How to coach artists effectively
The secret behind the success of the IFS Fellowship: our live coaching program.
BEFORE COACHING
AFTER COACHING
Videos are courtesy of our Fellowship student, Lindsey Brannon.
Introduction: learning how to COACH
Why learn how to coach? Because it’s enjoyable.
No matter your level of experience, you’re always in a position to encourage and guide fellow artists. Mentoring is an essential part of being a fulfilled artist (and of being a fulfilled human…?)
Despite it being a key life skill, they don’t teach us how to teach in school. In fact, many of our teachers, even the well-intended ones, didn’t know how to teach. With a few exceptions, most of us enter school eager to learn, and leave school viewing learning as a chore.
We’re put through years of boredom, stress, competition, and shame. Let’s fix that.
Each time the IFS Fellowship Program (our live coaching program) grows, we recruit more coaches. Usually over 100 accomplished filmmakers and writers apply (that’s if we send only one email and then close applications quickly).
Unfortunately we can only hire one or two. And no matter how accomplished they are, they go through rigorous training to ensure that their approach is consistent with our school’s big purpose: to restore the fun of it.
Below is a peek into our Teacher Training program, where I share a few highlights of our recipe for coaching success:
the 6 ingredients to effective coaching
1. Listening before coaching
Doctors diagnose before they prescribe. Same with coaches.
If a coach begins a session by rattling off what they know, no matter how good the advice is, it won’t land. It may also not be relevant.
Every session begins with the student getting to talk, and feeling heard and seen. Always listen before talking shop.
Only exception to this is if you review someone’s work before you meet them. In those situations, the coach should speak first, and let the artist know what you like about the work. If the coach doesn’t do that first, the student will not be able to speak freely. They’ll be busy hiding how nervous they are as they await the feedback. Once you share what you like, the student will relax, feel seen, and be able to speak.
2. artists need more cheerleading than they think
Every artist I know, myself included, underestimates how insecure we actually feel. We’re all starved for reassurance. It’s why awards feel like a lifeline.
When I worked on my book How To Fail As An Artist, My Best Tips, I liked the book and yet… I put my unfinished first draft away for two years.
It wasn’t until our coach, Mathilde Dratwa, worked with me, that I could return to it. Her enthusiasm for the work was infectious. Getting coached by her was the reason I was able to complete the book.
Athletes get endless cheerleading.
Artists are somehow expected to hunker down, push our limits and fulfill our potential all on our own. We’re supposed to be able to create brilliantly and then boldly release (and pitch!) the work out in the world, where criticizing artwork is a profession.
A good coach always begins by highlighting what works in a piece, so that the artist can lean into their strengths and grow from there.
3. constructive feedback should focus on one key issue
If I were to identify the one key issue with feedback that doesn’t work, it’s that the feedback doesn’t focus on one key issue. (How meta of me!)
Creatives don’t benefit from a laundry list of likes and dislikes. It’s subjective, demoralizing, and usually leaves the artist feeling deflated and daunted. Hello writing blocks, procrastination land, and self-loathing.
After making an exhaustive list of what you like about someone’s work, see if you can identify one key issue that, if addressed, will fix most of the other issues.
The only exception is if a work is very far along and the artist is working on a final polish. When polishing a piece, there might be a list of tweaks to address.
4. FIND THE FROG AND FEED IT TO YOUR STUDENT
A great coach has a nose for “frogs.” The proverbial frog is that task or project that the artist feels daunted by, and therefore puts off.
Finishing a script feels daunting, so you get busy doing research. Editing your reel makes your brain hurt, so you spend your days choosing the colors and fonts of your website.
In our Fellowship Program, whenever someone is ready to produce their work, the hardest and most important part is finding a Producing Partner. The filmmaker will often get busy finding cool props or checking out locations – anything to avoid the work of finding a Producing Partner.
The frog is usually presented in some off-the-cuff comment, and the student will rush to talk about something else. “Yeah, I should find a producing partner. Anyway, I have a bunch of really cool photos of the locations I’m thinking to shoot in.”
A great coach smells that frog and brings the conversation back to it: They then break down the task that feels daunting into small, baby steps, and help the artist turn it into something doable.
5. Offer the right size challenge
Speaking of breaking big projects down into small, bite-size, doable, baby steps –
This here, my friend, is where great coaching lives: offering the right size challenge.
The art of coaching is finding that edge. What is the challenge that’s just slightly bigger than what this artist believes they can do?
Too small, and they’ll be bored. Nothing changes. Boredom leads to procrastination and feeling demoralized. Too big, and they freeze.
If the challenge is just right – exciting, a little scary, but doable – then growth, excitement, and creativity happen.
As a coach, you get better at this with time. You also get better as you get to know your student.
Finding the right size challenge is a fast, intuitive process. It requires deep listening and reading the room: At what point, when you spoke, or when they spoke – did they look deflated? What little off-the-cuff comment suddenly made their eyes twinkle?
“I noticed you looked deflated when you talked about finishing that script. Would it be more fun to set it aside and write a short scene for next week that’s completely irrelevant to your script?“
If they look uplifted, liberated, relieved… excited? Then you’re on track.
If they look sad to set the script aside, and it feels like defeat—then no! “Scratch that. Let’s get that script done. Write just one more scene and send it to me.”
Notice I’m asking for just one more scene. A great coach breaks the work down into baby steps because the right size challenge is the name of the game.
6. build connection, community, accountability
Speaking of “Write one more scene and send it to me” – at IFS we tell our coaches that no session can end until an accountability plan has been clarified.
We call it “accountability,” but what we’re really talking about is connection.
Offer someone a hearty challenge, and nothing happens if they have no one to share their work and progress with.
That’s why the Monthly 6-Day Challenges that I offer our students include a Community Forum (on Slack) where people share their work and experience.
It’s also why every coaching session in our school ends with a clear plan: Ping me every day in Slack to tell me you wrote for 10 minutes that day! And/or – book your next session with me right now, before we get off this call, and I’ll see you there.
What artists need
To live a truly enjoyable and productive life as an artist, you need three kinds of relationships:
Mentors – who encourage and guide you.
Peers – who work alongside you.
Mentees – whose creativity you encourage and guide.
No matter where you are in your career, and how much experience you have or don’t have, you’re absolutely in a position to learn, to play, and to teach.
Athletes need coaching. Artists do toO:
Open by invitation. Applications open once or twice a year, depending on the year.