Ai ChatGPT is the end of writers.

Or is it? To see for myself if ChatGPT is as OP as social media is suggesting I had a chat with it.

Here's what I think. No. ChatGPT in it's current state is not the end of writers. It's simply the end of unoriginal writers. Let me explain.

ChatGPT can't create original content, currently it's 'mind' is only filled with the swirling regurgitated noise that any google search will tell you. As a freshly minted and published columnist I'm now personally invested enough to care about Ai influence on journalism, it's how you all think, don't lie. As a quick experiment to gauge the threat that Ai posed to my career and to judge how much of a luddite I need to become, I asked ChatGPT some journalism based prompts.

I'm currently writing a series of investigative long form articles for Cinegirl magazine that are removing the obfuscation surrounding the film industry one department at a time. The article I'm currently working on concerns Directors.

I asked the Ai, "What question would you ask a director to find out about their career?"

It's response was depressing and reassuring in equal measure.

Ai: "There are many questions that you could ask a director to find out about their career. Some examples might include:

1. What inspired you to become a director?

2. What was your first big break as a director?

3. What do you enjoy most about directing?

4. What challenges do you face as a director?

5. How do you approach casting actors for your projects?

6. How do you work with your cinematographer to create the visual style of a film?

7. How do you work with your editor to shape the final cut of a film?

8. What has been your favorite project to work on and why?

9. What do you hope to achieve in your career as a director?

These questions can help you get a sense of the director's background, influences, and artistic vision, as well as their experience and perspective on the film industry."

What an incredibly boring series of cookie cutter questions. Where's the conversation? Where's the scratching beneath the surface for the 'whys'? What are you hoping to learn by asking these questions that have been asked in every interview, in every industry by every blog. There is no curiosity there at all, just a played out script.

So I asked it a different question. "Can you generate new information ?"

Ai: "As a large language model, I am able to generate new text based on the input that I receive. However, I do not have the ability to generate new information that is not based on the data that I have been trained on. I can only provide responses and generate text based on the information that I have been programmed to understand. Is there something specific you would like me to help you with?"

Well if that doesn't sum up some thoughts I have about society I don't know what else does...

I followed up with another question, hoping for a hint of creativity.

"Can you give me a question to ask a director about their career that hasn't been asked before?"

Ai: "Here is a question that you could ask a director about their career that might be a bit unusual or unexpected:

"If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice when you were just starting out as a director, what would it be and why?"

This question could give the director an opportunity to reflect on their career and share any wisdom or insights that they have gained over the years. It could also provide you with a unique perspective on the director's experiences and challenges as they built their career."

My brain recoiled from the image of a smiling face in front of a completely empty mind, basking in the profound nature of saying something that sounds very clever but could also be on a motivational poster hanging next to a 'Live Laugh Love' sign etched in drift wood. There couldn't be a more basic response to that question and you just know they feel smug about their answer. Bollocks to that, I want to know which Dinosaur gave them nightmares the first time they saw Jurassic park when then were too young to watch it. No, you're projecting!

Being neurodiverse, I'm always a step removed from society and view it as some sort of bizarre theatre that everyone is performing and I'm not entirely sure if they know they're in the production or not. Don't even get me started on the insane performance of 'haggling'. What I see from this Ai is that social theatre distilled into a chat bot. It's more of the same.

Which is a good thing, if writing is under threat from this, good. It means writing is stale and needs to get it's shit together. Currently if this Ai can only imitate, then everyone is going to have to get creative or be replaced, which I am 100% OK with. However, I have no doubt that this Ai will eventually be able to generate new thoughts and ideas, after all, creativity is just being good at hiding your sources.

Is AI Art the End of the Artist?

No.

Photography wasn't the end of painting. Film wasn't the end of Radio and somehow Boris Johnson wasn't the end of the Conservative party. Familiarity lingers.

But we love to speculate and indulge in some disaster and doom fantasies. It gets the primitive lizard part of our brain tingling. If there's something we want more than anything in modern society, it's to feel something. Anything. Just look at the political divide, it's fuelled by addicts chasing the dragon of righteous anger. I'm good, you're bad and that feels nice.

Art has always been a reflection, reaction and comment of society at that particular point in time. The reason is very simple, art comes from the people who make up that society. One big dysfunctional family, all expressing themselves in the best way they can and often just pissing everyone off in the process because, "In my day, artists walked 10 miles in the snow to grind their own pigment. That's a real artist, non of this paint in tubes nonsense."

Drawing nobs on toilet doors, Pickling sharks, painting a picture of a woman with an ambiguous smile or shooting self portraits of yourself rejecting gender norms. Art is expression. Art is us leaving our mark on our world and pointing to the universe and saying, "I existed."

That point on expression is an important one. There are many ways to express your artistic compulsions and they're not necessarily though physical artistic talent.

Lets take Damian Hurst's shark as an example. 'The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Something Living' was a piece of art commissioned by Charles Saatchi. So already we have a collaboration between two people, the commissioner and the artist. The art needed both to exist. I hate to burst your Hurst bubble but Damian also didn't actually catch the shark himself, he commissioned a fisherman to catch the shark. He approached a fisherman and asked for a shark 'big enough to eat you'. This is starting to sound a little bit like the process of AI art don't you think?

Damian Hurst asked a fisherman for a big shark, the fisherman went away caught a big shark and gave it to Damian. Hurst gave a request with set parameters and then waited for the result. He didn't make the shark, or choose the specific shark. He did however, commission and curate the process.

And that's the point.

Damian Hurst is an Artist. 'The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Something Living' is art. Yet he didn't physically make it.

When you use an AI to generate art, you give it a request and it goes away does it's AI shark fishing and then presents you with an image based on what you asked for. You commission the AI to make something and then curate the results, you then chose which of the AIs creations you would like to present as Art. So you're basically Damian Hurst.

AI art isn't the end of Artists, it's just a new medium to work with. What it does do more than anything else though is that it makes creating art far more accessible to people. People without trained artistic skills such as drawing or painting can now commission an AI to bring their ideas to life. There will inevitably be people who take issue with this approach and will no doubt denounce this work as, "Not real art!" But in what way is that different from any period in history when a new creative medium has emerged? "That's not real music, they're just pressing buttons on a computer. Real music is played on a lute!"

I commissioned Wombo Dreams to create 3 pieces of art. I gave it the prompt words, chose it's painting style and then selected the following three images from hundreds of offerings, subtly tweaking the input words until I got the results I was looking for. As a Director of Photography, my career is based around bringing Directors visions to life through my own eyes. This was a nice creative holiday to ask someone else, in this case Wombo Dreams, to bring my own vision to life through their eyes.

The following three images are the results of our collaboration.

Are Virtual Film Studios the new DSLR?

The film industry has a complicated relationship between technological advancements and tradition. As film makers we love going to the BSC expo every year and looking at all the shiny new film toys. The thing about all the new toys though is that they're based on old ways of doing things. We light a set, put actors in it and point a camera at them. That's not a criticism, it's a very successful formula that works and has worked for over a hundred years. Much like the internal combustion engine.

We have a phrase in the film business, 'industry standard'. It's an unofficial seal of approval. It means that the film equipment that falls into the welcoming embrace of 'industry standard' is battle tested, reliable and produces results to our expected high standards. An example of this would be the ARRI Alexa in it's various forms. It's been around for years and is reliable, familiar to all crews and produces a very high quality image.

It makes perfect sense, films are expensive to make and reliability saves money. Things going wrong on set costs time and time on set does not come cheap. We also have an industry standard for the way we do things in film. New ideas that break with the traditional way of doing things can be considered, risks. Risk is a word that investors don't like. However, breaking with tradition is when exciting and trend setting things happen. That risk can become genre defining. Comedy Director Taika Waititi, directing Thor Ragnarok was a risk. It went on to set the new standard for super hero movies.

As a millennial I grew up around computer games and have seen it evolve from basic pixel graphics played on a CRT TV with a crap areal cable that you could never get right, to photo realistic, fully immersive virtual reality games. Over this time cinematography has also played an increasingly large role. Game cinematics are now huge marketing assets. Game makers have been paying attention to cinematography techniques to enhance their games. Camera angles, lighting and set design are now a fundamental part of the atmosphere and story of games. The gaming industry is already very familiar with cinematography.

The video below is made in the Unreal 5 game engine. Impressive right?

At some point in the not too distant future, Film, Computer Games and Virtual Reality are going to hit a convergence point. Virtual studios are already bridging the gap between Film and VR. A virtual reality studio is essentially a giant VR headset that you can fit a film set inside. Rather than going into the virtual world however, it brings the virtual world out to us. But what happens when you add elements from gaming to that equation, and I don't just mean the unreal games engine that the virtual film studios run on. What would this convergence look like?

In 2020 Retired Formula One driver Jenson Button recruited James Baldwin to his British GT Championship team. The reason this is noteworthy is that James Baldwin was a simulation game racing driver. He competed online in sim racing games, he didn't race real life cars. James won his debut British GT Championship race, in a real life racing car. The physics of the games and his sim racing setup was real enough that he could jump into a physical car and win against seasoned GT racing drivers. The convergence between gaming and motor sport has already happened.

So how does this relate to virtual studios and film? What effect does it have?

Imagine a scenario where you are shooting a big Fast and Furious car chase scene in a virtual studio. You have your actors in their physical star car surrounded by a virtual studio environment. In this environment you could have stunt drivers using sim rigs to drive virtual cars with realistic physics in real time. The star car can have it's controls, the steering wheel, pedals and shifter set up as a sim rig too. The result of this is that it can now drive freely around this virtual environment, interacting real time with other cars driven by stunt drivers. Dangerous stunts become completely safe. Resets, full control over weather, time of day and wetdowns is now possible with a click of a button.

This is technology that already exists. I could jump into my own sim racing setup right now, put on my Oculas Quest 2 and then drive around a virtual environment of my choosing. I can have whatever conditions I want in whatever car I want and then place a camera wherever I want and film a sequence. Combine that with a virtual studio and you have some very exciting possibilities.

The biggest impact of the DSLR revolution was how accessible it made film making. The resources needed for the production of studio tent pole films like the Fast & Furious franchise are reserved for a very select few. The innovation of Virtual Studios have the potential to make producing films of that scale much more accessible to a much wider selection of film makers. I'm excited to see what the creative minds that drive our industry forward are going to do with this opportunity. As technology inevitably improves and becomes more cost effect, that accessibility is only going to increase.

A new industry standard is being born. What are you going to do with it?

Are you Staying Current?

Styles and trends shift and if you don't keep up or keep ahead then your work can very quickly look outdated. In our current society of the next new thing after next new thing, looking dated isn't a good look. It's important to note that dated isn't the same as Retro or Revival.

As a creative and Director of Photography it can be very easy to fall into the trap of turning your nose up at new styles and trends, vertical video I'm looking at you! But the reality is that it's our job to stay up to date and push boundaries. 'Safe' is the step you take just before 'irrelevant'. There is also an argument to be made for shooting in a timeless way, which is what you would expect to see from a period drama for instance. It's a very classical way of shooting, but even in this realm, if you look back 30 years you will see a style shift. New technology demands it.

Little Mix - Bounce Back. Directed by Laurence Warder. DoP Tom Watts

When I look back at the last 10 years of style and fashion the one word I would use to describe it is 'beige'. It's been safe and boring and I don't like it. Thankfully we are going through a bit of a culture shift, 90s style is coming back in a big way. When looking at revivals it's important to ask why? Why 90's? it's not just that everyone fancied a bit of 90s fashion. Fashion and trends follow societies vibe, not the other way round. People want 90s vibe, it was fun and nostalgia is in, in a big way. Pay attention to what your friends are talking about, how many of them are nostalgic right now? Ergo 90s revival.

So how does this effect us as filmmakers and creatives? Well a lot. If we can't produce work that is up to date and sympathetic to evolving styles then you will just drift into irrelevance. Filmmaking is at peak accessibly and someone with more interesting ideas will just replace you. It's much better and in my opinion, much more exciting to instead of fighting change, embrace it and lead it. It's inevitable.

For a specific example in film terms I'm going to use 3 point lighting. I was at uni when the DSLR revolution happened and this was the main style of lighting taught to us. As people left uni, bought DSLRs and started tutorial youtube channels this is what they also taught. Other people starting youtube tutorial channels then also taught this lighting style that they had learned from previous youtube channels. And there we have a neat little microcosm of how style is spread and established. The problem with 3 point lighting is that it wasn't developed for DSRL film making and modern technology and in my opinion, was already looking very dated. I don't like 3 point lighting, I think it looks ugly and now thankfully it is seen less and less.

Professional film makers got involved in the online tutorial scene and showed us how the big boys (and it still is mostly boys, sort it out film industry) do things. This is knowledge that us mere mortals outside of the high flying Hollywood film makers just didn't have access too until fairly recently. People like Roger Deakins and also the Wandering DP were handing out knowledge freely and it again changed the lighting landscape. We swapped 3 point lighting for 'big and soft', straight faces all round people.

Diamond Black - Scarlet. Directed By Andy Michaels. DoP Tom Watts

This is now the firmly established lighting style, better digital sensors can handle the dynamic range shift this lighting creates and we're back to a more photographic influence of lighting which in turn were drawing from the Baroque period of art. We're all guilty of smugly saying 'Rembrandt lighting'. I love the Baroque period, the style is absolutely my jam. The problem is that style is going to shift again very soon. Big and soft will be out and bright and vivid will be in.

So how do we stay current? Commissioning works in exactly the same way that the DSLR 3 point lighting tutorials worked. People look around, see what everyone else is doing and ask for more of the same. After a while the style becomes stale and safe and people want something new. No one wants their work to be forgettable. Staying with a dated zeitgeist is a really good way of being forgettable. This transitional moment is a huge opportunity for creatives though. It's our time to shine and do what we do best, be creative. Throw off the shackles and do something interesting.

For me personally I'm going to have a hard time letting go of my darling Baroque influences so I'll just be post modern about it and smash two styles together. Ladies, Gentlemen and everyone in-between, brace yourselves. Neon Baroque!

Diamond Black - Scarlet. Directed By Andy Michaels. DoP Tom Watts

This is the lighting style I have been favouring recently and I really like it. It's current while also familiar and looks dead sexy. I'm still playing with the style and experimenting and I'm not 100% sure where I want to go with it yet but that the exciting part.

What are you doing to stay current?

Lighting with colour

lighting with colour.

This live session for Ministry of Sound was all based around colour. Each live session had it's own colours and look but for this one we're looking at my favourite of the sessions, Kara Marni - Opposite.

Speaking of opposite, when you’re lighting with colour the lights need to be coming from opposite directions. The key to lighting with colour is that you have to control your lighting, It cant overlap or spill. If it overlaps it will bleach the colour out of it, mix enough colour light and you get white. Same goes for spill, any light spill will bleach the colour.

You also have to be careful about how you place the lights, all the normal lighting rules apply. If it wouldn't look good with white light then it’s not going to look good with colour light but with the added difficulty of having to be much more careful with light spill. Put eggcrates on everything!

It’s also important to think about what colours you are using and how they interact with styling or set design. Learning about colour theory is important too, knowing what colours go with each other is vital. It’s good to have a colour wheel to reference. Contrasting colours often work well, contrast makes images more interesting to look at and more striking.

When lighting with colour I like to go bold and defined with clear separation but you could go a lot softer with it too. It depends on the look you want. Sometimes I blend colours but that requires a ton more fine tuning and has to be very precise.

For this shoot we had some custom goal posts made that were part of the set, designed to create a forced perspective but they were also fully controllable RGB which could have chases programmed into them. These lighting strips are normally used joined together to create large TV screens but they were ideal for what we needed them for and had a super clean construction finish which alternatives like astera tubes lack.

Another aspect of the set was the mirrored monoliths. These were high gloss black plastic, which when viewed from a certain angle become mirrors which then extend the set either side and just look cool.

There was about 6 weeks of work on and off in designing the set. Originally I looked at building a forced perspective cage structure out of astera tubes but the sizes didn't work to create the forced perspective and the finish of the build would be too rough so we came up with the idea of these goal posts which could be built super clean. Detail is key.

Practical Creativity

In part 2 of why Autistic people are great and why you're missing out on not having them in the workforce, we are going to talk about a specific brand of creativity. Practical creativity. 

My background is in art and design, much to my Mum's delight and my Dad's dismay, I went to art college. My family is a creative bunch but my Dad was from a generation that didn't value creativity, but the world was in black and white and only 15 fps then so it's understandable. He started his carpentry apprenticeship at 15, dropping out of school and taking up smoking in the process. Now carpentry on it's own is creative but we're not just talking about any old creativity here, we're talking about 'Practical Creativity'. So what does that actually mean? Well any skilled carpenter is creative, they make houses from trees, they have 'created'. Practical creativity differs in that, while any carpenter can follow taught instructions on how to build a roof frame, few people can reinvent it. Which is exactly what my Dad did. 

Traditionally it took a team of people to build a roof frame then lift it up onto the house, this took days and man power. My Dad, through using his practical creativity, developed a way of building a roof frame by himself in one day. Think about what that means. On one side you have 3 people taking 2 or 3 days to do a task. Then you have someone with strong practical creativity who comes along, identifies a bottle neck and creates a solution. Now that 3 man 3 day job has been done in one day by one man. You wish you had that person in your workforce. 

The downside of this skill set for employers is that you don’t have much to offer these creative types in return for their formidable talent. They value independence, freedom and genuine challenges and corporate office life just doesn’t appeal. Every job application I’ve ever seen is looking for someone ‘who is up for a challenge’, we all know what they really mean is, ‘we will overwork you’. 

A challenge is a problem that needs solving, a challenge is innovating better ways of doing things, a challenge is being dealt a bad hand in a rigged game and still holding your own, we know what challenge is. We also know when you know what challenge is. Contrary to popular belief, Autistics can read people like an open book. 

What can the company world offer these agile thinkers? On price work my Dad was earning 3 times the day rate. Can you match that? It’s a bargain really, 1 person times 3 is still less than 9, which is how many man days the traditional method took. It’s also very easy to underestimate these people. 

When my dad walked on site in short cut-off jeans with only a saw, hammer and pencil they thought he was a joke. He was very outgoing, charismatic, chaotic and often underestimated. Then he did the work of 9 men in 1 day. How many times have you said ‘work smarter not harder’? How many times did you truly understand what that means?

“But Tom!” I hear you cry, “what use is making roofs quickly for our consultancy firm?” Well it’s probably not useful, unless you need a new roof for your consultancy headquarters. But you’re also missing the point. It’s not a specific carpentry skill. Carpentry was the vessel for the rare talent of his practical creativity. It could have been anything. Do you as an employer have the imagination to extrapolate how that could be critically useful in literally every industry?

After my own diagnosis I retrospectively see a lot of similarities in both my parents. I’m not a psychologist so can’t diagnose them but I wouldn't be surprised if they were both Autistic. We will never really know though, sadly they both passed away last year from cancer. Both sarcomas. 

I was diagnosed Autistic after they passed so neither of them ever knew or suspected I’m Autistic. But since learning more about it I can truly appreciate the gifts handed down from them. Anyone who ever met my Dad would know how similar we are. I think he enjoyed stirring the pot just a little bit more though.

Continuing the family tradition I performed a similar ‘work smarter’ trick when I was shooting ‘The Intent 2’, a feature film released across nationwide cinemas. During a 3 week block of filming in London I was given a lighting budget of £2.5k. To put that in perspective, that is a fairly average 1 DAY music video lighting budget. I had to stretch it nearly 20 times further (You think we get weekends off in film?). Using traditional lighting methods this budget was simply impossible to work with. 

'The Intent 2'

Following in my Dad’s footsteps I reinvented film lighting. Hiring old unwanted units and using them in new ways. I developed a system of lighting that was incredibly low cost and also faster to shoot with, it had to be because our schedule was very tight. We could film from any angle without lengthy relights, it looked good and we had loads of freedom with it. In the face of a challenge I developed a new technique which is faster and 20 times cheaper. The Guardian review referred to the lighting in ‘The Intent 2’ as “Hopperesque,” a high compliment.

'The Intent 2'

So how as Autistics do we do this? 

We have very literal minds. Combine that with creativity and you have a powerful force multiplier, like Yoda with a calculator. We bring practical creativity to the table. I have worked in enough different career environments and industries to understand how rare and valuable that skill set is.

Autistic people have chess player minds. We are 10 moves ahead at all times. If you bring us a problem we have already implemented the solution. We don't like uncertainty. Because of this we are very forward thinking, we like to create certainty for the future. Although the process might not be outwardly obvious, especially in the case of my Dad, we plan everything in great detail, and are always prepared for any outcome. 

In my career as a cinematographer this has been an immense asset to me. Film shoots are a series of problems to solve, something(s!) will always go wrong, guaranteed. My approach is to plan to be adaptable, I play out the most likely scenarios in my head to see what I will need to be able to adapt to any eventuality. I have a back up plan, that back up has multiple back ups. It will also be within the budget and most likely unnoticed until it is required.

‘Ruth’ was a career defining shoot for myself and the 2 Directors. We had one day to get a 12 minute one take. It was sponsored by ARRI (The top dogs of cinema cameras) and I’m a relatively new DOP eager to prove I can shoot in the big league. It was also going wrong and we might be fucked. 

A DOP is a Director of Photography. We essentially enable Directors egos so that we can shoot some pretty looking images for our showreels. So that we can then impress and enable more Directors. The cycle is endless and I’m not sure what the ultimate goal is but I have a great time doing it. 

We were shooting a day time film in a tight winding house with a very difficult to use cutting edge piece of filming tech and time was running out. The shot was difficult to get, ‘staying calm after stubbing your toe’ difficult. ARRI who were sponsoring ‘Ruth’ had kindly provided us with the same camera equipment used to shoot 1917. The piece of equipment involved a 20kg camera on the end of a robotic crane arm strapped to our camera operator. We had an inch of clearance at times through doorways and over obstacles that Dom, our Trinity operator, had to contort around while wielding a crane. If he bumped something the shot would be ruined. There were a lot of moving parts and any one of them going wrong meant starting from the beginning. We hadn’t got a clean take yet and now the sun was going down.

Luckily my autistic mind had considered this, just when the directors started looking worried about our light situation my Gaffer Ollie, had already actioned our back up plan. In the lighting set up I had made sure to light the entire house from the outside with enough believable light that if we didn't make the shot in time we could still shoot uninterrupted. We were scheduled to finish filming before it got dark, but I had to take into consideration the possibility that we run over and then what the effects of that would be. 

After the sun went down, we got the shot.

Bellow are 3 stills from 'Ruth'. You wouldn’t notice that this was shot at night, and that’s the point. We solve problems you don’t know exist.

We premiered ‘Ruth’ at Leicester square to a full house of industry and peers. There wasn’t a dry eye in the cinema. The highest praise. 

Ruth is available to watch on Arri's YouTube channel linked bellow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4tm797r-4c&t=12s

As an Autistic person you often get overlooked. It’s hard to find your place in a neurotypical world when you’re different. Few people are willing to take a risk on someone unusual. Getting to where I am in a very difficult to break into industry has been years of poverty, grind and struggle. I grew up on a council estate in Cornwall below the poverty line with a single Mum. To go from that to watching 2 films I’ve shot in Leicester Square cinemas is a feeling I can’t quite explain. However it wouldn’t have been possible without a few key people along my career who decided to take a risk, deviate from the norm and see what someone unusual can bring to the table. For those people I have beaten the odds and delivered excellence every single time. 

Imagine what would be possible if more people were brave enough to take a chance. Greatness has never come from playing safe.

Only 16% of Autistic Adults are in full time paid work. Is that ok with you?

Only 16% of Autistic adults are in full time paid employment.

Why is that? Well we know why, it’s because they’re Autistic.

Case closed.

And that’s how easy it is to write off Autistic people.

     The psychological term for ‘normal’ people is ‘Neurotypical’, Autsistic people are referred to as ‘Neurodiverse’, meaning a divergence from the norm. All very interesting but so what? 

     What happens when Neurotypical people are in charge of hiring? We now both know the answer, Neurodiverse people don’t get hired. This reality unveils some unflattering truths about our societies. The uncomfortable truth is that people are scared of differences. The unknown is intimidating and in defence the status quo must be protected. The effect of this is that an already difficult to navigate Neurotypical world becomes nigh impossible to function in. Society doesn’t want us in it.

     Autistic people are commonly believed to have communication difficulties. We accept that because it makes sense to us, we all have an idea of what an Autistic person is like and this information confirms that. Here’s the thing though.

Autistic people communicate just as well as Neurotypical people. 

     Let the disbelief pass and open yourself to new information. Studies have shown that if you take 3 groups of people, 1 Autisitc, 1 Neurotypical and 1 Mixed group and ask them to play ‘Telephone’ (previously known as ‘chinese whispers’). The Autistic group performed just as well at communicating the ‘whisper’ as the Neurotypical group. The mixed group didn’t do very well. What does this tell us? It tells us that Autistic people communicate perfectly fine amongst themselves just like Neurotypicals. The difficulty is when the groups communicate with each other. This means something profound. If Autistic people have communication difficulties then that means Neurotypical have equal opposing communication difficulties. Newton’s third law. In practical senses it means that you, the neurotypical reader have the same communication difficulties as an Autistic person. Let that sink in. 

     My employment record is a touch chequered, my biggest issue is that I could never get past interviews. My body language is very fluid and I don’t like eye contact. In interviews this comes across a bit like I’ve just smoked a crack pipe. Sometimes we say the wrong things too which can often end up inadvertently offending or upsetting someone. Neurotypical language rules can be tricky for us to follow, you speak in the foreign language of subtext. We like to be blunt. As you can imagine, being misunderstood all the time can be incredibly frustrating.

     In 2015, which was 68 years ago, I applied for a job at Adult Swim as some kind of Marketing Creative Director or something. I forget the job title (-10 points to Slytherin). My thought process in applying for the job was ‘show don’t tell’. I figured the best way to apply for a marketing job was to turn my job application into a marketing campaign. I would show them first hand my nuanced understanding of the human psyche. I would craft copy text that would make Steve Jobs buy a PC. From beyond the grave!  

So as a display of my formidable talent in social media whatever, I sent them this...

And they liked it. Why?

We are the out of the box thinkers you are looking for.

     Did I mention I’m Autistic? Diagnosed at 34. Which to be frank was a bit of a surprise because the only thing I knew about Autism is that I didn’t have it. 

I had seen Rainman. I knew the score.

     To talk about out of the box thinking we should first define what ‘the box’ is. ‘The Box’ is the society accepted way of doing something, it is the norm. We need the norm, it keeps society stable. We also need innovation. Innovation is a deviation from the norm. It’s 2 steps back and 3 steps forward. It’s not always apparent why you would want to deviate from the norm for something a bit more risky and with no immediate obvious benefit. 

     Then suddenly you see electric cars all over the world's roads. And they’re fast!

     Elon Musk thought outside of the box and is now doing quite well for himself. The guy built himself a spaceship, who does that? Then what did he do? I’ll tell you, He gave himself a ridiculous amount of ‘free’ publicity (spaceships are actually really expensive to make, I looked into it then settled on a balloon. I blew it up and then let go of it as a sad metaphor for my dreams of going to space) because he shot a robot driving a car into space. Like him or not he’s made a pretty significant impact on the world. I would argue that his success is due to his ‘out of the box’ thinking. In the box thinkers don’t drive to space.

     Out of the box thinking is innovation. It's doing things the unusual way because despite the usual way being comfortable, it will inevitably stagnate and become irrelevant as new innovations overtake it. We are in a period in history where the need for innovation is greater than ever. With the World going through covid and the Uk experiencing the biggest upheaval to Britain in living memory in the shape of Brexit, we need innovators. We really need innovators.       

    Innovators are out of the box thinkers. Out of the box thinking is unusual. Autistic people are Unusual. Autistic people exist outside the box. What better person could you possibly hire for the purpose? 

     Elon Musk, you could hire Elon Musk... Unfortunately for you though he’s busy sending Bitcoin to Mars or something. But also Lucky you! Autistic people might be interested in your business/idea/dream. I wonder what ideas they would bring to the table and what those ideas would lead to? I can promise you it will be something you hadn’t thought of

     Remember when Blockbuster turned down an offer to buy Netflix for $50m? Netflix is now worth $125 BILLION. Don’t be Blockbuster.

     I posted my job application memes online and gained 10s of thousands of views and likes and huge engagement. 10s of thousands of real people and bots alike engaging with my job application. I created a guerilla marketing campaign with zero budget. It had to be zero because my God, I was broke. It had a twitter, reddit and imgur. I engaged with the fan community, made a hashtag, created multi platform content and told people my story, Authentically. Then I released this narrative experience into the wild. 

Out of the hundreds of applicants I got down to the final 2.

     I didn’t get past the final interview. Oh well, onto the next thing. Autistic people bounce back quick. We’re known for it.

     Out of the box or innovative thinking isn’t an exclusive autistic skill but In part 2 I will explain exactly why we’re particularly good at it. I will also explain why practical creativity is such a powerful and rare skill.