Community For Creatives - End Of Year Special 2025

In this engaging 'End Of Year Special' episode, David John Clark hosts a discussion with Melanie Perry, Julie Hyde Mew, and Pip Edwards about the importance of creative communities. They explore how these communities provide support, foster collaboration, and help creatives thrive, especially in challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Takeaways

• Creative communities are vital for support and collaboration.
• COVID-19 highlighted the need for human connection.
• Cr38ives community fosters creativity and business growth.
• Online and in-person communities both have unique benefits.
• Actors and artists thrive in supportive environments.
• Community helps navigate the ups and downs of creative careers.
• Belonging to a community enhances mental health.
• Creative people often face unique challenges and need support.
• Collaboration within communities leads to innovative projects.
• Human connection remains essential despite technological advances.

Check-out the Cr38ives community for yourself.

And reach out to Pip Edwards for any support  such as self-taping or mentoring.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Impact of COVID on Creativity
• 2:43 Building a Creative Community
• 8:11 The Power of Belonging
• 10:59 Online vs. In-Person Communities
• 13:13 Finding Your Tribe
• 25:33 Creating a Safe Space for Creatives
• 31:31 The Role of Community in Mental Resilience
• 41:28 The Future of Creative Communities
• 47:05 Final Thoughts and Community Connections

Transcript

David John Clark (00:00)

Welcome, welcome to the Late Bloomer Actors' End of Year Special. This is season four coming to an end. And this year, I've been talking about the business side of acting, but I wanted to end the year on a topic that came up a lot in the discussions this year and through the past seasons. And that is about community, whether it's online or in person, creative communities. It's not necessarily acting. I know I'm an actor and it's the Late Bloomer Actor.

Creative communities have become the lifeblood for actors, writers and artists, offering not just learning, but belonging. So I've tried to reach out today and unfortunately due to the complexities of the world and everything that's happening, I haven't been able to get everyone from the communities I wanted to. But tonight we're joined by two wonderful people from the Cr38ives community in the UK and I'll get them to introduce themselves in a moment. And also one of my favorites,

actresses and teaching coaches in Australia who has her own communities as well as some links to communities that I work with, namely one of them being StageMilk. Welcome all aboard. Ladies, hello.

Melanie Perry (01:05)

Hello.

Pip Edwards (01:05)

Hi.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (01:05)

Hi David.

Hi.

David John Clark (01:08)

Let's go

to England first and have a quick chat with the ladies from Cr38ives. Melanie, give us a quick intro into who you are and how you're involved in the creative communities.

Melanie Perry (01:20)

OK, I have a couple of hats. I run a digital marketing agency, that's my creative space. I create video. I'm a video producer, video creator, and I'm also a communicator. So I help brands and businesses effectively through advertising and marketing so they get their message across to the right people in the right way, powerfully using visuals. Visuals are my thing.

When lockdown happened and COVID happened, it was just appalling. I'm a people person and being locked away and not being able to step outside my door nearly killed me. I'm not gonna lie. It's a miracle I didn't become a raving alcoholic. It was just awful. I couldn't bear it. I was literally monitoring the film

industry websites like every day and as soon as the restrictions started to lift I said I got a band of people together said right who wants to make a film who wants to make a film if we make a film we can get together and we don't have to wear masks and we can see each other it's going be fantastic. So I got together a little a band of brothers and Julie and I put together this this film Scooch which was a comedy I was looking at all the film festival stuff and

all of the things that being produced were real heavy social conscience pieces about, you know, the pandemic and it was just doom and gloom and I thought I've had enough of that, I've been locked in for three years. So I said, the only rule is it's got to be funny, and as unwoke as you can get. Julie and I started looking around for people to sort of help us do the projects and we didn't really have a budget. And we thought, what

what can we do, what can we do? So we started looking in various groups for people and what we noticed was that there was a lot of groups for specialized industries. Producers groups, directors groups, artists groups, sound recorders groups and we were just going all over the place trying to put together a good team and we thought wouldn't it be great if we could actually find all of the resources in one place! And that is how our creatives community really

began to be born because we thought it'd be lovely to have a group of creative people who can then draw on the resources of other creatives and also other business people to help them grow their creative careers. Because you need that and what the pandemic has really shown us is that people need people. And this is why I don't believe that AI is ever going to take off in the way that people panic about. People need people. It's as simple as that.

David John Clark (03:28)

Mm.

Definitely.

Melanie Perry (03:45)

and the sense of community, if you've got a strong community, then you're a winner.

David John Clark (03:51)

I love that. and Julie, a quick intro into yourself. And obviously you've been on the same journey as Melanie with the creation of Cr38ives group. So what's your background and how did you girls come to come together?

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (04:02)

Well, I'm of British parentage, but I was born and brought up in South Africa and I come from the television world. I was a television journalist, correspondent, news anchor in South Africa. And then I married a British man and came over to the UK and met Melanie. And we've been friends for God, we won't talk about how many years. So,

David John Clark (04:23)

Hahaha ⁓

Melanie Perry (04:24)

you

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (04:26)

When we were in lockdown, she called me one day and she said, I'm going mad, as she has already told you, and Melanie going mad is not a pretty sight. So she said, I've got to get out of the house. I've got to get out of the house. So yeah, we did everything, all the pre-production on Zoom. And I had two co-writers.

Pip Edwards (04:36)

Huh?

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (04:49)

And then we met up for, I think it was three, four days of filming. Cause at that time, I think it was in the second lockdown or the third, I can't remember where they lifted. Yeah. They lifted restrictions on film crews getting together and actually physically filming. I was directing and I had the second vaccine just before about two or three days before and

David John Clark (04:57)

So many of them.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (05:11)

I was so sick. I was so sick. And I was dragging my way around. And of course, also having to wear a mask around the crew and barely breathing. And every time I said cut, I would just collapse and sit down. So it was, was for me personally, it was an awful experience. But then we all went, we're scuttling back into our homes. And then Melanie and I started editing it.

Melanie Perry (05:13)

I'm on my way.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (05:36)

And oh God, and then we edited and then we edited and then we edited. And then eventually Melanie just said, I've had enough now. There comes a time where you've got to say, nothing is perfect. You just have to accept that what you've got is as good as it's going to get. And we won how many awards? International Film Awards, Melanie.

David John Clark (05:40)

You

Of course.

Melanie Perry (05:55)

19.

David John Clark (05:57)

Nice. Well done.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (05:58)

⁓ We

have laurel leaves all over the place. No money of course, which would be probably more acceptable.

David John Clark (06:08)

I love it. And with the Cr38ives community, just before we introduce Pip, how many members are in that community now? Do you know offhand?

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (06:15)

it's about around the 40 mark. And it's authors and voiceover artists and website developers. And it's really wonderful to see how the individual members hook up because there was one author, children's author who, know, authors these days, they all have their own websites. And she just didn't know how to go about it. And she hooked up.

Melanie Perry (06:15)

So that's, yeah.

David John Clark (06:18)

It's been growing nicely.

Melanie Perry (06:21)

designers and.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (06:38)

I shouldn't say that, I think it means something different in America. She connected with one of our members, a young chap who's a website developer and a digital marketer. And he did her website for her and she was absolutely thrilled. And we have also a photographer who...

David John Clark (06:41)

It's connected.

Pip Edwards (06:41)

Yeah!

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (06:57)

offers the actors and authors in our groups headshots at a lower price than normal. So we help each other, we give each other discounts. We also trade in skills. One of our members is a mental fitness coach and she needed help with her graphics for her presentations. And I did three one hour sessions with her just fixing it all and then showing her how to do it herself.

And then she gave me three one-hour sessions of mental fitness. And so it's that kind of collaboration as well. And the support is tremendous. They don't feel so alone. A lot of creatives are solo. You know, the authors, they're on their own. Artists, they're on their own. And it's nice for them to know that they have a supportive, it's almost a family.

You know, they can message and say, guys, you know, I'm feeling really down. Is anybody here for a quick cup of coffee? Or does anybody know how to fix this on Zoom because it's driving me crazy? And somebody will always pop up with a solution or say, yeah, I'm in the area. Let's meet up. So it's a growing family.

David John Clark (08:06)

I love it.

And that's good. And that's what we're, we'll talk about today is because these communities can be worldwide and they all connect in. So Pip, I met you through one of our communities here in Australia, as a, as a coach through Stage Milk, but you have your own vast community as well. Give us a bit of an intro into who Pip Edwards is.

Pip Edwards (08:22)

Hmm?

Yay.

So I have, I'm originally from Melbourne and I was acting there for a while and I moved up to Sydney a number of years ago to study at NIDA. And since then I've been working as an actor and also a presenter and an acting coach and I teach tertiary screen acting and business of acting and self-taping and what have you. And I have been doing that for a very long time and yeah, quite a number of years and set up the self-taping studio when that was sort of more rare. And I think that's how that ended up.

That's probably why I ended up a coach. But I do find that's a really interesting thing. When we talk about communities, they are there and people are right. I agree with you, Melanie. Like so many people are really yearning to connect with each other. But I find it such a curious thing since we've got into the world of self-taping. I'm on one hand, I love self-taping because, you know, we just have to get out of work constantly.

Right? Like you're always having to get out of work to go into an audition or you could, you'd have to work on the weekend. And so you'd be, you know, fifties having to work in your bar, in the bar on, the weekend, because you couldn't have a Monday to Friday job. One of the great things I think about self taping is you only actually have to take time off work for the callback or the job. And you're more likely to keep a job that you feel a bit more satisfied in. But I do think one of the hardest things about self taping is so many. So I teach it at

most of the drama schools around here and it's such a community almost so like sometimes they're graduating third year and they're almost like my god I can't wait to get out of here. I love drama school but they become like your There's always someone to rehearse your lines with or bounce something off or it's just part of it it's like if anything you're just looking a little bit for your own space and then

biggest shocks is that it is a somewhat isolating career. You go on a job and you know, we say film sets like somewhere between a church and a circus or something, I've heard that somewhere. It's like, it's this sort of place where you're so intensely with each other.

And I think whenever you finish a film job, I mean, I do, I'm not gonna say you, but every time I finish a job, I feel like I've just been dumped in the most horrible way. It's like he gets so mind, body, soul, and I'm like, my God, my heart's been ripped out! But then that life that so many actors have of once they leave drama school and they sort of finish, they stop still living with each other. And particularly as sort of people go up and you know, me and my years sort of being 40s and whatever now, lot of my...

having babies and I'm not, you know, it's that sort of age and stage. And so it's, it's this kind of oddly, you get the self tape alert through casting networks or show cast or whatever it is you, or Altai I say, you, you do it on your own. You're hustling to get a reader. Sometimes you're struggling to get anyone. So you get like a non reader, you upload it and you know, a lot of the time you don't hear anything and then you go on and do your normal

day job and I think it's confronting and because I know Sydney, you know, it's one of the most expensive places to live. So people are just working all the time and I think it's an oddly isolating experience that people aren't ready for, which is different when you're in the job itself. I think work around the job and I do think there's plenty of communities. I'm very big on the union. I do a bunch of talks with the union, but I'm a big kind of union, the union groups and part of the mental health group in that.

David John Clark (11:48)

Mm.

Pip Edwards (12:00)

I think that's a really wonderful thing. think some drama schools look after their people who graduate. When I've got private people here, like we might, even if we're doing like an hour, an hour and a half actual tape, we might be like, let's just add another hour for a chat. You know, it's like, let's have a catch up after the session as well. So there's room for community. Yeah.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (12:19)

You must get very close

David John Clark (12:19)

I love that.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (12:21)

to people when know when the crew and your and the cast you must get very close to people.

Pip Edwards (12:27)

You do get very close and my same best friends, like literally just before one of my best friends is asking, can she have a session for me as a coach? Like you end up my same community, I taught them, they're your best friends, you see them. Like it really is, I do feel, you know, I'm someone that's, I need.

David John Clark (12:28)

Mmm.

Pip Edwards (12:48)

I like people around, I'm not afraid to do things by myself. So I'll like, I'll just go to the theater. I'll go whatever. And I feel quite comfortable there, but you, you always see people, you always see people, you know. And so sometimes just a matter of getting out there and having the guts to just go to class or just go to an indie theater and you'll bloody end up talking. Or if you don't know someone, you'll talk to the person next to you. It's, it's, you know, one of the joys of, I mean, I think I'm sorry, but one of the joys of living in Australia, but I think also within the creative community, it's, it's, it's very....

People are yearning to connect and there's a level of trust purely by being attracted to the arts in the first place because generally attracts people who are humanists and so then you kind of have those shared values but I think if we can get very busy busy busy busy busy stuck in own ways have to shoot that self-tape kind of you know you know and I think it can be easy to go in cycles of things and it's so important to realize we're kind of all in a

You know, just let some steam out.

David John Clark (13:49)

And

Melanie Perry (13:49)

Yeah.

David John Clark (13:51)

the communities, I mean, I know, Pip, we're coming from the acting side, but the ladies here from Cr38ives have actors and all sorts of creators. But we all come from a world that you struggle to make money and you struggle to get found and to get seen. We've already touched on my first discussion point, which was the power of belonging. What does community mean to you guys personally, as well as professionally?

Pip Edwards (13:55)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

David John Clark (14:16)

Why do you think creative people, especially actors, but everyone else that I've met through Cr38ives as well, non-actors, why do we need a community, whether it's in person or online?

Melanie Perry (14:28)

I think for me, if I can answer that question and Pip sort of touched on it, you're right, humans need to have this sense of belonging, but that goes back to the caveman days. This whole thing is very primeval and it's, we're pack animals, humans are pack animals. It's actually quite rare to get a human being that loves to be completely solitary on their own, doesn't want to engage with anybody, doesn't want to do anything.

We are pack animals, we are mammals, we are animals. And we like to have our family around us, our friends around us, people around us in the main. And if we don't have that, as Pip touched on, it affects our mental health. It really does. And you can see that from when we go back to COVID, people have really suffered with their mental health after COVID from being forced into isolation, because for us, it's not natural.

So for community is for me a space of being natural, being your true self, being a part of something bigger than just you. Human beings are very, we're very complex. We're very complex and we have complex needs and creatives. And again, Pip said something that really resonates that we're all humanist people.

David John Clark (15:35)

it.

Melanie Perry (15:47)

Which is why a lot of people struggle to build their businesses, make money, which is where Julie and I come in, because we help to creative people the business end. Yeah, it's the business end and teaching people to value their craft, because it's a craft, it's a skill, and it has a value. And the world would be so much of a more godawful place if there was no theatre, if there were no films. The film was carried us through the Great Depression after the war.

Pip Edwards (15:52)

I want to help, I don't want to ask for money.

Melanie Perry (16:16)

You know, people need the entertainment, they need to be uplifted. We need stories. We've been telling stories since the dawn of time, from where we could paint on cave walls. You know, we're natural storytellers, we're natural communicators, we're natural. We need to be with other people. So I think if you don't have a community and that kind of sense of belonging with your peers and people that get you and understand you. And again, a lot of people in the creative space,

a lot of us are neurodiverse in some way. And the people that are creative geniuses are really usually neurodiverse. Whether they have got, know, Asperger's, whether they've got ADHD, whether they have got autism, they'll be on the spectrum somewhere. And usually the more successful that they are, they're usually more at the other end because they're in their kind of own little world and not a lot can filter into that. So creative people need to be understood. And when you have perhaps gone through the school system and you've thought,

Oh, you know, I'm a bit stupid because I don't really do very well with the maths test or the English tests or the... But you know, I'm a really great singer. I like to dance. I like to move. I like to do these things. And you find a group of people who get that and you find your dance troupe, if you like. know, magical things happen and you realise, hang on a minute, I'm not stupid. I'm not... There's nothing wrong with me. This is just where I need to be.

David John Clark (17:41)

Exactly. All those things are finding that community and we touched on it at start, COVID was such a big thing that closed those communities down and we sort of reached out and started the online community. So now we're in a balancing act where we've got our real world communities back as well as the online ones there. Julie, Pip, what do you think? Do you see any differences in the online versus real world communities or is that sense of belonging still the same? We still reach out.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (18:11)

Yeah, that human touch is actually, just, needed. We hold monthly Zoom networking events. And it's great. And we're all in the room together on the screen and we laugh and we chat and all that. But it's not the same as actually being physically in the same room. And we've just held an in-person summer networking event in a hotel,

David John Clark (18:32)

Of course.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (18:36)

in Marlow in Buckinghamshire and it's just wonderful just being around people so it's wonderful this now it's great for communication and for connection but ⁓ the real magic happens when you're actually physically in the same room with each other and you are interacting as humans should interact.

Melanie Perry (18:58)

It's a different energy, it? It's a different energy. It's great to be able to connect with people all around the world. I've had some great conversations on Zoom and it's been lovely. But when you're face to face, it's just a different energy.

David John Clark (19:11)

Do you see the same thing, Pip, especially in the self-tape world? Because you have a lot of people coming to you to do their self-tapes, but you still have some in the room. Would you choose one over the other or do you see benefits on both sides?

Pip Edwards (19:23)

in the room

for auditions, because that's what we're doing today, we're doing in the room auditions. I think if it comes, I mean, that's a slightly different thing from community, but with actors doing auditions, I think side note of, I was on a job recently, I was saying there's an epidemic of self-tape actors with that can't actually improv now. So it's making sure that we can still can be in the room. So we get that like first timeness, we get too good at taking, you know.

David John Clark (19:29)

Yeah

Of course.

Pip Edwards (19:52)

10 takes to get a scene, but it's a slightly different thing. And no, actually, do you know it's not? Because I was talking to someone today, was talking to Stephen Hunter today, and he said he had an in the room callback and I had one last week or whatever. And how much you missed all, you didn't see your best friends from drama school until you're in the audition callback room. And I think it's a big sort of crap that it's like competitive. I think it's a blessing when you go in a callback.

And you see that person, like sure they're going for the same role, you don't even consider it as actors. Like, it's just this thing of like, my God, I haven't seen you for ages. And it's an absolute blessing. Then the casting director comes out and is, shh, be quiet. But it's like, stop talking, we're having auditions. But it's, I kind of miss that, seeing all your buddies when they're running late on the auditions and you see them in your callback. But I think when it comes to the question of community outside of that, so.

When it comes to for me and coaching, think that the virtual world and Zoom becoming so popular, it's a blessing because a lot of the people that I coach live regionally. Mum that's just had a new baby doesn't really want to, you know, baby's there and we're still doing coaching. If people have got off the

plane at funny hours as well. It's really useful. Taking on actors at a strange hour in the hotel room, Zoom is a blessing for that. But of course people like being in the room. I think that it's really opened up for a lot of people the same way as

David John Clark (21:13)

Hmm.

Pip Edwards (21:27)

If, say for example, you were living in a small community, I think that's the place where a lot of my actors that are on Zoom are, small community somewhere anywhere in the world. And if you feel like you don't know many other actors in your space or you're the only X type of person in that environment and you kind of realize that there's a world outside yourself and people that you vibe with more and it's a way of...

for people to kind of connect outside themselves. They might be in your 12, they might be, you know, they might be young, they might not be able to leave. I think it can almost open up those possibilities, but you're right. Like it's, at the end of the day, it's more real thing being in the room. Things like Facebook and Instagram, I think it's interesting for opening up those connections globally that you wouldn't have otherwise had.

I think that that's useful. I've had a few people that have kind of contacted me on Instagram and then said like, whether they're even like, people that acting coach on the other side of the world, like people that do what I do. And then we have a zoom and it's kind of wonderful going, Oh, I know I've got this acting coach friend in the States or one in Canada or what did you know?

David John Clark (22:38)

Because creatives would be like that too, wouldn't it ladies? I think I met you through Facebook or I can't remember now, but so many of the connections that we have in the creatives group or any group is through social media and social media has that ability to connect. So that's where the communities come from, that online connection.

Melanie Perry (22:51)

Yeah.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (22:57)

Well, we certainly wouldn't be talking to you right now if it wasn't for that.

David John Clark (23:01)

Yes, definitely. I want to ask you all, is there a moment where you found your tribe? Do you look back on something and we all have different communities in that, but is there one specific tribe that you know you can always go back to and that moment that you realize, I found my people?

Melanie Perry (23:20)

I would say when we started for creatives, to be honest, because we've been very lucky and we're small and we're growing slowly and that's completely deliberate because we want to keep our tribe authentic and genuine and for the best for the whole community. We're very careful about who we let in. So I'm not in any other community like it. I've got other places that I go, but the place that I feel more at home is creatives and

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (23:33)

Thank

Yeah.

Melanie Perry (23:47)

It's kind of a law of attraction thing, David, I think, because I used to have a beauty business yonks and yonks ago, and I read a book, and it was a technical book, so I used to be a nail technician and I used to be some of the top nail techs in the UK. And I remember reading this book and they said, you will find that you will attract clients who are like you. And I did, I got on with my client's Marvel series, had some amazing chats. And Cr38ives is kind of the same thing, is that because Julie and I are running it,

we're attracting like-minded people and I guess because we do vet people we're only letting like-minded people in so we know that we and I don't mean that because we we do have people that will have different opinions they're all like us but personality wise you know the people that we let in are people like you David people that that give to people as well as you know we're there to support you but we know that you will support others if they need it so

David John Clark (24:44)

Hmm.

Melanie Perry (24:44)

that's what I love about our environment and building it slowly. not doing it for money, we're not doing it for the bucks and the glory, we're doing it to provide a really nice space for the creative community to grow their businesses and that's kind what we're doing and people like it and we say we're growing deliberately slowly because we want to keep that. It's almost like a sacred space, we're not religious at all but it is that kind of

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (24:48)

you

David John Clark (25:01)

I love that. I love that.

Melanie Perry (25:13)

sacred space of being protected, being supported, growing your business. And you can say anything you like in our group. You you can, and you can have a bad day and you can rant and whatever, and you're not going to be judged. That kind of thing, you're not going to be thrown out for saying something stupid or do you know what I mean? It's that kind of bonds us together. I mind my P's and Q's when I'm in other places.

David John Clark (25:34)

No, I do.

So Pip, we were talking about that moment you found your tribe. So you've got lots of tribes, I think, but do you have one specific or do you, how do you feel when you find that community that really resonates with you?

Pip Edwards (25:39)

forgot another Sorry. Yeah.

I think I have had so many different communities throughout life as we change and you know, we change and we move and we move through there's certain experiences like, you know, like at drama school, I mean, you're so intense with people like not neither is like so very, very intense.

I know first when I was sort of at, at Melbourne uni, many

years ago I had a community we ended up making a lot of theatre together and we doing that from we all lived together and we had a lot of indie theatre we came to Adelaide did some Adelaide Fringe stuff you know and then I went to NIDA and then moved in that community and now as I'm like I'm a teacher as well I've got a lot of my friends are also like voice teachers or acting teachers or movement teachers or we sort of all move in I think it's exactly what you said Melanie of like attracts like. I've got some good friends that I go to a thing called

five rhythm's, which is that's my non acting thing but it's kind of related because it's you know playing with your emotions as well but I a lot of my I've met friends there that absolutely feel like a tribe too. I think it really is about staying authentic if that's the right word like true to what our own what they call itty guy I'm saying that wrong but you know when you what is it when you show up in terms of what actually feels like a

an honest purpose with meaning, but also that is that the world needs and you know, the kind of juncture of all of that, you stay true to that. And then make sure that and this is also this is a note to self as well of staying open and moving within that. So not forcing anything, but making sure that we don't get into the stuckness because it's always changing the world's always changing the world's always and we're always changing and

things are moving and the context moving. And as you said before, digital stuff being bigger or online or what we're into in life or our peers are changing. And so we need to stay both true to ourselves but open and open to connection within that. Because I think it's almost like the waves these different communities and those other ones are still there, but I don't

see them as much because we've sort of gone that way. And then every now and again, we'll send it, you know, send to each other a happy birthday or meet up for coffee, but once in a blue moon, but now I'm with these people and then it moves to those people. I think that it's about staying open, but also true to what feels right to you, your values and what you want to sort of connect with.

David John Clark (28:19)

I love it.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (28:19)

is very fluid, know, as you

say, even people who are employed, was, yeah, it's great, but you will always have a core circle of friends and also within any community that you belong to, whether it's a temporary cast for a film or whether you are in an office and you've worked there for years and you know these people and you're close to them, you will always have people within that community

Pip Edwards (28:24)

And that's okay.

David John Clark (28:26)

Yeah.

Pip Edwards (28:27)

And that's okay.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (28:47)

that you connect with ⁓ on a personal level or you like more than the others or even some that you really dislike. So even within your community, you're going to need to find your tribe, if you know what I mean.

David John Clark (28:58)

Mm.

Pip Edwards (29:05)

Hmm.

David John Clark (29:06)

I love that. Melanie, you discussed this on the opening of about the, you know, the wellness of community and the mental resilience about how much that can help you, especially when we all went through COVID. So what do you think about, how does the communities keep us focused and keep us sane? Because creatives, doesn't matter whether you're actors or authors or any creative community. It's one of those things where I talk about the ups and the downs of your

journey and sometimes those downs can be terrible. How do you feel our communities keep us going and keep us lifted when those moments suck?

Melanie Perry (29:42)

Again, it's all to do with being amongst like-minded people who, in our Cr38ives group for example, we've all been on the same journey. We're all business owners. We know what it's like when it sucks. And therefore we know how to lift somebody up when they're going through that. You your personal story, you can say, look,

I've been there, I've done it, it doesn't last. You know, it doesn't last. And when you are with people who have had similar experiences and know what they're talking about, not just reading from a textbook, well, if you follow this plan, then you can do this and it's going to be fine. But somebody you can really connect with, again, on a base level, who actually understands the trauma and the heartache and, you know, give an example, you know, we've all had clients that don't pay or won't pay or you pay late or...

whatever and that could be make or break for small business. You as I was saying, what's right, you you do, feel what's wrong with me. Why is nobody wanting to pay me? Why is everybody else doing this? And it's just me failing on an epic scale. It's not that at all. But when you've got somebody like mine, did he said been there done that, this is what's going on here, you know, and Julie touched on it as well. You will have, people within your community that you kind of bond with closer than others. In our group, we've got

David John Clark (30:35)

course.

Melanie Perry (31:00)

lots of different industries within the creative space, but we're all human. We've all had various life experiences that you can draw from and get support from. And I don't know about you, but it's much easier to draw support from somebody who's been through it and come out the other side and can tell their story and say, look, you know, six months ago, mate, I was where you were.

David John Clark (31:18)

Of course. ⁓

Melanie Perry (31:24)

It doesn't last. These are some of the things that you can do and Pip, you will relate to this as a coach. These are some of the things that you can do to overcome that. But just because I'm a coach doesn't mean to say I haven't been through it. We've all been through it on some level. And that's what draws people together.

Pip Edwards (31:39)

I think that helps as

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (31:39)

No, it's not even

the personal. It's not even the personal. We all, you know, it's the practical, professional support that you get from a networking group like creatives. That is very valuable as well. So, you know, you're not going to make best friends with the guy who designs your website, but he makes your life so much easier because he's done all the work for you. You know what I mean?

Pip Edwards (31:40)

a coach.

Melanie Perry (32:05)

And it's

helping creative, especially creative people. You if you've got someone who can, sometimes when you're in a space and you're feeling quite dark, again, creatives especially have that tendency to be almost bipolar, you know, it's all doom and gloom, or it's all happy and roses and the energy's really high and it's all fantastic. But when you get sucked into that darker space, somebody who is in a completely unrelated industry can say something to you

that can snap you out of it almost immediately because you suddenly think, Oh my God, I didn't think of that. Oh yeah, I can do that. That's really simple. I'm not in that dark space anymore. I've actually come out of it because somebody just said something completely random that makes so much sense to me that yes, if I do that, yes, I feel like I automatically feel a lot better about that. When you're in kind of a bunch of poets all sitting together and, you know, feeling gloomy because they've got the artistic doom on.

David John Clark (32:35)

Mm.

Mm.

Melanie Perry (33:01)

You know, you can go round and round in circles, but if you've got other people around you that can look at your situation a bit more objectively and say, ⁓ have you tried this or have you thought about this or have you thought about doing that? You know, what seems obvious to one person is so not obvious to somebody else. And I was having this conversation with somebody yesterday, funnily enough, at a workshop I was doing. you know, it's you think that what you're doing is completely obvious and

certain business things for me are totally obvious. But talking to somebody else who's really in an arty creative space, it's not obvious to them at all. They're like, my God, how do you do that? I had no idea. you're thinking, really? But it just goes to show you we all think slightly differently. And when you've got a support network, it really just really helps. It just really helps because you can look at things, again, a little bit more objectively yourself. And once you start to learn to do that, which is a skill which,

David John Clark (33:49)

Definitely.

Melanie Perry (33:58)

PIP are all about, you know, when you can actually not make it kind of all about you, but you can kind of almost look at yourself from outside. You can go through the steps of healing a bit better, if that makes sense.

David John Clark (34:12)

As a, as

a, yeah, and PIP as a coach, how do you address that with when you get actors that come to you and they may confide in you that they're struggling, how do you direct them to overcome that? Do you direct them to communities or do you check on what communities that they have access to?

Pip Edwards (34:29)

I think as a coach and as a private coach, I'm in an incredibly, I wanna say is it privileged? I'm not sure. Position to mentoring so many people and I just, don't know how many, it's hundreds of thousands. Oh do you know? Like it's been a lot and how much you see the things that come up are the same.

How much they are the same. Look at me, I'm getting emotional. So and they, yeah, so these things that come up repeatedly, just being able to never name names, but a lot of the teaching that I'll do in a group will actually be addressing. It's almost like this backwards thing as opposed to I'm going to teach this and go off and like, do it, it becomes what are the dare I say issues or the or the kind of

yucky places that we're in, whether it's like mindset or whether it's, I've also done some training and like, yeah, I did my NLP certificate, but also some somatic trauma work as well. So to be able to work with actors as a byproduct of doing that, like all these things that sort of keep coming up, how can I then integrate that into a group teaching? So I'm not saying this person, this and this person, this, but to really make sure that I get out there that

you are not alone on this. I think it's just so important. That's why I was kind of waffling about the union before, because that's really sort of one of the goals is to bring that into a lot of the talks. When I'm talking, when it's one on one, and someone comes, mean, mean, it's fluid what sort of sort of sticky place people are at, but I do notice there's a couple of things. So one, there can be perspectives that we get stuck on.

I don't like the R word, I don't like the C word, don't like the... So it's rejection, competition, perfection. They're banned. They're banned words. You can say the other... You can say penis, but not perfection. Yeah, so they're like... Yeah, that's my personal rule. That's the dirty P word. So they're ways of thinking that aren't conducive to... Because it's not. And so it becomes rewiring what the facts actually are that booking or job, you're not in competition.

David John Clark (36:31)

Love it. I love it.

Pip Edwards (36:48)

It's not what it is. You keep staying in your lane and you bring something strong and your goal. I don't think the goal is booking the job because that's bloody alchemy. That's the gods, right? It's like whatever what our job is to keep being true to our version and do our best work over time. Eventually the role comes to align with us rather than us forcing ourselves into that role. Sort of it's about staying staying true to that and and knowing I think

a couple of things come into always when we're auditioning of going, why do I have a responsibility to share this story? Why is this story important in the world? So it doesn't become about us anymore. It becomes about what am I contributing? Even in shooting this self-tape, why is it important to share this story? And then also, how can I show up and offer something that I'm proud of that means something to me in this? And then sort of work out how to let it go. I think...

these things that we just keep coming back to and sometimes people do come they're getting stuck on the chatter chatter chatter and it's sharing these stories that come up repeatedly or when people have you know I was saying before I think finishing a job can feel like you've just been dumped right? Like it feels like you've been dumped and so when people experience that for the first time and you know it might be a teenager whose mother's gone oh my god my daughter she doesn't stop crying about this thing and then actually okay we'll just have a session and actually talk to her daughter.

David John Clark (37:55)

Yeah.

Pip Edwards (38:08)

And then sort of empathizing and sharing that, knowing that we're not alone. Yeah.

David John Clark (38:12)

I love that. yeah,

and you encompass, we came all the way back to the start of our discussion. Melanie brought up, and Julie said as well, it's all about the storytelling. We did go quite deep there and I apologize if you got a little bit of emotions there, but that's wonderful. As we wind up, let's lift it a little bit. I'll just ask you as we finalize things, what do you think the future is for creative communities? As we look to the future, how do you see the...

Creative communities evolving? Will they stay online? Will they still be of a mix? And what role will they play in the next generation of actors and artists?

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (38:47)

I think we will continue to have a hybrid existence where we have our closer communities and tribes like your family, like your cast on a film or like you do weightlifting David, you have your own tribe in that world but I think because we have the technology now we will continue to make connection

online purely because you know we we are talking to each other and we're beginning we know each other and and we're going to start regarding each other as friends but we're sitting on two totally different continents which we never had before the technological world or era so I think we're definitely going to going to keep both

David John Clark (39:36)

Beautiful. Melanie, you add to that?

Melanie Perry (39:38)

Yeah,

I absolutely agree. And I think communities will become stronger, especially with the advent of AI. AI is, a big threat to acting, music, and authors, data scraping, churning out this electronic crap.

And people are beginning to push back against that to a certain degree. People want to have genuine conversations with real people. They want to see real people on a screen. They don't want to see, what's the name of that Tilly, the Hollywood AI actress thing that they've made that's bloody, yeah, it's like Tilly twat face.

Pip Edwards (40:08)

Tilly Tilly something Tilly no would Tilly No no

David John Clark (40:11)

Till the end.

And she's seeking seeking

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (40:15)

Thanks

watching! ⁓

David John Clark (40:15)

representation. What is that?

Melanie Perry (40:17)

Well, it's awful. I mean, look at it. Sorry, it's awful. I know. Sorry, scrub that beep. ⁓ But.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (40:20)

Say real word.

But even if

you listen to YouTube videos on YouTube and you get that AI voice that drone and eventually you there's something in your mind that says I can't listen to this anymore. Because that connection is just not there. I can listen to the facts of a news story but if they drone on, uh-uh, switch off.

Melanie Perry (40:37)

No. So I think, yeah, I think community is going to become stronger.

Exactly. So whether online or whether in person, I think communities will just grow stronger with the birth of AI because people are turning away. People got very much wanting to be face to face after Covid, and there are still very strong now face to face communities. But they say the global platform technology is great for connecting people. It's been wonderful to meet Pip. I think she's wonderful. And meeting you, David, has been an absolute joy. So I think there is room for both. But I don't think community will ever

die out. In fact, if anything, I think that communities are coming together stronger than they were before.

David John Clark (41:18)

Awesome, you agree with all that Pip?

Pip Edwards (41:20)

Yeah, I do think it's curious as to the generation who grew up with phones. There's some science. I was listening to podcast the other day of scientists of how that of wired into

their brain now, like if you grow up with getting an alert or an Instagram or whatever is actually part of your social experience. So they have a similar amount of catharsis, I guess that's a word as we might with in real life. So it's an interesting thing sort of integrating that into life. I just think it's a curious, I've just been thinking about it, but I mean, of course like human,

like a energy or body or you know i don't just mean that much touch but like touch

David John Clark (42:09)

Hmm.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (42:11)

I think that a

lot of people said that it was the young people that suffered the most during the lockdowns. So they might be stuck on their phones the whole time, but at the end of the day, they were the ones that actually suffered the most.

Pip Edwards (42:20)

Yes.

Hmm.

Yes,

I know and I think I'm seeing a lot of the generation now come into school and I saw that as they started to come back to drama schools that after AI and sort of navigating that world as well and what that was. I think it's still just interesting. Do you know sort of do you know that like if you're growing up with that in your body.

David John Clark (42:28)

Mmm.

Pip Edwards (42:50)

The old days when you just go out and the only way that you'd connect with people is if you stayed out too late or whatever. I think that's rather than text it too late. I think it is a bit different getting that catharsis from the messages, but I, I absolutely agree that we know that a face to face human body connection, whether even if it is over zoom, like the real life

human connection is just so valuable. It's so valuable because it's sort of, it's flawed as well. I think there's something about that and there's a sensitivity to it.

David John Clark (43:22)

Hmm.

Melanie Perry (43:23)

Yeah. And schools are banning smartphones.

David John Clark (43:25)

I love that.

Melanie Perry (43:27)

Schools are banning smartphones now in the UK. The kids are now not allowed, my son's not allowed to have a phone in school. I think Australia's passed a law, hasn't it? No smartphones for the under 16s. And I think the UK might go that way. And I think that's actually not a bad thing because I think that people have recognised that human connection is more valuable than just ping, ping, ping, ping, ping on your Facebook Messenger.

David John Clark (43:28)

Yeah

Pip Edwards (43:30)

Yeah. Yeah.

David John Clark (43:36)

We have,

I love that. And that's a perfect spot to wind this discussion up. So ladies, thank you very much. This has been a wonderful discussion about communities, both for creatives in general. That's why I've got everyone on board. So as we wind up, I just want to ask you quickly, if you have anything final that you'd like to say in relation to communities, but then also let the audiences know where they can find you. We'll start with Julie. Go ahead.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (44:14)

Well, Cr38ives is on all the social media platforms. We operate more on LinkedIn than anything else because at the end of the day we all have careers businesses so creative CR 38 IV es and The 38 is the angel number for creativity. So that's where that came Yeah

David John Clark (44:23)

Hmm.

I didn't know that all

this time. I just sort of made the word creatives look really cool.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (44:42)

Yeah, it does make

it look really cool, there is a hidden meaning, there is meaning to it. So we're everywhere and by all means, sign on to our monthly meetings, everybody's welcome to come and if you enjoy them, then sign on as a member of the group. Everybody's welcome and whatever you bring to the table, we love to meet you.

Melanie Perry (44:43)

Hahaha

David John Clark (44:48)

I love that, I love that.

Thank you. Thank you. And I'll put the links for Cr38ives into the show notes, of course. Melanie, any final words from you?

Melanie Perry (45:09)

Yeah, I mean, everything Julie said and say our angel number or numerology number, the 38 is creativity and communication. The three and the eights of creativity and communication. So that's a very purpose driven thing. And say everybody's welcome as long as they are nice, decent people. We don't allow egotists in our group, I'm afraid. So if you're an egotistical knob, then you can't come in.

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (45:18)

yes.

Everybody

has an ego.

Melanie Perry (45:34)

But we're all over social media and LinkedIn is our preferred platform. So you'll find us there. And just keep building your own communities, strengthen your communities, strengthen your relationships with each other because there is nothing better than human to human interaction, in my view.

David John Clark (45:36)

what you do with it.

I love that. That's fantastic. And Pip, you get the final word. Anything final to say and where can we find you?

Pip Edwards (46:01)

You can find me at Pip Edwards creative one word dot com or Instagram probably at at Pip underscore Edwards. I guess the other thing as well, something I'll always say when a class finishes. Please find whoever lives the closest to you as an actor.

And make a time to do little self-tape Sundays or self-tape meetups because so many actors struggle to get a reader and I think it's good or it can be on Zoom, it doesn't matter but there are so many actors that are trying to get a reader but then you get two in one, you get connection, you get to talk about industry, you get to read for each other and learn but then you also get a...

a reader that you're used to having, so I absolutely recommend that, if anything. Because people dare to reach out, because other people are hoping that you do.

David John Clark (46:57)

Exactly. And that's what the Cr38ives community is. Both of you mentioned that at the start is about those connections and people reaching out and finding people to help them. Actors finding another reader for their acting. They share skills and then they might be sharing, hey, let's make a movie together. well I've done editing before and you get the same with the creatives in the Cr38ives community that people can reach out. So I love that. Thank you very much, ladies. This has been wonderful. It's been a pleasure to have you all on board. I've got so many communities as an actor

that I use to develop my skills and to learn from, which I then share in the world of my podcast. So that's why I wanted to end this year on a discussion of community because it comes out in every discussion I have. So thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure, ladies. Pip, I'll see you on set. Melanie and Julie, maybe I'll see you on set as well.

Pip Edwards (47:47)

you

Julie Hyde Mew - CR38IVES (47:49)

Thank you, David.

Melanie Perry (47:50)

Lovely. Thank you so much.

Pip Edwards (47:50)

Thanks, everybody.

David John Clark (47:51)

Goodbye.