This week at Tellie, we’re proud to be launching our first original content.
Presenting The Beat, a Q&A-style docuseries on creativity.
The Beat is born out of my love for telling artists’ stories. This used to express itself in the world of publishing, where I primarily shared long-form interviews in print. Challenging myself again as a storyteller, and this time as a filmmaker, felt like coming back to a part of me I’ve missed. It also allowed me to play with the product I helped to build and reconnected me to the reason for it all: You. The Artists.
I was reminded of how all artists struggle with the same things. We all struggle through dry spells of waiting for the muse. We all wrestle to find the balance between art and business. We all feel our most alive in the present moment of creating, and despite our at-times crushing lows, none of us can imagine a life without creativity. In the dramatic yet earnest words of many of the artists I interviewed, we’d rather die.
So this project is a love letter back to the artist community. It’s a reminder that in spite of the physical distancing forced upon us these past two years amid an ongoing pandemic, artists find a way. Art has always united us, telling the universal through the subjective and the painful through the beautiful. Art reminds us we’re not alone, even though the act of making art can often be a lonely one. Whether we create for ourselves or we create to have an impact on others, what we have in common is simply that we must create.
I hope this series offers you some comfort and inspiration. Featuring interviews with all types of artists, from painters and poets to filmmakers and musicians, The Beat explores the highs and lows of what it means to be a creative professional. What drives our need to make art? How has the pandemic affected our creative process? What advice would we give our younger selves if we could?
See a spectrum of answers to these questions and more, streaming now right here on Tellie.
— Ryan Essmaker, Head of Design at Tellie
