The end of Eras as we enter the "own your work era"

The end of the eras tour, the shift to creators, and making 2025 goals that don't involve relying on gatekeepers.

Imagine writing a 10 minute song, that 60,000 people in a stadium know every word to, and 1000s more outside of the stadium belt out every word, and thousands more sing along watching a grainy livestream.

Taylor Swift did that.

Imagine performing for over three hours, with forty-six + 4-6 surprise songs and the crowd sings every single word.

Imagine writing a song “So make the friendship bracelets” and releasing it just before the tour, to ignite a movement of millions making and exchanging friendship bracelets.

Imagine creating a fan base so powerful that when you take your in-ears out after a song, the crowd has created a fan project to surprise you.

Imagine taking that, and bypassing the gatekeepers - the studios, the record labels - to directly talk to and reach your fans.

I went to the final weekend of the Eras tour in Vancouver, BC, attending the show Night 1, and Taylor-gating Night 3. Behind my wedding, it was the best weekend of my life. From the moment I rode the sky train at 8 AM from King George to downtown Vancouver, until I collapsed in bed at 2 AM, I have never received more compliments, kindness, and camaraderie than this weekend. There was a power of love that I haven’t experienced since I went to a retreat in Costa Rica.

It reignited a creative flame in me that I have not felt in quite some time, of the true power of art and how it can bring people together in such a spectacular way. After the depression of the election, and what felt like a wall of hate, this tour gave us something so beautiful to grasp onto and “to live for the hope of it all.”

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Taylor Swift’s vocal chops when I heard her first albums and live performances, but that’s also what makes me love and respect her more now. Country wasn’t my favorite genre, but there was always something about the way her lyrics hit me. There were songs and music videos I loved, and many I resonated with. I remember singing “Sparks Fly” on my guitar when I was learning how to play in high school.

She grew. And she never gave up. Not only did she grow and never give up, she didn’t allow people to tell her “that’s just how it is.” She used her platform and power to say “that’s not how it is” and pave a different path. I became an [official] Swiftie when Reputation came out. That album resonated with my soul, and then it deepened with Folklore/Evermore, Midnights, and of course TTPD.

I look back at reputation releasing Taylor Swift, only 27 years old, and what she endured publicly, and I am enamored with her strength, resilience, and comeback. She had every right to lose her shit publicly, and instead she has found this incredibly way of fusing it into her music in a way that makes others feel seen. She took back all of her albums (almost, I mean who isn’t clowning for Debuation TV at this point?), bypassed the gatekeepers to release “The Eras Tour”, not just once, but probably a second time (clowning hard here). She’s fought the tech giants. “No” is never a final answer for her. All while creating a space for girlhood that is sacred and precious and encapsulates every facet of what it means to be a girl and a woman, or someone in this world that is “the underdog”

But how often, we as creators, and especially female/non-binary creators, put our fate and value in the hands of others?

A few weeks ago a friend messaged me that they were elated a director specifically asked them to self-tape for a role. Yesterday, that same friend messaged me that they were not even pinned for the role, after changing their full evening and plans to make it happen. They were upset. I don’t blame them.

After 700 hours of auditioning for this production company, they have booked 2 day-player roles totaling $2500 each. When you break down the hourly amount spent auditioning, the money to be coached on those auditions, and the time on set, it comes out to roughly $1/hour, hardly a livable wage in North America.

Every career comes with its sacrifices, but we also have to ask ourselves if there is a better system. I don’t even want to add up how much money I have spent on casting director workshops, and I don’t have a network credit to show for it. But maybe, with how quickly and suddenly things are changing, maybe that isn’t the goal anymore.

I define success on different terms now. The more that I reflect back on the “biggest career milestones of my life” (and don’t get me wrong, I know I would not be where I am today without them, they were also some of the unhappiest times of my life. In the eyes of everyone around me I was “making it” and the “pinnacle of success” and the “success story of my university.”

While I was not the person I am today, and not the most pleasant to be around, I grew weary of mostly working with self-absorbed performers that were more concerned about judging who did the best pirouettes in the cast and had the best abs and posting selfies on instagram, than connecting on a human level and caring about the bigger picture. Or even, creating.

When I was pursuing musical theatre full-time, I was on a nonstop emotional roller coaster. If I got a callback or booked a job, I was on top of the world, but if I got cut or didn’t book something, it took at least two to three business days to emotionally recover. My entire success and identity hinged on what was happening in my career with things that were VERY out of my control.

Capitalism thrives off of gate-keeping. Why else would we spend endless amounts of money on coaches, teachers, life coaches, business coaches, casting director workshops, etc all for this sliver of a promise that we just might get this thing that we want? Or this thing that we think that we want, but maybe don’t?

After taking some time away in the pandemic and strikes from auditioning frequently, one thing has become screaming clear: my definition of success has changed. My definition of “success” for me is more related to happiness: who I am working with, who I am as a person, the process itself, making art happen on my own terms, and feeling some semblance of contribution to my schedule. I don’t want my fate and happiness to rest in the hands of gatekeepers.

I didn’t take a vacation for two years, and almost didn’t take any time off around my wedding because “I just might book something that will change my career.”

With time away from the rat race, the voice of “you have to make it this way” is slowly disappearing, and I find myself asking more and more, “What do I want to feel like day-to-day? Who do I want to be? What do I want to be doing?” rather than “OMG my whole day revolves around booking this next thing or meeting this next person or figuring out how to get some agent or manager or record label or studio or whatever to like what I am doing.”

While there is value in having your work validated and receiving feedback, art is subjective, and the more AI transforms the world and the strikes paralyzing affects continue to ransack the industry, the more I ask myself, “Do these “gatekeepers” even know what is good? Do they care?”

Many of them don’t. The algorithms don’t. The shareholders don’t. Frankly, many agents just care about making enough so they don’t get fired.

Do I want to do commercials for brands that are not in alignment with what I believe?

Do I want to work with people that are difficult to work around?

Do I want to be at the bottom of the food chain of creativity, or have a meaningful contribution in how we create?

Getting booked might still be cool.

But: It’s cool to own your work now.

The previous dream: write a kick-ass pilot and show bible. Get an agent or manager. Pitch to one of the big networks or streaming companies. Green light. Film. BOOM. Success. Oscar.

The previous dream: Sign with label. Come out with chart topping album. Tour. Rule the World. Win Grammy.

Mark Duplass had one of my favorite quotes in The Town. He said that he’s like a New York City rat in the industry. Even if you don’t like him or what he is doing, he will make sure that you know he is there. By writing and creating his own series, and licensing it without selling off the rights, he is ushering in a new era for creatives to green light their own work.

Fear: pitch to company, get optioned 5 years, they develop their own show, or they only optioned it because they had something too similar and had the money to, and that show gets made, and your hundreds and thousands of hours of work fade into oblivion. Or Netflix cancels after Season 2. Or your entire library is sold to feed AI and you gave up your rights. OR your face and likeness ends up endorsing something that is against every fiber of your being.

Doesn’t that sound awful?

I’m tired of reading about the doom and gloom of Hollywood. Everyone keeps saying “Thrive in 2025” Well, what if we don’t make it to 2025? We are never promised tomorrow.

I don’t want to sell my image in perpetuity to Hollywood. I don’t want to find out my image was used to make some hateful thing that people would never know if it was myself or a computer. I want to have integrity in what I support and how I support it and when I choose to share.

I want to give myself (and others) permission to fail badly. Fail out loud. Fail in public. Fail in front of others. But never give up. Never let that be the end.

I want to write songs, make shows, make movies, make art, and put one foot in front of the other. I don’t want to wait on permission for someone to tell me I can or cannot.

I want to make art with people that inspire at least a percentage of girlhood that Taylor Swift has been able to inspire. I want people to feel deeply and resonate and see themselves. I want people to feel like they have permission to be seen, create, and do.

As you think about 2025, I hope that you think about WHO you want to BE as much as what you want to do. And the legacy and impact you hope to leave with this world. Give yourself permission to follow the quiet whisper nudging you.

And then do it :)

Who do you want to be in 2025? What do you want to create? What legacy do you want to leave? Comment below!

Xo M

PS - We will b e back with Chapters after Christmas! When we started writing this two years ago, we thought that we were writing about the past, but now, we know that we must learn from the past or it repeats itself. If you are willing to share our writing with someone who you think would resonate, that would mean so much to Cat & I as we build our path to making the series. We feel more than ever how important it is, like when The Handmaid’s Tale was released in 2017, that this story reaches others. History repeats itself if we are not careful. The House of Mercy was a real place, buried deep into our history unless you look closely enough.

(Don’t miss out on your chance to come in as a founding member and receive a hardcopy, signed edition of the book!)