Why Side Hustles Are Essential (and How to Crowd-Fund Them)

I caught up with Katie earlier this week to ask her a few things about the demands of being a creative director and why it’s essential for everyone to have a side hustle.

Being an agency creative director is a full-time job – how do you find the time for other endeavors?

Obviously, the commute on city buses helps. Lyft is a godsend. And my agency is fairly time flexible – the effort goes in when and where the work is. If I waited until 8 p.m. every night to get the personal creative juices going, it would be immensely harder.

Why do you believe it’s important to pursue extracurricular creative projects?

I’ve learned that as you move up the corporate ladder, your hands are less often directly in the creative work.

I mean, it’s a really odd transition from being the executor to being the “overlord,” for lack of a better term. Going from player to coach. And for people like me who really get their kicks doing the dirty work, it can start to feel very… managerial. Days are spent in meetings, not creating things.

Consequently, I felt disconnected from the process.

Some of this is the nature of “work for hire” – it’s predicated on the creative being acceptable to the client, on-brand and in their comfort zone. But a lot of great creative gets killed in a comfort zone.

I think side projects remind us of why we love what we do to begin with. We can solicit advice, but not be compelled to accept it.

In 2001, you were selected to be in the Top 10 of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s screenwriting competition, Project Greenlight. As the youngest selectee and the only woman, how did that experience affect you?

Like so many things that happen when you’re young, I didn’t appreciate the scale of it at the time. I was 23 and just figured “this is how it’s gonna be! I’ve made it! Why does everyone say Hollywood is so hard?” Of course, what followed was years of pushing the rock up the hill – often not successfully. And as you age, going from a sort of wunderkind – where half of what makes you impressive is your age – to just good at your job, can be a demoralizing adjustment.

And being the only woman?

Being the only woman in Project Greenlight really reinforced the need for more female creatives earlier in the process.

While I don’t think there is (usually) anything deliberately sexist, the consequence of having fewer female writers and directors earlier in the process is that we wind up with fewer stories where women are the protagonists.

Which in turn puts every female-driven project under a box office microscope. Plenty of male-driven movies fail, and yet the feedback is never “well, people just aren’t interested in guy stories.” For women, it’s different.

Part of the reason I decided to make RATLINE a graphic novel is because it’s a more forgiving and inclusive medium, with a lower financial bar to entry, of course.

Speaking of RATLINE, what about the subject resonated with you?

I love World War II and RATLINE tells the largely untold story of Operation Bloodstone. The U.S. government deliberately recruited known Nazi war criminals after the war to help us against the Russians. And then we lied to other sovereign nations – in some cases our allies – about it.

I also really wanted to create a strong female character who was an amalgam of many brave allied spies of the era, who are largely forgotten. People like Christine Granville and Violette Szabo. Women who put their lives on the line, knowing the risks, and often paid the price.

What advice would you have for other female creatives attempting a crowd-funding campaign?

Build your network ahead of time. I mean, the moment you start creating the “it,” if “it” needs funding, start networking with like-minded folks. Get as much publicity as you can. Ask for help. Ask for opinions. But mostly, be tenacious. Asking for money sucks, but crowdfunding is the best option these days to get our stories out there, and it’s not for the weak of heart.

If you’d like to support Katie’s crowdfunding campaign for RATLINE, it can be found at https://igg.me/at/ratline.