What People in Power could Learn from David Lynch.
There is nothing like a case of the Sunday scaries as you lie in bed, wondering what hell your personal King Joffrey has planned for you today, as the time on the alarm clock races. A toxic work environment can be to blame for IBS, back pain, alcoholism, depression, anxiety, and other conditions as yet to be discovered.
The problem is that while people might not respect their bosses, they will always respect fear. It’s easy to take the low road and be a bully. Bullies get lunch money with the threat of a knuckle sandwich, and it’s quite effective. However there is a better way.
Anytime the words “Directed by David Lynch” pop up on the silver screen, one thing for is sure: things are about to get really weird in the best possible way. From the Elephant Man, to Twin Peaks, to Moholland Drive, David Lynch has filmed some of the quirkiest moments in cinema.
The following is an excerpt from the Masterclass series, where the who’s-who of various domains, like author Malcolm Gladwell or drag queen Rupaul, wax ecstatic on the craft of their various domains. Here he breaks down how he likes to run his movie sets and the environment he attempts to create. This should be required reading in all employee break rooms, next to the posters explaining the labor laws.
“I feel that a set should be like a happy family, Almost like Thanksgiving everyday, happily going down the road together, getting along and congratulating people all the time for their good work and getting a really great feeling, a safe feeling, too, for the actors, so they can let go and go into a new character with as little fear as possible and really get in there deep.
People who run a set on fear or a business on fear I say are really stupid. If you run a business on fear, you’re going to stress the people, you’re going to cause all sorts of conflicts and jealousies and back stabbing to get ahead in the business. When the father or mother comes home from work, they are going to be coming home tired and stressed and little kids can feel this and there can be arguments in the home based on this stress.
And anxieties and tension and the little kids are wondering what is this kind of world and when you have a fear based thing people don’t want to go the extra mile, if necessary, to help the company. They want to say, “fuck you, man”. They are not happy campers and it doesn’t serve the work. Ideas don’t flow, creativity doesn’t flow. Negativity cramps that tube from which these ideas flow. It squeezes it down and you’re not happy to help the company. A hatred grows for the company and that is really bad. It doesn’t serve anybody and is no good at all.
So the happier the company, the more creative it’s going to be,and the more people will happily want to help if it’s necessary one day to stay late. Are you kidding? They won’t have a problem at all. The next day you have special lunches for them. And you know, it’s beautiful. We are all together on this planet trying live a good life why would you torture people? It’s crazy. We are in this thing together. We got to start enjoying this trip.”
-David Lynch, 2019
David Lynch worked hard on himself so he wouldn’t not to come off as an authoritarian prick. He really cared about everyone who came on his set. He ever took up acting just to build empathy towards his actors, and gave them all cute pet names like Tidbit or Solid Gold. The following video is an account from the actresses that Lynch worked with, that makes him out to be the Anti-Weinstein. Not a bad look, I say.
So much great art has come from toxic environments. Anyone who has watched the Kids in the Hall Documentary or has listened to the Buddy Rich Tapes knows that even the most fun projects on paper can become absolute torture with the wrong vibe. But David Lynch proved that even Avant Garde art can be fun to make, if you bring a positive attitude, at least try to be empathic, and truly care about other people.
