One of the core conflicts for creative artists of all kinds is

the tug-of-war between art and commerce. Frankly, an artist

needs to make money, and it is preferable to make it from his

craft.

A writer who must work a full-time job to support himself will

struggle to find the time to work, and often eventually gives

it up altogether. On the other hand, being able to write on any

project at all can polish valuable skills, and teach one the

rules of the publishing industry.

On the other hand, I’ve met writers who were clearly working on

projects, or toiling away at a career, that was burning out

their souls. I remember meeting one such writer. His business

card read “freelance hack and literary mechanic.” Sadly, but

not entirely unexpectedly, he was dead of alcoholism within a

year.

How to avoid such burnout? Well, in my own career, in addition

writing the books I cared about the most, I’ve written Batman

comic books, a Star Trek novel, and a Star Wars tie-in. In my

television career, in addition to writing for “Outer Limits”

and “The Twilight Zone,” I also wrote four episodes of

“Baywatch”(!)

And never for a moment did I feel that I was selling myself

out. Let’s get something straight: Shakespeare wrote for money.

One can keep a careful eye on the bank account, and still reach

the heights of craft. But again, how?

In my own case, the answer is fairly simple. Envision the

thought process like this: I draw two circles. In the first, is

everything I would like to write (and there are always dozens of

projects in the mental hopper!). In the second is everything

someone else is willing to pay me for. Where the two circles

overlap, I write. In other words, are there projects I’d love

to write, but can’t get paid for? You bet, and I generally

don’t write them unless they are quite short. And there are

projects that producers or publishers might want me to do, but

don’t touch my heart at all. Having learned through experience

that there are limits to my creative flexibility, I turn those

down.

But from time to time, an opportunity arises that is in the

no-man’s-land between the circles. There is money, but the

project isn’t exactly something you have ever considered

writing. What then?

Then, you ask yourself if the project is something that you

could be proud of. If you would read it, or respect someone who

did. For instance, when my agent called and said that the

producers of “Baywatch” wanted to talk to me, I had the office

send over six hours of video on the show. I sat on the living

room couch and watched them with my daughter, who was about six

at the time. After a few episodes, I asked her what she thought.

She liked it. I asked why. She said: “Because it’s about nice

people working hard to make the beach safe for us.” I thought

about it, and then replied, “you know? There are worse things

than that in this world, by a long shot.” And decided to try

writing for it.

Every show, every project has its limitations. You must use

certain characters, must get them into certain kinds of

situations, and must avoid certain topics. That can be

restrictive, but you can also decide to take it as a challenge.

After all, you could give Fred Astaire a stage of any kind, and

props of any kind, and he would find a way to create dance.

Should you be committed to a lesser level of skill and vision?

No.

You must find ways to amuse yourself while writing, to stretch

your skills by trying something you’ve never done before, by

empathizing with a younger audience if necessary—never ever

writing “down” to your audience. That is the death of art. But

if you can be truly flexible, you’ll find that more doors are

open to you, more opportunities arise, that brass ring comes

around more often. A writer ready to leap at any opportunity to

show his skill, and who finds it easy to fall in love with about

a project will often out-perform a brittle “genius” who must

have everything exactly his way in order to write.

And if that approach is good enough for the Bard, it’s good

enough for me.