We recently connected with Donald Ian Bull and have shared our conversation below.

Donald Ian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am happy to have a career where I can be creative. However, I used to wonder what my life would have been like if I’d taken another path — a very specific one. In my early 20s, I barely earned money as an Associate Producer at a PBS station in San Francisco. I supplemented my income by being a swimming instructor at a men’s athletic club. A very successful stockbroker approached me and asked me to teach him how to swim. He’d almost drowned twice as a young man and missed the chance to swim with his kids, and now that he had grandkids, he didn’t want to miss out a second time. I agreed, and over the next eight weeks, I used all my accrued knowledge as a lifelong and collegiate swimmer to teach him how to swim, and it worked! He told me I had changed his life, and if I could teach him how to swim, I could sell anybody anything and he said he’d teach me the stock and bond business and start me at $50,000 a year, which was a lot in the early 90s. I turned him down. Over the next thirty years, whenever my career was in a slump, I’d wonder what life would have been like if I’d chosen that path. That’s when my wife Robin would say, “You would have been miserable. Even if you had made a lot of money, you could have lost it all, and eventually, you would have chosen a creative life anyway. And you didn’t prove you were a good salesman. You proved you are a good teacher.” And I realize she’s right.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My job description can be summed at best as “storyteller.” When I was young, I loved National Geographic documentaries, all kinds of movies, books about ghosts, myths, and legends from cultures around the world, and I wrote science fiction short stories that no one read. I got a job out of college working in the documentary division of the local PBS station, not realizing just how rare it was for any TV station to have a documentary division. I learned how to write and edit for TV, and many of my mentors had attended UCLA Film School. I applied and got in, and moved to Los Angeles. I did three short films and other projects and learned how to produce and direct. I wrote screenplays, got work producing corporate videos, and did stints at other PBS stations. I then got a job as an editor on the first seasons of The Real World for MTV, and I jumped on the reality TV and docu-follow craze, and it’s been my main source of income since. I’ve produced several short films and feature-length documentaries and written five books of fiction and three books of nonfiction, but work in unscripted TV has paid the bills and allowed me to buy a house and raise a family. I am deeply grateful for the genre because I’ve done good work, allowing me to pursue other creative pursuits. Within my career, I’ve been an editor, director, producer, editor, consultant, writer, producer, and editor again. I’ve had to be flexible. But every one of those jobs works in service of making the best story possible, so I lump it all under “storyteller.”

I am proud of my work as director and editor on The Real World for MTV and on Bug Juice for Disney Channel — as the creator and executive producer of Dr.90210 for E!, and of the books I’ve written — The Quintana Adventures (an action-adventure series like the Bourne books), and Liars in Love and Facing Reality, both romantic thrillers. And I have a new sense of pride. Since the pandemic, I have wanted to be with people and collaborate. I’m really enjoying working as a consultant, helping people get their stories produced, partnering with people, and creating new ideas of our own. I am editing a feature-length documentary on the Syrian refugee crisis, and it’s very satisfying. I enjoy working with others more than working on my own projects nowadays.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think something non-creatives struggle to understand is just how well-organized and “on it” you must be to succeed as a creative person, especially as a creative freelancer. There is a misperception among my friends who work for large companies or work as doctors, lawyers, and architects that we creatives have our heads in the clouds, that we’re not grounded and hardworking, and that we are flitting from one distraction to the next. The truth is much different. We can’t afford to be anything but professional all of the time. We must count every penny and have two or three side hustles. We are better organized and more forward-thinking than most professionals.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I have a new goal and mission as a creative — it used to be to make my mark as a writer, director, and producer. My new goal is collaborating and creating with as many people as possible. Since I made that shift, my “tribe” has grown. I love helping people get their projects off the ground, and I love collaborating with others until it’s not my story or their story; it’s just THE story. Now, every challenge, every disappointment, and every achievement is something I share with others. I feel connected to the world in a much more expansive way. It makes me feel like I’m serving a larger purpose instead of just serving myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: quintanaadventures.com
• Instagram: @californiabull
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donald.bull.9/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldbull/

Image Credits
Donald Bull, Robin Berlin, Lily Bull, Kevin Kirkpatrick. All friends, so no credit is needed.