Time and again you've read articles and seen news stories about people in the entertainment industry that part company over, what are termed, "creative differences.".Have you ever stopped to wonder: (1) What are they? (2) And do they only happen in show business?.Creative differences can be disagreements about nearly anything.An actor may not like certain lines in a script and refuse to carry on with a rehearsal until they're modified.The director thinks the script is sacred, getting no disagreement from the writer.

So, there's a standoff.Typically, this is what comes to mind when we think about creative differences. They pertain to issues of taste, aesthetics, artistic preference, and judgment.But sometimes, beneath them, are power issues.

That actor might be testing his clout having just come from a successful run of a play. If the director and writer yield, it tells him he's hot, or at least influential or persuasive.If they resist, he learns something he didn't want to know about his status, while generating acrimony.Another part of the iceberg that goes by the name, creative differences, is professional jealousy. That actor may secretly be competing with writers, believing they are the puppet-masters.

Creative differences can crop up anywhere, but outside of the entertainment business they're seen differently.The writer of a training program at that huge mortgage company who doesn't want her product altered is probably seen as something other than a team player, as self-absorbed, and possibly as insubordinate.She isn't thought of as creative, at all, but rather as a white collar production worker. Her assembly line doesn't consist of widgets but of words and slides and workbooks.

So, when she resists collaboration, she's out of line, and her preferences are given very little sway over decisions.When she hunts for that next position and they ask why she left the prior one, she'll be unlikely to use the phrase, "creative differences.".But in showbiz, everyone would hear that, nod their heads, and understand exactly what she's talking about.And it wouldn't prevent her from qualifying for that next writing job!.

By: Dr. Gary S. Goodman