Creative Control

John Cho is at a point in his career where he can be intentional with what projects he chooses. And his intention for his latest project was to push himself like no other role has done before. John stars as Spike Spiegel in Netflix's adaptation of the beloved anime Cowboy Bebop—and the role took him to the brink of both his creativity and his body. In our conversation, John explains the clarity he found while nursing an on-set injury, the acting advice that changed his perspective, and how he's returning to the simplicity of creativity.

There's little you can do about the inherent stressors in the creative process. But what you can do is learn how to better manage the negative emotions that impede your work flow. In our conversation, Michael Parke, assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, gives key strategies for how we can all better recognize and handle stress to become better creatives and leaders.

Nick Kroll's career has largely been defined by the cavalcade of memorable characters he's created over the years through his comedy specials, The Kroll Show, and of course his hit Netflix show Big Mouth. While Nick is exceptionally good at slipping into an array voices and personas, he’s pushing himself to step in front of those characters to reveal more of himself—and that's proving to be his greatest creative challenge to date. In our conversation, Nick unpacks how he’s tackling that challenge and where he’s taking the expanding universe of Big Mouth.

 If you've never wondered about the web of legalities and social landmines Seth Green tumbles through to make Robot Chicken, then he considers his job complete. Since premiering in 2005, Robot Chicken has won 6 Emmys and a die-hard following that's kept the show around for 11 seasons. But creating jokes around popular pop culture characters adds a legal filter to his creativity. On top of that, as the social and political landscapes have become increasingly thorny, Seth is contending with what role a show like Robot Chicken plays in reflecting the world back at itself—he’s also figuring out how to stay calm and carry on through it all.

Last week, I had Ellen Pompeo on the podcast and the theme of making something old feel new again kept popping up. She's been on Grey's Anatomy for 18 seasons, so who could blame her? I came across research from Ed O'Brien, associate professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and figured he was the perfect person to help us figure out how to find new ways of tackling something we think is too familiar or boring.

Ellen Pompeo has spent 18 seasons playing Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy—and it's fair to say doing something for that long can either make or break your creativity. For Ellen, it’s been a task of finding new ways to keep Grey’s relevant to audiences, as well as exploring new ventures outside of acting such as her new podcast Tell Me. In our conversation, Ellen explains how she keeps her creativity fresh, her struggles with being a perfectionist, and with maybe being a little bit too outspoken at times.

Author Soman Chainani explains his greatest challenge: getting into a creative flow state. Check out this clip cut for time, as well as Soman's full episode from last week!

Soman Chainani is a bestselling author who’s on a mission to revamp the young adult space. His wildly popular series The School for Good and Evil and his latest novel Beasts and Beauty: Dangerous Tales subvert conventional fairy tales for something darker and more complex. Soman isn’t looking to create the sanitized world of Walt Disney. He wants to bring back the real lessons embedded in Grimm’s fairy tales but with a modern twist. In this episode, Soman explains his alt-Walt vision and why it’s not only good for his creativity, but for the kids he’s writing for.

Fast Company recently released Innovation by Design: Creative Ideas That Transform the Way We Live and Work, a book highlighting the people and companies at the forefront of impactful design. In this episode, Fast Company design editor Suzanne LaBarre shares her top stories from the book and how the events of last year gave this project a sense of urgency.

One thing is certain: Jeff Daniels has the range. From cutting his teeth in traditional American theater to a wide spread of film and TV roles including The Purple Rose of Cairo, Speed, Dumb and Dumber, The Newsroom, 101 Dalmatians, and Godless, Daniels has an air of creative fearlessness about him. But it's not about just jumping off the ledge. It’s recognizing your blindspots in your craft, doing the work to improve, and then when the opportunity to stretch yourself comes up, not shying away from it. In this episode, Daniels explains how he applied that strategy to his latest role in Showtime's American Rust. He also discusses his reprisal of Atticus Finch on Broadway in To Kill a Mockingbird and his music career he doesn’t mind you not knowing about.