24 Jun 15Creatives15Days X CCF Spotlight: Paul Meara
1. What do you do and where do you do it? I am a writer, documentarian, director and videographer from Columbus, Ohio. Currently I’m on staff at HipHopDX and contribute to Columbus Alive, XXL Magazine, MySpace and Nah Right, among others and frequently create documentaries and other artistic visual content. 
2. Who/What are your biggest influences? Well of course my family. They may not always understand what I’m doing but they always know I’m working hard and striving for big things and to be successful in life. A lot of my other influences are people I’ve learned from and who have mentored me over the years. Just a few; one is my former editor and the former Editor-In-Chief of HipHopDX.com, Jake Paine. He took a chance on me when I had little music writing experience and not only brought me in for an internship but also taught me a lot about music writing. He is a tremendous writer and I really enjoyed reading his pieces. Paul W. Arnold who was the main staffer there when I started, his interviews were some of the best in music. I always wanted to write as well as him. Just a couple other writers who I enjoy and take inspiration from are Jeff Weiss, Paul Cantor, Wesley Lowery, Charles Blow, Andres Tardio, Dr. Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, Dan Isenberg and my former editor at MySpace, who’s now at Billboard, Steven Horowitz. Um, there are some videographers I look up to. John Waters is an inspiration to me because I can totally see myself directing weird-ass films like that. My friends are also an inspiration because I keep close to a lot of creative people in all areas of the creative realm whether it be music, fashion, art or whatever. Whenever they do something awesome it makes me proud and want to make me work harder even though we’re not necessarily competing. But yeah, that’s about it. 3. What does the term Creative Control mean to you? Creative Control to me means having your own mind, developing your thoughts, goals and your vision and then running with it. I feel it’s important to do something different from what others do because I think you’ll stand out more. If you don’t have control over what you’re creating it suffers because if it’s your vision but someone else’s direction the final product won’t turn out as well as it could’ve. Creative control is essential and I always make sure it is front and center in anything I’m creating. www.PaulMeara.com Twitter: @PaulMeara Instagram: @PaulMeara
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