle, the more you progress, grow, and build a library of notes and ideas. You can then develop the strongest material from the archive you’ve created.
Have you ever felt like your creative potential is just out of reach? Pre-order The Remix Method now and start your journey to becoming a more efficient and powerful creator.
The Substance of Style, by Matt Zoller Seitz
Still from The Substance of Style by Matt Zoller Seitz
The 2009 video essay The Substance of Style by Matt Zoller Seitz was the biggest video influence on the original Everything is a Remix, which began in 2010. This series about Wes Anderson is a significant milestone in the evolution of the video essay, but it’s been largely inaccessible for years. I’ve taken the liberty of uploading it to the Internet Archive to preserve it for posterity.
If you’re a Wes Anderson fan, you will love this.
Thanks to my friend John Vella for his help with this!
An Introduction to The Remix Method
My upcoming video course The Remix Method is the product of nearly 20 years of creative experience. This is the very method behind the Everything is a Remix series, numerous personal projects, and commercial work for clients like The New York Times, Bloomberg, Discovery, CNN, and more. This course represents a lifetime of creative insights.
What is The Remix Method?
Simply put, The Remix Method is a system for capturing pieces from your experiences and transforming them into creative works.
These experiences can be:
Your lived life: your personal history, your conversations, your travels, your relationships, your job, your struggles, etc.
Media: the net, movies, books, podcasts, games, documentaries, etc.
The Remix Method is about taking material from life and media and remixing it into new creations.
It’s a system of frameworks, tools, ideas, and even some tips and tricks, that cultivate creativity and help you see projects through to completion. It’s delivered in the format of a two-hour-plus video course, along with an assortment of resources like worksheets, infographics, and documents.
Who is The Remix Method for?
The Remix Method is designed for anyone working on solo passion projects across any media form. I believe the simplest and best way to create projects like these is to make them for yourself. As John Romero, the co-creator of Doom, put it.
We were making games that we wanted to play. We weren’t worried about audience. We were the audience.
John Romero
Make it because you want to make it and believe there are more people like you. This course is about creating in your spare time, to the best of your abilities, without going off the deep end of perfectionism.
The Remix Method is about creativity in all forms. With this method you can create projects, big and small, in whatever medium you like.
This isn’t about rules
There are no rules to creativity. The Remix Method helps you create the conditions from which creativity will emerge. The creating part you do on your own. And there are no rules for that. As Rick Rubin put it.
Rules direct us to average behaviors.
Rick Rubin
There is no formula. So I don’t have a formula.
But I do have… a framework.
See what I did there? 😉
But seriously, this is a different approach, and in a very important way. I'll explain why next week.
THIS WEEK ONLY
Pre-order The Remix Method and save 60%
Plus! Get the Everything is a Remix Toolkit Bundle FREE ($70 Value)
Offer expires Friday, July 19th.
What's one YouTube video that has changed your life?
Here’s a grab bag of lovely goodies friends have sent recently.
Thanks to my friend Jordan Terry who sent along this lovely Reddit thread.
Head on over to Reddit and give me an upvote!
My thanks also to my friend John Vella who sent me the video files for Matt Zoller Seitz’s 2009 Wes Anderson video essay series, The Substance of Style. This series was the biggest video influence on the original Everything is a Remix. I uploaded it to The Internet Archive for posterity. Enjoy!
And lastly, my friend Jay Acunzo has an excellent new podcast, How Stories Happen. Go check it out!
The glorious mediocrity of parenthood
Here's an aspect of parenting I never conceived of until I got here: the glorious mediocrity of it all.
By mediocre, I don't mean that it's lacking. I mean most everybody gets the same extraordinary experience.
My experience, which I would describe as "perfect," is no better than most anyone else's. Sure, our personal or professional lives might be better or worse, but our lives as parents are equally great.
Babies are babies. Toddlers are toddlers. Yes, they're all unique, but mostly they're the same. Some are harder, some are easier, but they all deliver the same bliss.
That's why parents of small children can commune with anyone who has one or has had one. It doesn't matter if that person is a cashier at Walmart or a thirty-something who’s already retired thanks to some undisclosed windfall.
Parenting small children is a communist utopia: an equal sum of joy gets doled out to us all.
As children get older this changes. The gaps between them widen, tribes form, advantages and disadvantages compound. They become just as different from each other as the rest of us. They don't play with anybody who just happens to be around.
But for now, I'm still in the same boat as most everyone else.
I've spent most of my adult life priding myself on not being like everybody else. And now that I'm the same as every other parent, I'm amazed at how much I love it. It feels good to just be another member of the tribe.