Prizes

Tonight is the Academy Awards and millions of people worldwide will be watching.

Why is that? Why are they so important?

For the industry and those up for the awards, one can’t ignore the monetary value. For a film, winning an Academy Award can make it go from not making a profit to making a profit many times over. And for those winning an award, their price will go way up—making them and their agents, managers and attorneys [all of whom work on a percentage] very happy.

On one level, you might think this is wrong, pitting one actor against another, one film editor against another, etc. But why? We do it all the time in business. Several people fight to go up the corporate ladder and get the coveted promotion or partnership that everyone wants. Only one person will get that promotion and their title will change from Director to Managing Director—we label them with that new title and their salary and prestige increases.

The Academy Award isn’t that different. The film professional who wins that award will forever have the words “Academy Award-winning Cinematographer…” before his/her name. It’s the highest honor for a film professional. It’s something most professionals in the business aim for.

There are certainly exceptions. The actress who has won the most Academy Awards for Best Actress was Katharine Hepburn who won four for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter and On Golden Pond. And she was nominated for best actress a further eight times! But guess what—she never went to the ceremony to pick up her awards. Asked why, she once said, “As for me, prizes are nothing, my prize is my work.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all feel that way? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do things for the love of them and not just the accolades that follow? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could write for the sake of writing and not care about selling our work or being recognized as a writer?

Or would it?

I love Katharine Hepburn. She was from my grandmother’s generation but I watched her films growing up and was inspired by not only the gutsy women she usually played but also the gutsy way she lived her life. But let’s face it, she made her living from acting—a very nice living. One wonders if she’d been less successful—say, only being recognized for acting in community theatre in her hometown—if she would have been so quick to dismiss getting recognition for her work. If she hadn’t been able to do it for a living, would she still have thought the prize was her work as she toiled away in an office or something? Perhaps not, who knows…

But I do think she had a point—there’s a joy to doing what you love, even if you don’t make a living at it, and that joy can be enough. Prizes aren’t necessary. While recognition and prizes may be nice, the only necessary thing to getting joy from your work should be to do the work.

So if the ‘prizes’ aren’t yet coming, enjoy the real prize—being that creative person that you are and nurturing your talent by doing the work. Let the prize BE your work.

Copyright © Diane Lake

26Feb17

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