How do you create deeply imaginative work? There’s a method behind the magic. As Rian Johnson (Last Jedi, Looper, Brick) takes us on the journey of joyfully reinventing the murder-mystery, you’ll hear the way he draws on childhood memories (like watching Agatha Christie movies in his grandparents' rambling old house) to inspire his work. You’ll also hear he rigorously structures his creative process – including when, where and how he writes – in order to be playful and present when he shows...

You hit a creative dead end. You’re lost in the forest of thought. Let’s face it: you’re stuck. But getting stuck is part of the creative journey.  We hear it in every story on this show. So today, we’ve chosen our 5 favorite strategies on how to regain your creative momentum, and get unstuck.  Featuring Jurassic Park book designer Chip Kidd, Apollo Theatre’s Executive Producer Kamilah Forbes, Soul filmmaker Kemp Powers, as well as a sneak peek into Season 2 with comedian Patton Oswalt and...

Every creative work you’ve ever loved has a story behind it. On Season 2 of Spark & Fire, we will hear what really happens on the road to success — the moments of inspiration, setbacks, collaboration, pivots, and breakthroughs until something new is brought into the world. Regardless of your creative field, there are endless discoveries in each story that could transform the way you approach your own creative practice.  Stories from comedian Patton Oswalt, "Wicked" composer Stephen...

Capturing an utterly honest event is one of the riskiest ways to create, but the results are real, and they stand the test of time. Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/benfolds. Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative prompts: http://eepurl.com/hkmyMr. See our Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and our California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Silk Road Project was an impossibly ambitious, creatively expansive idea to not only create a category of music that had never been heard before, but also create ensembles to perform it, and audiences who were hungry to hear it. How did Yo-Yo Ma build this vision? He knew from the beginning that it wasn’t about him. Follow along (with transcript and photos) at sparkandfire.com/silkroad. Subscribe to the Spark & Fire weekly newsletter for images, stories and creative...

When you fall in love with a project, stay with it — for as many years as necessary. Its time will come. When screenwriter Allan Scott acquired the film rights to "The Queen's Gambit," he couldn't have imagined it would take almost 30 years to get it made. Allan and producing partner Bill Horberg talk about finding the right people at the right time with the right elements to make the Netflix phenomenon happen; the big insight (and the key creative partner) that unblocked the path; and what...

“It’s too long. It’s too sad. It’s not danceable.” Just some of the feedback salsa legend Rubén Blades got from DJs and record labels about his iconic song "Pedro Navaja" on the album "Siembra," which went on to sell 25m copies. That’s more than the Beatles' "White Album." And his story of creating this album with Willie Colón is a testament to three words: Trust your instinct. Don’t let anyone throw you off a creative vision you believe in. But also don’t assume that instinct is innate. You...

How do you create something an audience will love? Start with everything YOU love. Actor Randall Park ("Veep," "Fresh Off the Boat," "WandaVision"…) tells the story of a passion project that's become a beloved repeat-watch: the 2019 Netflix movie "Always Be My Maybe." It all started as a tossed-off remark by his friend Ali Wong: What if we made a romcom together? As Randall and Ali wrote the movie, they celebrated what mattered to them: family traditions, the food and music they love, even...

To make a creative leap, get to know your creative self. After publishing a blockbuster first novel, "Homegoing," followed by a year of touring (and trying to write in hotel rooms), author Yaa Gyasi realized she needed two things to reconnect with her next story: space and time. She shares the creation process of "Transcendent Kingdom" : how she got started, how she gave herself permission to pause – and how to get the feedback she needed. Follow along (with transcript and photos) at...

“Everything you do in the arts gives meaning to your way of life." In a year of pandemic, racial reckoning, and threats to democracy, Wynton Marsalis creates a seven-song cycle that imagines how artists can shape the times we live in. As he tells us the story of creating "The Democracy! Suite," he teaches unforgettable lessons about collaboration, preparation, and the rewards — and costs — of a creative life. When you’re playing to an elevated purpose, it opens possibilities and broadens your...

Spark & Fire is on intermission, returning May 4. Until then, we have 2 invitations for you: 1. Tell us who you are! If you have time right now – take our survey: sparkandfire.com/survey. It works great on a phone. We’re curious about your own creative practice and how we can support that with what we do! 2. Starting April 7, join us on the Clubhouse app every Wednesday at 4pm in the Creativity Club. You’ll hear from guests and advisors of the show as we dig into the creative life. On...

Making art is a distillation of all your life experiences – from the half-remembered images from your childhood to your fascination with what's happening around you right now. Photographer Stephen Wilkes developed his signature Day to Night images to share his passion for how time passes – and soon found that they also helped him explore everything else that interested him: nature, city life, even politics. Learn the backstory behind his famous photo of the 2021 Inauguration as he explains...

"I want to make this into theater, in a way that’s never been done before." When Kamilah Forbes first reads "Between the World and Me," by her friend Ta-Nehisi Coates, she's moved, shaken, gutted by its truth and beauty. She dreams of presenting it at Harlem's Apollo Theater, a legendary space for Black art and excellence. First step: convince Ta-Nehisi. Spark & Fire follows the journey from book to stage to HBO – during a pandemic – in a story of collaboration and trust, joy and challenge.

How do you change the creative brief? You start with play. The architect Thomas Heatherwick was asked to create a monumental public work for the plaza of vast new development in the heart of Manhattan. The expected route would be to copy what’s worked before on other plazas in other cities – a statue, a fountain. But Heatherwick knew he had to push past what was expected. Spark & Fire follows the journey of “Vessel,” a massive piece of public art, from its roots in traditional Indian...

When faced with a crisis, how do you move forward? Sometimes, you look backward first. It’s March 2020, and legendary choreographer Bill T. Jones is weeks away from a world premiere. His company is forced into lockdown. All seems lost. But what comes next paves the way for a transcendent performance at the Park Avenue Armory called “Afterwardsness” — one of the only large-scale performances held anywhere during the pandemic. On Spark & Fire, the larger-than-life Bill T Jones tells this...

How do you write the stories of your life? Any time, any place, any order. Isabel Allende was 39, and a refugee from her native Chile, when she started writing a letter to her dying grandfather — recounting the family stories he'd told her – of love, loss, memory, magic. This letter evolved into her first novel, the beloved epic "The House of the Spirits.” With her trademark warmth and wit, Isabel shares how she found the time and space to write as she rebuilt her life – and how her 500-page...

What do you do when you’re stuck? Something else. Designer Chip Kidd got a dream assignment: Create the book cover for a soon-to-be-blockbuster: Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park. Oh, and make it iconic. When the pressure to perform is that high, it's easy to get creatively paralyzed. Chip recounts exactly how he got started and how he got unstuck — over and over — on the journey to create one of the best-known book covers of the 20th century. He tells the story in his own fast-paced, funny,...

How do you move past a creative crisis? Apply pressure. From the moment she heard about it, Susan Orlean knew she had to tell the story of "The Orchid Thief" – a wild, true story of obsession set in the swamps of Florida. But somewhere deep in the telling, she risks losing her own footing. Spark & Fire follows Susan as she pursues the story that "set her brain on fire," pushing past a creative crisis to write the magazine article and then book that in turn inspired the film "Adaptation."...

How do you create an authentic character? Start with your authentic self. When Kemp Powers joined the writers' room at Pixar, he found a story waiting to be told ... anchored within his own story. Spark & Fire follows Kemp on his own hero's journey of co-writing and co-directing Soul, Pixar's first film with a Black protagonist, from his first trip to the Pixar campus to his development of the main character – and his passionate pitch for the beloved barbershop scene that nearly got cut...

Spark & Fire provides the jolt for living a more creative life – turning the abstract idea of the creative process into a captivating, edge-of-your-seat hero’s journey. The initial spark. The endless iteration. The inevitable setbacks. The magical people who appear to help. And the breakthrough idea. On each episode of Spark & Fire, an iconic creator tells their own story about the crooked path to creation. No host. No interview. It's the creator – entirely in their own words –...