Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Scott Fitzpatrick. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Scott, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Everyone has crazy stuff happen to them, but often small business owners and creatives, artists and others who are doing something off the beaten path are often hit with things (positive or negative) that are so out there, so unpredictable and unexpected. Can you share a crazy story from your journey?

Early on in my career as a freelance media producer I would often times get called out to follow musician clients to gigs to get behind the scenes video and promotional photos during their performance. This sometimes called for going to small shows around town in interesting locations and trying my best to not get jumped for my equipment (I have since learned the value of equipment insurance on gigs. Don’t skimp!) But the best/worst gigs were always with one of my best friends and clients, Chad aka Woodrowgerber, who has now worked on platinum selling records as a producer and guitarist, but started his electronic music career playing to anywhere that would book him, including the sketchiest fly-by-night raves imaginable.

I remember getting a call from him one evening asking me, “You got any plans this weekend?”
“Not really.” I replied.
“You wanna go to the desert and shoot this rave with me? They booked me but it’s their first production. I don’t even think they have a website up yet.” he asked.
“Absolutely. Without a doubt, yes.”
“There’s no address, they just sent me a map.”
“Awesome. When should I pick you up?”
“It’s a three day long thing but I go on late Friday night. We can play it by ear if we feel like staying.”
“It’s a plan.”

Friday afternoon came and we packed our gear in my car, which at the time was a small economy hatchback which barely sat the two of us, let alone all our equipment as well. We crammed ourselves in and set off towards the desert, managing to hit every single pocket of traffic headed out to Vegas at the same time. We crawled along the freeway for hours, trying our best to remain positive about the evening as the sun disappeared. Finally we made it to the exit given to us by the promoters. As we exited the freeway we noticed there distinct lack of infrastructure anywhere around us. There was a single gas station and enough paved road to make it there. Every other direction was pitch black desert. Looking around we found a single set of tire tracks heading off in the direction the map told us to go. “We might die out here,” we both laughed. It was too late to turn back now, we decided, and slowly headed off into the inky darkness towards an uncertain future.

The first thing we noticed as we did our best to follow the tire tracks through the desert was how ill-equipped a Hyundai Accent was as an off-road vehicle. Rocks and ditches that would pose no problem to even a modest SUV were suddenly seen as icebergs to the Titanic. Constantly under threat of bottoming out on a small stone or breaking an axle on a slight drop, we cautiously made our way through the desert in a vehicle that until now had never been asked to handle more than the speed bump in the grocery store parking lot. The first real red flag came when out of nowhere the road suddenly split into two directions, and in between them was a stick with a crude paper arrow pointing to the left. No other information. Nothing to protect against the wind suddenly knocking down this hastily made yet very important sign.
“Do you think we can trust it?” I asked.
“I guess we’ll find out. We’ll either make it to the venue, or we’ll end up lost in the desert.” he replied.
“A lot of horror movies start this way.”
“Yeah, the desert’s a great place to hide a body.” we laughed.

We set off towards the venue again, encountering more of these makeshift direction markers, and finally spying the lights of the festival in the distance. However, the closer we got to the venue, the more we began to suspect that it might not be the size of the event that was promised. As we pulled into the parking lot it became painfully clear that the “first time event promoters” had thought of almost everything, except actually promoting the event. Out of the 25-30 people around the event grounds, only 5-6 were attendees, the rest were either staff members or other musicians who had also made the trek to the middle of nowhere only to be confronted by a roaring crowd that could be counted on your hands.

After a quick discussion with the promoter, Chad agreed to do the set as promised. While waiting for his time slot we made ourselves busy trying to get any sort of promotional shots we could think of, using the night desert as a backdrop to grab some promotional stills. As soon as Chad’s set began the crowd had grown to a whopping twelve people. This was no good for promotional photos. Nobody wants to hire a performer who has photos of them playing to an empty room. In order to avoid showing the lack of a crowd I would shoot with long lenses from far away, which would compress the distance and make it seem as if there were more people there. Or I would find foreground objects that would be able to hide the empty portions of the dance floor, whatever I could do to turn this disaster into something usable. That, or I would find creative ways to use the lighting around the stage to not only enhance the drama of the photo, but to completely obfuscate the area behind the people up front. Nobody would ever know there were only a few people there that night. That was, at least, until everything went black.

About 10 minutes into Chad’s set a loud clank was heard as the electricity shut off. The promoters hadn’t rented big enough generators for the sound and lights, as well as the single microwave that had been brought out to heat up frozen pizzas. They restarted the generators and Chad tried to continue his set, but without addressing the underlying issues, the system kept shutting down every 5 to 10 minutes. We’d finally had enough.

Chad finished his allotted time and immediately set about packing his gear. I followed suit and hastily grabbed the last few shots around the venue, determined to get something worthwhile out of this ordeal. After driving for over 3 hours and risking life and limb by crawling through the desert, we had stayed for less than an hour,

On the way out the promoter apologized and invited us to the next event. I think we said we’d think about it, but we knew immediately what our answer would be. After driving back through the desert and thankfully avoiding the outbound traffic this time, we made it back to the city and pulled into a 24 hour diner. As we sat and laughed about the evening, I was struck by how different the experience could have been. We had set out with the goal of getting some BTS footage that may go on his social media, and even though everything went completely sideways, we managed to get some really great shots that went out to press and he managed to use for a number of years. Had we not been so willing to roll with the punches and constantly reassess and shift we might have gotten out of the experience with nothing to show for it, but instead we had great shots and a great story to boot.

Moral of the story: When the ship is on fire it doesn’t do you much good to sit and complain about the heat.
Make a plan. Get it done. Laugh when it’s over.

…and 4am post-disaster coffee and pie might be the best meal on earth. Five stars. Would recommend.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a media producer, which can mean anything from promotional photos, to music videos and films, to producing country albums. I’ve spent my life trying to learn how to do fun creative things and I do my best to help my clients from a holistic perspective. I started my journey in high school as a musician in a punk band and photographer for local zines in Anchorage Alaska, before making the move to LA to work in the film industry. I have degrees in film, classical guitar, and composing for media, which has allowed me to work in a lot of different capacities in the film and creative industries, working for companies like Netflix and Dreamworks Television where I’ve created media for their PR and Marketing divisions as well as assisted on the music for several films and television programs.

Ultimately, though, I love creating and working with clients to give them the best version of what they didn’t know they wanted, and letting them and their organizations shine through my work.

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

Honestly, it’s the feeling of being done. Creativity is hard work, and the self-doubt and anxiety that comes with putting out a new idea into the world is taxing. The process is always messy and elusive, meaning you’re never sure you’re doing it right, or that people will get what you’re trying to do. But, no matter how many times we walk into the fire, no matter how many times we tell ourselves we’re a fraud and think “this is the one they’re going to hate and never hire me again,” as long as we keep pushing we’ll eventually make it through to the other side – and that breakthrough is where the reward is. That feeling when suddenly everything turns from “this is utter garbage and everyone will hate me” to “this might actually be good!” is so intoxicating. The reward is knowing that you’ve faced the worst critic, the one inside your head, and made it through. So many people walk away from creativity because the voice in their head tells them they’re not creative enough, or it’s not FOR them. But the only difference between an artist and a non-artist is their willingness to create in despite of the voice.

Don’t listen to your bullies. Have fun. Make a mess. You’re an artist too, and deserve the rewards just as much as we do.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had spent more time studying classical art as well as a kid. There’s so much to learn from. As a young punk I routinely rejected anything that was made prior to 1970 as out of touch, but the human experience is essentially unchanged as it was hundreds of years ago. People fell in love then, people watched their loved ones die, they knew what it was like to want and to have that want go unfulfilled. I wish I had spent more time looking for what worked in art rather than what was “good”. Because “good” changes over the years and is subject to fashion and the whims of the people who are alive. But knowing what works and why it works will never change. Because art works when it touches the part of us that makes us human.

If you approach any creative work with the questions of “what about this works for me? what doesn’t? why?” you’ll never cease to learn and grow as an artist, and everything will become a resource.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @scottness1981