You already discussed how “amateur” doesn’t mean a lack of “professional”-ism. There’s an analogous problem lurking in the roots of “amateur” – it means “lover of” in French. The idea is that the amateur is someone who makes art for the love of it, rather than for profit. Now, that’s a nice association, but it risks being unfair to the “professional” who loves their art just as much, and only wants to make money at it so they can be with the object of their affection all of the time.

You touched on the blurring of the amateur vs professional distinction. I believe this is an important common theme across nost creative endeavor today. The key to it, I think, is the change in the economics of distribution enabled by being digital. It used to be that in many media you had to be professional, and working for someone else too, in order to get your work out to your audience. This is much less the case in the digital age. So we hear from many more amateurs; and we also hear more from professionals who work for themselves – the independent/self-publishing angle. Citizen journalism is a good example.

I suspect these days that for those enjoying the fruits of the creative process, “full-time vs part-time” and “independent vs contracted” might be more interesting distinctions than whether the artist makes money or not. Of course very keen creators have to look at the mechanics of actually surviving whilst they spend much time on their art, so the distinction will continue to matter on that side of the creative process!

Ricky, although I may be twisting your words somewhat, I do disagree a bit with what you said about their being no history, no tradition of amateur art. Perhaps not much written history, but if you look further back, then plenty of art has been amateur – or at least only sponsored by a patron rather than created for sale as a “professional” full-time job. In some ways the twentieth century, with its emphasis on “professional” career creators “producing” paid “content” for a mass market, is an anomaly due to the economics of pre-digital wide distribution.

–Anthony.

I’m totally jealous of you living down the street from M dot. Really looking forward to seeing what you do with iClone 3.

Very enjoyable show, Phil. The music to cover the call is great. Man, that conversation is better than I remember it being. I had a vague idea that it was somehow just late-night ramblings, but it’s much better than that, I think.

I urge everyone who listens to this podcast to try to rent or buy the “By Brakhage” collection from Criterion and to seek out the “In defense of Amateur” essay. His work and ideas are profound, but little know inside of the US (he is highly regarded around the world). The Fred Camper site is superb. I don’t know of another site devoted to a single filmmaker with more information and commentary.

Looking forward to continuing the conversation on Sunday.