With so much bad work out there, it should be easy to make good creative work. But it isn't. For some reason it gets so complicated and convoluted that even the point behind the point you were trying to make gets lost.
It gets lost through other's input. It gets lost through one-little-thing after one-little-thing from the clients. It gets lost by being insecure about the idea that was bought.
And it's all from a place of good intentons. People trying to make it better. Make it more this. Make it more that. But with so many voices the work becomes muddy and unrecognizable and a shadow of what it could have been.
But it's not their fault.
This is no one's fault but your own. At least that's how it feels. You didn't do enough to avoid this outcome. You didn't script tight enough. You didn't dig enough early enough so someone makes the decision for you.
That's a tough lesson to learn because as the work is turing to shit it's turning to shit in your hands. It's not going to get better. You couldn't possibly start to fix it. And no matter how much you argue or rationalize or fight it's not going to end up as you want. As it should be.
Even when you want good work because people don't deserve to be subjected to bland, uninteresting work.
Especially then.