Are you looking to develop your creative skills but struggling with the motivation and ideas to boost your career further? The Issa Rae
The creator of the award-winning HBO series “Insecure” leads this class to try to help her students better understand how they can create compelling media by getting the tools through motivation that they hold within themselves.
This is one of the most unique types of
So, we’ve tried and tested this online
Read on to Issa Rae
Overview
Issa Rae teaches creating impact and offers 14 video lessons on this online learning platform which total just over 2 hours. She first discusses how she started out in her career on YouTube and moved on to have her own HBO show, going through the highs and the lows of her career.
Issa Rae teaches how an awkward black girl can create some significant points, including:
- How you can craft characters
- How you can build a narrative
- How to develop a pilot into a series
- How to sustain your creativity and build longevity
The field of creative media is massively competitive and it is very normal for things like television shows to have a very short shelf life.
As a result, you need to create something very compelling to keep your audience hooked.
The fact is, this industry is very cutthroat, and despite doing everything right, you could still find yourself out of a job pretty quickly.
This industry will not be friendly to you, so you need to get out there and make it happen.
This was something that Issa Rae demonstrated to her students right away, and throughout the
Lessons And Our Take
We’ll now explore some of the major points from the whole course and give our take on what Issa Rae talks about.
Finding Your Inspiration
Off the bat, Issa talks about how important it is to find authenticity in the stories you are looking to tell. She explains that you need to be able to put the good things with the bad things.
In order to do this, she tells you that you need to find your voice and you can do this by following these key areas:
- Honing in on the specifics of what you want to talk about
- Take the pros and cons out of the things you enjoy
- Always question how you could have done something better
- Consider educating yourself on topics
- Tell the missing story
She explains here that you need to train yourself by just writing – continue writing until you find your voice, without restricting yourself to a specific genre or area.
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- New classes added every month
- 180+ classes to choose from
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Our Thoughts
This specific lesson was very personable and it certainly hit home with you while you were watching. However, it is difficult to move from one style of creative media to another.
If you have stuck to a method for so long, this new technique might feel alien to you.
Having said that, this course heavily looks at how to change your thinking, so we could see significant value in what Issa had to say here.
Story Development
Issa moves on to talk about how you should develop your story and you need to do this by really getting stuck into the reality of the story that you’re bringing to life.
She doubles down on her point that authenticity is important in storytelling and that you need to be able to get people to find themselves easily in the characters on the screen/page.
In fact, she says that she “doesn’t believe in bad ideas, but only bad execution”.
She continues to allude to the fact that you must play to strengths but also make sure that you are not stuck to one idea.
Our Thoughts
This was a difficult area and it’s a very subjective point.
To claim there are no bad ideas and there is only bad execution is a little vague, and many people who have written stories will likely agree that there certainly are bad ideas.
However, the most valuable point here to take away is that you should never think narrowly and always play to your own strengths and experiences.
Creating Characters
Another big course quality of this lesson is when Issa talks about how you should create your characters.
She explains that each of these each creating characters grounded in reality so that the viewers can empathize with them.
Essentially, you’re trying to emulate characters from real life and place them into fiction – allowing the audience to share the experiences and continue watching or reading.
This real-life inspiration to characters will help you to build real and more natural dialogue.
Some of the worst writing comes through with poor dialogue, especially when the audience does not believe a character would say, X, Y, or Z.
Issa explains though that real characters can still have their story developed for the purposes of the dramatic purpose – but you need to ground it in reality.
Our Thoughts
This lesson was very interesting and highly valuable.
Her method of character creation and development is significant when it comes to creating good stories, so this is definitely a lesson that stands out in the course.
Work Together With Other Creative Minds
One of the later lessons is when Issa talks about the importance of keeping your mind open and working with other creative minds, as this should help to create a very compelling story.
Not only this, other people can help you to build your own motivation and confidence when it comes to the creative process. Of course, Issa does explain how it can be difficult to work with others.
Indeed, especially when it comes to creative thinking people, everybody wants their voice to be heard and often this can lead to conflict.
The point is, you should try to work with people and remain open-minded, but still ensure you have the mental strength to get your ideas across.
This helps to build longevity because everybody involved in the creative process can help prop each other up.
- Learn from the best!
- New classes added every month
- 180+ classes to choose from
"Bored of TV, check out this Incredible content and cast"
Our Thoughts
This particular part of the course is when you move from the storytelling elements and discuss how you can work with others to help develop both the story and your own personal practical skills.
It’s an eye-opener here, and it’s very important to note what she says. The longevity is going to be where most people in this industry will struggle if they manage to break through in the first place.
So, it’s arguable that this is one of the most important parts of the overall course.
Final Thoughts
Issa’s course is very interesting and is packed with information. We’d certainly recommend it for anybody looking to develop their career skills in this specific industry and build their motivation, confidence, and communication.
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