I'd always been on the giving end of music and creating.
I definitely start early and keep items in mind throughout the year for key people in my life. I love wrapping everyone's gifts in hand-painted wallpaper sheets, which gives the gift extra love.
I am not greedy, so I would gladly give a song to someone else to sing if it makes more sense.
I believe that it doesn't matter where you work or what you have access to because anything can help. If you're working in an ice cream shop, you can ask your boss if you can give away twenty ice cream cones to an organization every Friday afternoon. It's really interesting to see what people are willing to help you with if you can make it easy for them.
I think musicians and artists are the most philanthropic people I know. Their charity record of the music business would hold up to the work of anybody.
Being innovative in your philanthropy allows you to stride forward in your giving journey; you can marry your mind and heart to turn charity into lasting impact; and you can become more ambitious in your giving.
I don't know if I'm a populist artist, but I do try to maintain a spirit of generosity.
I always think I could do better. I always think that something could be more perfect, but I think that that's just within my nature. I think I want to please a director, I want to give my everything and find every which way I could have burrowed further into a character.
I'm putting out this free music, constantly putting it out.
I want to sing for people. I want them to have the music. It's a nice feeling.
In the same way that you're driven in your business to keep innovating - Facebook is a wonderful example of constant innovation - think about doing that in philanthropy.
If you have the good fortune of having money, it's almost an obligation to think creatively of ways of helping other people. But it shouldn't be in a haphazard way. You need a structure, a formula, so you don't give to everything.
I think it's important that we all try to give something to this medium, instead of just thinking about what is the most efficient way of telling a story or making an audience stay in a cinema.
Belonging to the Dramatists Guild Council where, with my fellow dramatists, I can directly affect (and protect) the professional lives of all American Playwrights has always made me feel that I am returning as much to the theatre as I withdraw. Because only playwrights can ensure the well-being of playwrights. No one else will do it for us.
Every game designer should make one explicitly world-changing game. Lawyers do pro bono work, why can't we?
Not only am I putting music out there, I'm giving part of myself away.
The worlds of art, philanthropy, and business are absolutely intertwined.
The way I write music for other artists is the same way I write music for myself. I'll pick up the guitar, and I'll write music, and if I don't use it, I have, like, 500 other songs. If I don't use it, I give it away.
Sometimes you're working in highly emotional scenes and you'll get lost in the moment. You're having fun with your friend at work. It's an opportunity to give to them as much as they've given back to you.
