We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Francis Maxwell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Francis below.

Francis, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

It is something I think about at times. I don’t like the label ‘regular job’ as it could come across as minimizing a field or profession. But in regards to say, a more rigid job with 9 to 5 hours, I worked many a jobs that fit into this mould. I worked in a grocery store, as a roofer, and as openly terrible mechanical engineer in the shipyards. Honestly, I’m surprised the boat didn’t sink with me working on it.

But there are parts of those jobs that I reflect on and wonder whether it’d be better than say, a job that has loose hours and you find yourself going with whatever creative flow you find yourself tied up in. Which can mean sleepless nights as ideas come to fruition at any hour, and not within a specific time. It can be hard to find routine, and while I am so blessed to be able to work my own hours and not be constrained to a specific time-frame, I find myself struggling when I’m out of routine, and falling victim to the crux of creativity- procrastination.

Francis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

How long have you got. I was born and raised in Clydebank, Glasgow. A small town on the west of Scotland. Getting from there to a career as a political correspondent and eventually, with any luck, a career in writing/filmmaking is not exactly a conventional one. But skipping the step by step of my failed career as a shipbuilding engineer, I was able to attend college in Los Angeles and developed a love of learning. I majored in sociology, but again had no idea what that would translate to, I still held out hope of being a pro football (soccer) player.

But when I graduated, thanks to some encouragement from my now wife and muse, I went to a job interview that I had already concluded was out of my reach, and somehow landed an on-camera job as a sports correspondent. The thirst for more, and learning, lead me into the political realm, how sports recapitulates society, and the rest has been a similar journey.

Learn, attest what I’ve learned in one field to another, fail, try again, learn some more. Keep failing and keep trying.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The outlet. By no means should art be a substitute for therapy – in fact one of my most influential teachers told me ‘life ain’t art’. But still, it is a great outlet to say what you want to say about, well, anything. That anything is limitless, but still, someone will relate if you remain true, and that’s so freeing.

When I first attested what I’d learned working in the political realm to writing, it was to no surprise, mostly political subjects I wanted to discuss or say something about. My first short film POST NO BILLS that premiered at the Nashville Film Festival last year, was an examination of the personal toll gentrification takes on those impacted. I created the story with my creative thought partner and best friend, Jonathan Hudson. It was exhausting, invigorating, and freeing- to say something about a subject with the hopes it relates to someone. But man, what an outlet.

And now, I find myself learning about plays, and wanting to say something completely different, about father son relationships. Again it is exhausting, thrilling, but freeing. To have a page, a space, an outlet to say something.

As long as I keep that in mind, art will always serve a purpose in my life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

‘Making it’. Being in the arts, you’re surrounded by overnight success stories, and inundated with the cream of the artistic crop. And in full transparency, when you’re pouring your heart into a piece and it is not received how you want it to be, it stings. And has you question yourself. Making my film I was already set on what festivals it would play at and how that could fuel my next endeavor. It took me away from the process and the moment. Until it all caught up to me a year after it was released, and I’d missed out on the lessons of the process.

When life starts to hit you in other areas, mental health, family dynamic, changes etc. You realize that ‘making it’ takes on a different meaning. ‘Making it’ can mean making it to bed that night, with a sense of peace. A sense of accomplishment in what you did that day. How you helped others or made a loved one feel.

The idea of ‘making it’ to me, fueled me to do things that were the antithesis of the reason I enjoyed art in the first place. It wasn’t an outlet, but a destination. I wish I learned that sooner, the outlet is the destination, the journey, the process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.instagram.com/m8productionfilm/
• Instagram: instagram.com/francismmaxwell
• Facebook: @francismmaxwell
• Twitter: @francismmaxwell
• Youtube: Political videos on MeidasTouch Network