Sarah — nice guest post! I’ll have to check out Clynes’ book. 🙂

😀

And I do agree with Colleen on the pro/amateur definition.

What I was musing on is that further etherial region where the creator’s passion and personality speak to the audience. Which, when looked at through Colleen’s clear pro/am lens, has precious little to do with either pro/am or good/bad.

Heh… at this point, I wander off with my head in the clouds wondering how to pin a whisp down to the ground. Aren’t the arts fun? 😀

But I do recommend Clynes’ book! I think you guys would find it interesting.

People keep conflating good with professional. And they get wrapped around the axle when the obvious is pointed out to them: that the definition of a professional is in the meaning of PROFESSION.

It follows that a person MUST make money at their vocation in order to be a professional. But money has absolutely NOTHING to do with being any good.

Many semi-pros and hobbyists get angry when the obvious – a professional is someone with a PROFESSION – is pointed out to them, because they think that implies their work is no good and that they are unprofessional in their conduct or the quality of their work.

The money you are paid, and how well you exhibit basic craftsmanship skills has nothing to do with whether or not your work is Real Art. It simply means you get paid to perform your craft to the basic standards set by the client.

This then gives many hobbyists and semi-pros the in to make the dig that many professionals produce bad work, and the real mark of good work is passion.

No, it isn’t.

The only mark of good work is the final result.

Many very passionate people produce lousy work, and cannot see past their personal vision. They cannot see what others see.

Many craftsman-like professionals produce bad work, even though they dutifully meet deadlines and are paid very well.

The entire argument around professional versus amateur has more to do with bruised egos than anything else.

Pros remark that fans produce crap, and fans remark that pros produce crap and that fans could do better if they were just given the chance.

No amount of money and no amount of passion makes you produce good or bad work.

The only thing that matters is the final result.

I make the distinction between pro and amateur SOLELY on the basis of the craftsman-like skills the pro possesses that many amateurs do not. This has more to do with entrepreneurship and other basic business behaviors that are not a factor in the final work itself, but in how well you work in a business environment and can meet the standards set by a client.

Unfortunately, many amateurs can produce only when they want to, but not when other people want them to. They cannot produce on demand. I have only once had a good experience hiring a fan creator (and by this I mean someone with NO previous experience being paid: I’ve had good luck hiring semi-pros, i.e. people with paid credits, but who are not yet making a living at art.) Others cracked under the pressure.

It’s one thing to do whatever you want whenever you want in the comfort of your home with only your friends to comment on your work, and quite another thing to have to perform to the standards of a client whose decisions about your work can be alarmingly arbitrary. A pro can do that. Not everyone can.

There are many pros who are very passionate about their work, and yet who produce lousy work. There are many fans who are passionate about their work, and still produce lousy work.

And it really doesn’t have anything to do with pro or fan. Being a pro is about the PROFESSION. I don’t presume to be a professional plumber or carpenter just because I can fix a leak or hammer a nail. I don’t demand to be let in the union just because I have skills.

Amateur doesn’t mean bad, and pro doesn’t mean good.

And enthusiasm isn’t enough.

As for the matter of “passion for the work” … yes, it is a tricksy matter, which is something Colleen and I were sliding all over in our email conversation. There’s a fine line distinction there somewhere, but it isn’t easy to find. That said, in Hollywood, I see a lot of writing where the writers are not really engaged with their story, but are rather putting it together with the elements they know will “play well” or they’ve been ordered to put in, and something in the heart of the work suffers.

Heh… it’s one of the reasons I put “metaphysics” in the title — it’s really hard to pin down. 😀