Weekend Read #008 - THE ARTIST’S WAY (even though it’s not available, sorry!)
The case for another genre(?) of reality TV
Hello again,
Welcome to Weekend Read! If you’re new here, this is where we highlight books that people in the entertainment industry should be aware of, either because they’re available for film & TV and have been passed over, or because they’re relevant to something in the current zeitgeist.
My TikTok addiction is the bane of my existence, but every now and then it gives me something that’s actually useful. A few weeks ago, that something useful was being clued in to Gen Z rediscovering Julia Cameron’s 1992 self-help classic THE ARTIST’S WAY.
Recent Grammy winner Doechii seems to be the catalyst. Being from a generation that spent most of their formative years online, Doechii naturally has a YouTube channel with a backlog of videos dating to when she was a teenager. But instead of scrubbing this library from the internet like many young superstars choose to do (or are made to do), all the videos on Doechii’s channel are still up - and this includes a playlist from five years ago documenting her working through each chapter of THE ARTIST’S WAY.
You can see where this is going. People love Doechii, watch her videos, talk about them on social media, and then the general idea is ‘Doechii did THE ARTIST’S WAY and won a Grammy - imagine what you could accomplish if you do THE ARTIST’S WAY too.’
It’s not a viral phenomena quite yet - if you search for this on the various discover pages out there you’ll find a lot of videos from smaller creators with a just a few views, and only a handful with anything above 100K. But hey, so many producers right now are specifically on the hunt for ~subcultures~ , and numbers in those spaces are going to be about the same.
I don’t mean this in a discouraging way at all - quite the opposite, actually. Any publicist will tell you that a smaller but more active and engaged viewer/readership moves way more units than a large but disinterested one. THE ARTIST’S WAY and similar books not only have a strong readership from when the book makes the rounds online, but DECADES of readers who are likely to come back to the title.
Okay so before we get too far into this, THE ARTIST’S WAY is not available for screen, sorry!! I spent the past two weeks pestering Julia Cameron’s very nice publishing agent, and she politely told me that Cameron isn’t currently interested in developing it for film or TV. But I still wanted to bring it up this week because I think it presents an interesting hole in the reality TV market.
In a previous post we spoke about how when the economy is doing worse, people tend to avoid aspirational, flex-culture content and instead turn to media that’s more INspirational - something that can teach us useful skills and make us feel smart and capable. Just think of all the DIY media that popped up when the economy crashed in 2008.
I’m not knocking the current reality TV market - I’m dying for more shows like TEMPTATION ISLAND or TRAITORS that have wild, entertaining personalities. But I think these shows are doing well because they’re specifically focusing on the people and the dynamics themselves, and not just showing off their wealth and status. Times are hard, and people are tired of that! I for one want to see real people going through it and making it work, like on COUPLES THERAPY. Or I want to see real people behave badly so I can feel superior to them, like on COUPLES THERAPY.
We’ve seen how well a week-to-week release schedule can be for a show’s viewership. When there’s space for word of mouth to spread and online discussion to deepen, it creates the perfect environment for an active fandom to form (See: any recent HBO show or reality TV series released post social media). Imagine that kind of regular viewership and internet activity supercharged with an exercise that people are doing in community. Look at how successful Peloton and Apple fitness were when they leaned into that.
So combine the last three paragraphs with me - giving viewers who are going through hard times something to empower them with new skills, creating a fandom by inviting people to participate in an activity together, and headlining entertaining personalities to lead the way. THE ARTIST’S WAY (imho) could have brought all of these to life, but there are dozens and dozens of similar properties out there. Finding yours could lead to the next big hit!
All best,
TIP