#393: Edward Norton — On Creative Process, Creative Struggle, and Motherless Brooklyn

“ It's nice to be reminded that it's been hard for other people when they were getting things done that you admired, because it maybe gives you that extra little bit of determination or patience to persevere a little more." — Edward Norton Edward Norton ( @EdwardNorton ) is one of the most celebrated actors of his generation. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards for his performances and has starred in, produced, written, or directed more than 30 films. His most recent film, Motherless Brooklyn , which he wrote, directed, produced, and stars in, will be released on November 1st. People mostly know Edward for his acting, but he has a substantial parallel career as an entrepreneur, investor, and activist in both technology and environmental sustainability ventures. In 2010 Norton co-founded and was chairman of CrowdRise , a charitable crowdfunding platform which raised more than $500M for U.S. nonprofit organizations before being acquired by GoFundMe , the largest social fundraising platform in the world, which Norton now serves on the board of. He also co-founded EDO , which applies advanced data science and machine learning to the analysis of audience engagement signals for the media and advertising industries. EDO's data and software are used by every major film studio in their media rotation planning, and virtually every major television network now includes EDO data alongside Nielsen data within their pricing metrics. He is the founding board president of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust , an award-winning Kenyan conservation and community development organization, and in 2010 he was appointed the first United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity . Edward seems to do it all. In this wide-ranging conversation, we go deep into his creative process and creative struggles, both inside and outside of film. If you'd like more Edward after this episode, you can listen to my 2016 interview with him at tim.blog/edward . And take my word for it and go see Motherless Brooklyn in theaters. It's absolutely outstanding. This episode is brought to you by Zapier . If you run your own business, think about all of the hours you spend moving information from one software program to another, or one window to another, one social media platform to another, copy and pasting, all because those things don't easily work together. With Zapier , now they do, automatically. Zapier is one of the best pieces of automation software I've ever come across, and it supports more than fifteen hundred business applications, so the possibilities are virtually endless. It is the easiest way to automate your work. 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Get 15% off your order by going to SuperFat.com/tim . *** If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts /iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. I also love reading the reviews! For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast . Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday . For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts . Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please fill out the form at tim.blog/sponsor . Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books . 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