The highest level of creativity is play

When you were a little kid and you came home from school, your mom or dad might ask, "What did you do today?".

Do you remember what you told them? It was probably, "I don't know," which really meant "I don't remember”. You were too busy playing to remember any of it because, with play, there is only the moment.

With play, there is only the moment.

If the highest form of creativity is play (and I believe it is), it is hard to find play within our current creative industries. That’s because the creative process has been split into sequential phases where an idea must survive a long game of telephone between disciplines. 

Above: Jake Scott worked with giant productions on Nike spots, but still played like a kid. 

That’s a word that doesn’t inspire play - discipline. I get it. I suppose it’s important to be good at something. But it’s better to get really good at it and then forget it. I saw this while watching Harris Savides shoot. And Jordan Cronenweth. They assimilated all the discipline and then forgot it, so they could play. I also saw it with Jake Scott shooting big Nike spots, working within a giant production, and playing like a kid.

As our creative landscape has grown more efficient and risk-averse we have steadily - and unconsciously - structured play out of our workflows.

As our creative landscape has grown more efficient and risk-averse we have steadily - and unconsciously - structured play out of our workflows. To understand what we’re missing, take a look at sports. At their peak, Guardiola’s Barcelona warmed up with a rondo — piggy-in-the-middle —  laughing, trying trick shots. It looked like goofing off, but this was how they built the telepathic understanding everyone marvelled at. If the best players get to mastery through play, why have we decided creativity needs an assembly line?

Above: Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team used play in their warm-ups to build understanding and, ultimately, success.

It can’t last much longer. Generative AI is forcing us to dissolve the old silos by allowing artists to cross into neighbouring disciplines easily, using the technology to take their thinking further than ever before. The revolution we find ourselves in requires a new way of working (playing, perhaps?) that encourages the discovery of unknown outcomes, at a time when much of the industry is moving in the opposite direction: toward highly structured processes designed to deliver predetermined results. So, what does this new way look like?

The revolution we find ourselves in requires a new way of working (playing, perhaps?) that encourages the discovery of unknown outcomes.

Sorry for another sports analogy, but this one holds an answer… Before the triangle offense was invented in basketball, most plays were pre-scripted; players occupied fixed roles, and the goal was often to force the ball to a star scorer in a predictable way. This approach was brittle. With the triangle offense, players simply passed the ball within a defined spatial relationship (a triangle), read the options that emerged, and responded intelligently in real time. 

This was radical because it distributed decision-making across the whole team, and it created conditions where the right play could emerge naturally. Any player could be the initiator, capitalising on an opportunity as it appeared in front of them.