Creating through chaos.
In the world of creative production, hitting a milestone is like finding an oasis in the desert: a brief moment to breathe, appreciate, recalibrate, and move forward. But what happens when those milestones collide headlong with a personal crisis — when your calendar, once filled with production goals, is suddenly occupied by an unexpected hospitalization, medical tests, surgery, more tests, and a life-changing diagnosis.
That was my April.
Three Milestones, Zero Margin
Our team at tellretell here in Taipei had three crucial project deliverables due at the end of April. Each one represented not just a creative or logistical milestone, but a commitment to investors, collaborators and partners who’d placed trust in our ability to deliver — even amid uncertainty. We had our Plan A and Plan B, but then came the shark I didn’t see. Suddenly, “project management” took on a much more dire connotation, as I added an evaluation of my life to the review of design guides, animatics and digital assets.
The Challenges
- Energy Becomes a Scarce Resource
Fatigue isn’t just physical — it’s existential. Creative thinking requires cognitive bandwidth, emotional resilience, and physical stamina, all of which are drained by illness. I learned quickly that every hour of clarity had to count. Director notes were made in bed. Messages were recorded with IV drips in my arm. Video calls were scheduled between tests and medical rounds.
- The Clock Doesn’t Care
Time, once an ally in the creative process, became a ruthless overseer. I was no longer just racing deadlines: I was negotiating with my own mortality. I had to prioritize not just which project came first, but which aspect of each project could be achieved in my compromised condition — not only for the immediate deadlines, but for the long haul. What could be delegated? What could be deferred? And what simply had to get done.
- The Emotional Minefield
Serious illness strips you raw. There’s a thin buffer between your thoughts and your emotions. Every small task becomes a Herculean effort. But in a strange way, the looming presence of dread disease made the creative work feel more essential. Every contribution to our collective efforts felt like a small declaration: “I’m still here. I still have something to say.”
What I Learned
- Radical Transparency Helps
Letting teammates and trusted collaborators know the situation wasn’t a weakness — it was a strength. It enabled compassion, understanding, and sometimes even surprising offers of support. Folks embraced the opportunity to step in or step up.
- Refinement Over Volume
With limited time and energy, I found myself cutting the fat from everything. Videos replaced typing. Messages were shorter. Markups were more efficient. As someone who took pride in elegant presentation decks, I stopped worrying about anything that wouldn’t be seen onscreen. I stopped worrying about a lot of things in general.
- Creativity Is Life
When your body becomes a battlefield, creation constitutes a form of resistance. Even if your world appears to be falling apart — especially then — the act of making matters.
Outcomes
On the work front, we met all three milestones. Not perfectly. Not without compromise. But with intention, with the diligent efforts of our team and collaborators, and with some scratch recording from my kids. :-) That’s a key takeaway: you don’t need to meet your goals at full strength every single time. You just need to meet them honestly, and allow people to help you through difficulties. Most folks want you to succeed.
On the home front, I rebalanced my weekly schedule going forward to address essential work while carving out precious time: for my wife, for my kids, and for my recovery. I have a long treatment road ahead of me, and my mantra for lifestyle adjustment is: “mood, food and attitude.” I’m no good to anyone or anything if I’m not good to myself, and it took a dramatic wake-up call to simply be alive and mindful.
If you’re facing similar challenges, know this: it’s not about pushing through the storm. It’s about learning to sail differently — perhaps even more meaningfully — when the wind suddenly changes.
Coda
The three projects under pressure during my hospitalization were our tentpole IPs for each of the demographics we serve: DREAM CATS for kids, HIDDEN IN THE PEACH BLOSSOM GARDEN for teens, and WHISPERS IN THE VOID for adults.
The latter is currently in production as part of the BLISS: BEYOND THE EDGE OF TIME sci-fi anthology, which will be among our partner Patrick Huang’s offerings at the Cannes Marché du Film, May 13th through 21st. Feel free to give him a holler.
BREAKING: We were just informed by TAICCA that BLISS is among the selections for the Annecy Partner Pitch - TAIWAN SPOTLIGHT. As Executive Producers for the anthology, Patrick & I will be pitching at the festival on June 10th.
Congratulations to our teammates on BLISS, to our colleagues on the other Taiwan projects, and to all of the creators out there engaged in the act of making.
Kevin is the author of AWN's Reality Bites blog, his musings on the art, technology and business of immersive media (AR, VR, MR) and AI. You can find Kevin's website at www.kevingeiger.com and he can be reached at [email protected].
