My Contribution as a Talent: Taylor’s Rapid Fire Episode 3
Contributing to non-immediate domains
This was my third opportunity to host ‘Rapid Fire with Danniel’ for Taylor’s University’s Marketing Team. In my previous posts, I reflected on how I could have performed better purely from the talent’s perspective. However, reflecting from this particular Rapid Fire I realised a way for me to level up my contribution as a talent. In short, it’s contributing beyond the immediate domains related to the talent. Here I refer to my immediate job scopes such as acting or vocalisations. I’m referring to contributing to the domains which I am not directly involved with such as set designing, costuming, directing, etc. From this particular instance, I learnt about contributing through the non-immediate domain of scriptwriting.
Refining The Scriptwriting
For context, the Creative Director who hired me for my first two Rapid Fires was no longer working for Taylor’s. By this time, I was already friends with him, so we kept in touch despite us not working together anymore. He came across this episode of Rapid Fire and wanted to tell me how I could have done better. He referenced the production team.
In the video (at 0:08), I said “In conjunction with Teacher’s Day.” While this was semantically correct, it wasn’t the optimal word choice. He said that while this line fulfilled the objective of conveying its message accurately, this word choice wouldn’t resonate with the target audience: young people, students of Taylor’s University. Basically, the word ‘conjunction’ was just too formal for this context. He suggested using more casual language would have been more effective.
This is what sets apart good work from great work. The scriptwriting was correct in the sense that it conveyed its intended meaning, but it would have better achieved its objective if it was mindful of this nuance. If I had been aware as a talent, I could have contributed here by changing the lines myself, instead of blindly following the script given to me as I did.
Learning to increase my contribution as a talent
For the first time, I looked at my work beyond the perspective of a talent, beyond my immediate job scope. I analysed it using a macro lens, and that shifted my view of content creation vastly. I now understand that as a talent that wants to be in the entertainment industry, I have to be sharp not just as a talent, but also as a production. The production and talent work in synergy. If the production makes a mistake, the talent is part of that mistake. If I had been sharp enough to catch this minor scriptwriting nuance, I could have aided production, and in turn have made my own work a higher quality one. I now realise that knowing things from the talent side alone isn’t enough. Knowing the production side of things is very useful supplementary knowledge. Essential even, one could argue.
To gain this kind of knowledge comes from many avenues, such as sheer work experience, being an astute observer, and guidance from mentors. This time around, it was from my mentor. I had only learned about this thanks to the previous Creative Director, who is now also my friend, and connection in this industry. Consequently, I need to continue enriching myself with gaining more work experience, being observant and learning from mentors to gain the knowledge I need in order to fortify my contribution as a talent.
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Credits
Written by Danniel Iskandar
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