It happens with alarming regularity. I wake in the night with a prattling thought, and toss and turn for a while, trying to relax back into sleep. Between pointless rolls of my body east and west I start coming up with ideas that, like Jack’s beanstalk, climb towards the heavens at steroidal speeds.
I spent the better part of the week in an intensive workshop-like writing process with a friend. We got an amazing amount done in a short period, but we refrained from the scripting of any dialogue, sticking solely to the outline process. Naturally, you start hearing lines you’d like to include. Read more…
I always know when somebody has an insightful suggestion for me because I want to punch them in the face. It’s likely generated from the frustrated realization that (a) it’s a good idea, (b) I should have figured it out myself, and (c) I’d rather not examine that particular aspect of my life. So when somebody told me recently to “allow space for the abundance that surrounds me,” and I subsequently wanted to toss her off a rooftop, I figured there must be something to it. Read more…
This is not a piece in favor of incompetence. Quite the contrary, it’s a call for competence via incompetence. Read on, you’ll understand…
I’ve had several discussions lately about timing. When do you do something, like, say, make a short film project. And certainly timing, and planning, matter. But more often than not, in waiting for the perfect moment, which of course never arrives, we don’t do anything at all. Read more…
I may be wrong about this one, and many will say I am, but looking at film posters around the city the other day, I had this overwhelming sensation that the difference between me and the many stars whose names were written across the top in block letters was negligible. I don’t mean the obvious – they have more money, are more famous, and so on – I mean that their ability to do what they do is not infinitely higher than mine, but that the difference lies in a few intangibles.
Please don’t misunderstand. These guys, and gals, have real talent, and great charisma, and an uncanny ability to navigate the waters. I’m just not sure they’re doing anything I can’t, and it’s been a long time since I felt that with such conviction.
Actors are perennially in search of two things: affecting an audience, and feeling personally significant. We can debate the order another time. In either case, there’s something relational at play, a need for emotions to stimulate the brain, or heart, or groin. (Again, we can debate the particulars later.)
In the best of circumstances, you’re working, on something you like, and you’re well paid. In these times you walk the earth with a lighter step. Traffic snarls are merely chances to listen to more music, rain is refreshing, and the dim-witted cashier is a person worthy of compassion. Read more…
Professional acting is not a meritocracy. There are countless talented actors who toil in obscurity while bona fide hacks saw the air too much nightly across living rooms throughout the land. It has always been thus, and shall always be thus.
Professional ball players might get paid too much, but if you can’t throw strikes, you’ll be sent down the minors pretty quickly. Not so with entertainment. If somebody up there likes you, they’ll make the strike zone fit whatever you’re chucking down the pike. Your only talent could be in getting people to believe you have talent. Read more…
My friend and teacher Stephen Tobolowsky was fond of telling us, “If you’re going to steal, and by all means do, then steal good.” It’s a smart practice if done properly. Creative types are always “borrowing” ideas, often blurring the line of outright theft, but we should at least take something useful.
(Ultimately, my rationale is this: in the end, I’m either going to do it consciously or unconsciously, so I may as well fold it into my mindfulness practice and be aware of it.) Read more…
My concentration has waned miserably in recent years. (Thank you, internet, you are truly a blessing and a curse.) I find it hard to stay focused on any one thing for more than a few minutes, but the cultivation of concentration is the final step on the Path, and one that should be taken very, very seriously. Anyway, let’s break concentration into two categories: the short-term and the long-term. Read more…
It happens with alarming regularity. I wake in the night with a prattling thought, and toss and turn for a while, trying to relax back into sleep. Between pointless rolls of my body east and west I start coming up with ideas that, like Jack’s beanstalk, climb towards the heavens at steroidal speeds.
