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

Alright, Jonathan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I first knew I wanted to pursue a creative path when I attended a Cirque du Soleil show, was pulled out of the audience by the clowns, and asked to entertain a couple of thousand people without being paid. And I thought – so this is what it means to be an artist! 

During the height of the pandemic, one of the things that really struck me was how much our society relies on artists. People craved books, music, movies – art! So we need to take society back from the investment bankers who’ve somehow made themselves indispensable, despite the fact that no one even knows what they do.

And people need to face up to the fact that within a couple of years AI will be able to do anything we can do, especially investment banking. So we might as well let it, and use our newfound free time to create. Y’know, write some poetry, learn an instrument, create dope memes, and dance like some people are undoubtedly watching and laughing hysterically.

Creating art is a beautiful path we can wander in search of an answer to the existential question of why we’re here.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been working on creative projects since I was a kid. I started out by borrowing my dad’s old film equipment. I made a film that tried to answer the question: if a vampire bites a zombie, does the zombie become a vampire or does the vampire become a zombie? Ultimately I found the answer, like so many things in life, was unknowable.

Since then I’ve been taking ideas and bringing them to life via writing, filmmaking, software development and general digital tomfoolery.
It’s been really exciting to see advances in tech revolutionizing the process of artistic creation. Now, with just a cell phone, you can create things that used to require big production teams.

And AI, while definitely presenting some very serious challenges to creators, also offers real opportunities. So I say embrace the tech and welcome the new reality. People will always want to be entertained, enchanted and enlightened.

Pro tip: if there’s one skill that I find always in short supply, it’s the ability to write well – to organize thoughts into a coherent message and convey them with style. As the great Yogi Berra said, ‘it’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future,’ but I think good writing skills will always be in demand. (By the way, I was short on time, so I had Chat GPT write this answer.)

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My main mission right now is to help forestall the zombie apocalypse. I’m generally not pessimistic, but there are definitely some things in the news that make me wonder whether humanity truly represents the apex of god’s creative abilities. Things like the continuing reliance on war as a means of conflict resolution, the belief that air conditioning is the solution to global warming, and the complete absence of high quality, fresh baked muffins in almost any city I visit, to name a few.

So I do my best to work on projects that have meaning, like my forthcoming concert film about the sound of one hand clapping.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative in America is getting to decide how bad a health insurance policy I want to pay an exorbitant amount for each year. Do I get the policy that costs the equivalent of a full time job and will never pay anything unless I’m on death’s doorstep? Or do I get the policy that costs the equivalent of 2 full time jobs and will pay something, but only after tormenting me with an endless series of disputes and denied claims. This is the kind of freedom that money just cannot buy.

I guess what I’m saying is it would be nice to live in a society with high quality universal healthcare – y’know, like every other developed nation on earth.

Ultimately it’s all about the freedom to fulfill my existence the way I want and to follow a path with heart. We get so little time here on earth to experience all the amazing things that are around us – the sights, sounds, experiences and tacos – that we have to make the most of it. And finding ways of manifesting ideas that come out of my head is one of the most fun and rewarding things I’ve found to do.

Wishing you all bold flowing (at least creatively)!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jonathanblank.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanblankfilms/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathanblankfilms/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jb2000
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jblankfilms