Did you know that Orson Welles once appeared at the Gate Theater in Dublin? Apparently he was just in the neighbourhood and barged into auditions claiming to be a Broadway actor. They didn't believe him but he was so good they took him on anyway.
Orson Welles' story is a great one. He went from job to job, constantly aggravated by realities interference with his visions. He was one of us who could see what he wanted to do so clearly, so vividly that any transgression against it was abhorrent. But time, money, public opinion, they all stood in his way. That was the nature of the media industry, it still is I suppose.
The list of projects that Orson threw himself into only to have crash and burn is astounding. And such a shame. Genius versus reality. It's definitely a high point, at least in theory, of being an author. You have time to get things how you want them to be. I know once things get commercial you don't but it's not like making a film where every day of work costs thousands of dollars.
I think that's a strong reason why written literature is still the primary source of originality and creative properties, time is there to develop something new. The unorthodox can't be so easily be destroyed by an uneasy patron.
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