It’s Not About the Medium, It’s About the Art

A lot of people giving advice on writing in particular will tell you to focus on a genre. You become known for that niche, and so people turn to you when a project comes up seeking the right fit. I reject this approach because what makes an artist or writer’s style is not the genre or medium, it’s what they have to say.

The best artists and writers look at what they want to make and find the best medium or genre to express that. I recently watched the Billy Joel documentary on HBO, and what stood out to me about his career is that he always sought to expand his style and consequently experimented with multiple genres. After the mega-success of The Stranger (one of my favorite albums of all time) he said to his band he didn’t want to just recreate that and struck out to explore new themes in 52nd Street. He ended up winning album of the year at the Grammy’s with that too. Yet when people listen to his music – no matter the genre – it’s unmistakably Billy Joel. For Joel isn’t just an incredibly talented musician, he’s a story teller and all of his songs are simply a medium to tell those wonderful stories that we keep turning to again and again. They are timeless.

Joel’s first album Cold Spring Harbor was recorded in 1971. He was incredibly impacted by the breakup of his first serious relationship, and the songs were extremely vulnerable and emotional. Anyone who listened knew that even though the music wasn’t necessarily commercial (yet) it was evidence that they were listening to someone very special. A producer lamented he knew when he listened that this kid was going to make it big because his song-writing was so authentic; noting the singer’s deep depression at the time: “sometimes life just drops [an inspiration] into your lap.”

I used to always listen to Joel’s song Vienna thinking about the place I wanted to be: Los Angeles. I would sit on the Long Island Rail Road, depressed and lost, listening to the King of Long Island sing, “you’re so ahead of yourself that you forgot what you need, though you can see when you’re wrong you can’t always see when you’re right… when will you realize, Los Angeles* waits for you.” I wanted something so bad, but it wasn’t time yet. I hadn’t yet matured and lived enough life to have something to say. I got very lucky early on with mentorship from a producer – someone I still greatly admire – and although they once said I had a gift for language, my gift wasn’t polished yet. I was arrogant and entitled, and wanted it more than I wanted to put in the work.

Eventually I moved to Los Angeles, and that’s when inspiration got dropped into my lap. After I left the entertainment industry, I stopped writing for a while to focus on a career change that has brought me greater financial freedom and stability. Just when I thought everything was going to work out, my apartment flooded in the heavy rains of 2023 and my bedroom was contaminated by stachybotris (black mold). I got very sick, sealed up my bedroom and began a courageous fight against my landlord which continues in earnest today (and is close to resolution at least as far as my apartment is concerned). I sat down many years later to write about my experiences, and the tenants who have joined me in this battle, and so The Larrabee Project was born.

I never intended to write a script again as I realized I much preferred novel-writing and long form creative writing. Yet I knew that a TV series would be the best way to tell this particular story. When I sat down and opened up my long unused screenwriting software, it just flowed out of me in such an organic way. It felt effortless, the way creating should always feel. I wasn’t trying to pigeon-hole myself into some commercially viable story uninspired by anything I wanted to say. I had a story to tell, and it’s one where the truth is truly stranger than fiction. Most importantly, writing it was cathartic. And as I sent out early drafts to my network, the feedback was overwhelming: this is special.

What I have realized as I finally take meetings towards a real writing career is that I am not interested in any particular genre or medium. It’s about the stories I wish to tell. What makes my writing uniquely my own is what I have to say and how I choose to say it– genre is irrelevant. All of my projects are grounded in comedic relief, despite the seriousness of their subject matter. I have chosen to tell stories of misunderstood protagonists with deep flaws, fighting the system. I love to go on a character journey where that protagonist is lost and by the end of the story, they have found their purpose. All of my stories, whether a script or novel, whether dramedy, period drama or science fiction, is distinctly my own because of what I have to say and not what medium I choose. When you read my writing today you will know it was written by me. I have found myself as an artist with purpose.

I am not sure what will happen with The Larrabee Project. But whatever does or doesn’t happen, I am writing authentically and with something to really say. That will eventually lead to results.