Creative Turns: Graham Nelson—From Law School to Entertainment
Emily Parsons / WNW Member & Creative Turns Columnist
“Creative Turns” is a series about the unexpected paths that bring individuals to embrace a new creative profession. It’s never too late to transition into a role that energizes you and apply your experiences in a seemingly disparate field to your new career.
In a time when creative studios are contending for modernity, Graham Nelson is making it seem natural to create pieces that are original and refreshingly genuine (this interview included!) You might know him as the delightful “Explainer Guy” from Vox’s Explainer Studio, or the Netflix writer who willingly gets punched in order to explain just exactly how Hollywood makes their fight scenes so believable. Nelson breaks down the hard-to-explain into charming stories, and he’s here now to break down his career. From a start in law school, to Japanese TV, to a strategist at Huffington Post and now off-screen writer and on-screen creative at studios like Vox and Netflix, his path has been anything but predictable. His leading advice? Pitch ideas that you are authentically motivated by––those will be the projects that succeed and inspire.
Hi Graham. Can you tell us about your first job and explain how you went from law school to having a creative career that has included writing, creative direction, and now acting and voice-over talent?
Like my high school first job?
If you feel like it fits into the timeline of your life, sure.
I guess it does. My first job was at the quality glass factory of Athens, Georgia. I swept up glass for an entire summer, in a room with no air conditioning in the Georgia heat. The big job that this company would get was from the University of Georgia, and on Saturday night, there would be bar fights. Inevitably, someone would get thrown through the glass window at the front of the bar and they'd have to make the emergency call to the glass company to get it fixed.
That’s wild. And then you went to law school?
Before school, I taught English to kids in Japan for two years. That was quite fun, but tiring. Then I went to law school and didn't love it. I knew it wasn't for me. I liked the intellectual challenge of it, but I wasn't gung-ho to be a lawyer.
The thing that drove me nuts about law school is that you're writing all these papers. But you can't say something you created in your mind. You have to cite an authority to say it. I remember getting graded and a professor would say, “This is very interesting, but what authority says that?” And I would be like, “Well, me. I'm an authority. It's a good line, you know?” It was then that I started to realize that being able to express myself and come up with ideas on my own was important to me.
I think I had inklings that I could be good at a creative career, but never did anything about it while I was at school. After I graduated, I got a job in journalism because I had all these law skills but wanted to do something creative and I thought, how do I bridge the gap?
“The thing that drove me nuts about law school is that you’re writing all these papers. But you can’t say something you created in your mind. You have to cite an authority to say it...It was then that I started to realize that being able to express myself and come up with ideas on my own was important to me.”
So journalism was your bridge to a creative career?
Well, journalism is recording news and information, but there's an element of creativity in story construction. I was in that industry for about five years and learned a lot. Then, I made my way to the next step over––branded content.
So branded content is right next to journalism, right? But it's more in the creative field. Now that I’m in entertainment, I still have one foot in journalism because the pieces I do are very journalistic.
It seems like your career has had a nice flow––a deliberate path––that ultimately led you to the entertainment projects you’re working on right now with studios like Vox and Netflix. Was there anything that scared you during this process?
I probably had panic attacks over law school loans and stuff like that, you know? I think at times I've been scared that my progression was too gradual. That I needed to make some huge leap to get somewhere else.
But the thing is, when it comes to your career trajectory, it's actually better to go slowly and deliberately and understand that you'll get there eventually. It just takes time.
“I think at times I’ve been scared that my progression was too gradual. That I needed to make some huge leap to get somewhere else. But the thing is, when it comes to your career trajectory, it’s actually better to go slowly and deliberately and understand that you’ll get there eventually. It just takes time.”
Do you have any mentors that have given you advice along the way?
I have a couple. When I worked in news, I worked at a Japanese television network and my boss was incredibly wise and moving. He was also this ridiculous stereotype of a reporter. Just always wearing a suit and smoking constantly.
He told me that interviewing people––like we're doing now––is a real skill that journalists need, but also other people like directors. His advice was, “you must play catch ball.”
And I was like, pardon me? What he meant was that a good interview is like a vigorous game of back and forth. Where you're actually following up on questions instead of being passive. And then reacting to their answers and throwing the ball back to the interviewee, so to speak.
Then there was my VP at CBS interactive. She taught me about the American corporate world. She also taught me things about what I should go for. At the time, I thought that the only way I could have a good life is to work my way up in the corporate structure.
To climb the corporate ladder?
Right. And be like the VP of something or other and have all these people report to me. My mentor told me one day, “You don't have to do that.” There are other ways to go about being a creative person if you chose not to go on the path with the bureaucracy.
She encouraged me that you can take another path. Like, it's okay, just go do it.
That's great to talk about.
It’s hard, though. It’s really scary to be like, ‘I'm not going to climb the ladder. To instead say, I'm going to go off on the side and hopefully still make a lot of money, still be recognized, still be brilliant in what I do, but that... I’m just over here.’ I think that that took a lot for me to believe that.
“It’s really scary to be like, ‘I’m not going to climb the ladder.’ To instead say, ‘I’m going to go off on the side and hopefully still make a lot of money, still be recognized, still be brilliant in what I do, but that... I’m just over here.’ I think that that took a lot for me to believe that.”
Were there any other pivotal discoveries that you felt like really changed your career?
Oh, yeah: You don't have to be the person you were at your last job.
Tell us more.
So when I was a news reporter, I was very timid and scared to go talk to people. While I think I was greatly appreciated within my company, outside of it I wasn't. No one knew who I was and no one really cared. Right? Like, who is this guy? And this is a freeing concept because you have the opportunity to evolve yourself. So, I think that every time you go to a new company, you have to remember that these people don't know who you are.
I mean, you don't need to lie. Certainly don’t lie about the facts on your resume, but you can be anyone else. And so when I went from being in Japanese TV to working at HuffPost I told myself: I'm going to be different. I'm going to be the type of person that I want to be. I’m going to be the sort of creative risk taker who just jumps onto projects confidently, like, ‘let's try it. Let's do it. Go for it. Even if it fails.’
It's like moving to a new city and just starting a new life. That side of yourself was already there, you just let another side take control for a while and that’s okay.
“You don’t have to be the person you were at your last job...It’s like moving to a new city and just starting a new life. That side of yourself was already there, you just let another side take control for a while.”
Do you have any advice for creatives right now for sustaining or developing their careers during the time of COVID-19?
I think the great thing is that the stuff that will keep you sane during this time is also stuff that you can use for your career. To give an example, I’ve created a fun challenge for myself where I draw X-men in the style of a random classical artist every week. It's actually modern and classical. It's mixed.
I’m waiting for your Jeff Koons’ balloon animal.
That would be really good. So yeah, the point is that I'm doing this little creative thing, but I'm also picking up followers on Instagram and marketing myself. Peers in the industry are interested and the challenge starts conversations. So I do think that doing creative projects for yourself not only keeps your skills sharp, but it gets your name further out there.
Second piece of advice for quarantine––and I always say this because I think it's such an obvious thing––but some people don't do it: Take this time and build or rebuild your website so that it looks better than anything else out there.
That's very tangible, practical advice.
Netflix hired me out of the blue because they saw my website. They had no recommendation. They didn't know who I was until they saw that it came up because it was one of the first hits for whatever they searched when seeking a candidate.
So I think that's a huge thing. What else? If you send cold emails to get gigs, I think just use caution about how you write about COVID-19. Like don't assume that you're on really friendly terms with the person you're reaching out to.
I don't think we can presume with strangers or potential employers, that we can say, “hope you’re doing okay in this weird time in the world,” and then go on with your spiel. Let's not use this world event to fake intimacy between people. But that's probably obvious to your sophisticated audience at WNW.
“Make yourself very visible. Make yourself the face of something...Pitch ideas that you’re just super excited about doing and then when the time comes to do them say, ‘I’m the person that pitched it, I should do it.’...I have met people who are really talented creatively but have perhaps let themselves kind of fade into the background at times.”
Would you advise professionals to ask specifically for what they want? For example, did you pitch yourself as head of Vox Explainer Studio?
I would actually. This is a very relevant question. The latter part of your question is, no, I did not ask to be the head of Vox Explainer Studio. I did a couple pieces with them, they liked them a lot, and then asked, “Hey, we might want to build this thing. Would you come join us?”
What I did throughout my career is that I wrote pieces in a style that I wanted to write them and did things like volunteer to do voiceover for them. So I had my hands on multiple parts of the project and was therefore very visible in the company.
I think that's something that people should––if they can––try to do. Make yourself very visible. Make yourself the face of something. That is something I did without ever asking for the position at Vox Explainer Studio. It was like, this is the guy that can write these things. And then also, he has the skills to go on camera for them.
Because Vox knew that I could both write and act a script, they associated me with a piece of content that they wanted to expand on. And then that got me the title.
So my advice would be: pitch ideas that you're just super excited about doing and then when the time comes to do them say, ‘I'm the person that pitched it, I should do it.’ I think that's important. I have met people who are really talented creatively, but have perhaps let themselves kind of fade into the background at times.
When they instead want to be more recognized?
Exactly. And in fact, I think they get frustrated that they're not recognized enough. I think part of the reason is how some people promote and position themselves. So, for better or worse, I'm really loud. I make a splash somewhere somehow.
You don't want to be too aggressive or gross about it. Simply tell people your successes and volunteer for the projects that you want to work on. Make your splash.
Animated Illustration by WNW Member Emily Parsons