"Writing. Failing. Getting feedback."

If you’re looking for a weekend watch, I stumbled upon a documentary last night called Good One: A Show About Jokes (trailer).

It’s a 45-minute film that follows American comedian Mike Birbiglia through a year-long process of developing his newest stand-up hour, and honestly it’s fascinating.

We get to see him poring through old journals of stories.

Picking which ones might fit into a broader theme.

Testing the work-in-progress set out with preview audiences through ticketed shows candidly dubbed “Working It Out.”

Coming back to the table and scrapping the stories that didn't land.

Tweaking the ones that showed promise.

Toward the end of the film, we see Mike offering some advice about the iteration process to a screenwriting class at his alma mater, Georgetown University. He says:

“Writing. Failing. Getting feedback.

That’s the only way to get better.

And if you’re lucky, then you’ll end up with something that is yours.”

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I was struck by the parallels to IP creation, but his message also applies more generally to building an entrepreneurial business.

Try. Fail. Get feedback. Repeat.

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If you check it out, drop me a line and let me know what you think.

(For my non-US folks, I think this is currently only available on Peacock in the States, so fire up those VPNs 🙂 )

💡

-Wes