With A Taste Of Hollywood

"No ambition can justify the breaking of a heart"

INT. JOEL'S PLACE - LATE AFTERNOON

Emily has come to Joel's house. Together with Joel's father, STEPHEN, they're having coffee in the living room. Stephen looks calm and gains attention; meanwhile, Emily seems receptive towards the family.

STEPHEN
How did it go, kid? The audition, I mean.

JOEL
Excellent, dad! I got it!

Stephen looks happy.

EMILY
Joel is an excellent actor, Mr. Ryan. I've seen him play.

STEPHEN (THOUGHTFUL)
Joel, Joel, what can I say about Joel? You were the best student, Joel, when you were a child. Remember, our country is our childhood years. But...

JOEL
Why do you say “but”, dad?

Emily pays attention to every tiny bit of the discussion. While listening, there's admiration on her face relative to being proud of Joel and his family.

EMILY
I suppose he means, Joel, that our soul will always return to childlike innocence!

STEPHEN
Not just that, Emily. When we grow up and start thinking of our lives, things change. And no ambition can justify the breaking of a heart.

EMILY
Would you truly believe that, Joel?

JOEL
Yeah, Emily. What can I say?

STEPHEN
I just mean, kid, that you will have to get used to loving and balancing ambition at the same time; furthermore, to matching words with actions. As I believe that integrity is a man’s utmost dignity.

JOEL
I agree with you, dad. We see the world once, when we are children. Everything else is just a memory.

Apple iTunes link: https://apple.co/2mr75hO
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

My Book as an eBook & Paperback is already in Barnes & Noble!

Breakfast & Dancing Party Plans! By Emily & Joel!

INT. EMILY'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY

Emily's FATHER & MOTHER are in the kitchen having breakfast. A few seconds later, Emily enters.

EMILY
Good morning, dad!

FATHER
Good morning, Emily.

EMILY
Good morning, mom!

MOTHER
Good morning, Emily. Your breakfast is ready! Emily sits at the table, pours coffee in her cup and gets chocolate and croissant from the middle of the table.

EMILY
I hope you’ll have a great day. Today I want to do some studying, but I’m also waiting for a call from Joel, a friend of mine. Tonight I'm going to a dancing party of our school.

FATHER (CUT VOICE)
Joel? Is this news?

EMILY
Relax, dad, he's a classmate from school. The entire high will be there!

FATHER
Sometimes I don't know how to behave with you, Emily. I hope you're not neglecting your lessons.

EMILY
I told you, I'll do my studying first.

The family continues to eat breakfast and, after a while, the phone rings. Emily stands up and gets the wall phone next to the refrigerator. Emily & Joel are both smiling.

EMILY
Hello? Who is this?

JOEL
Good morning, Emily. It's Joel! How are you?

EMILY
Good moooorning! How are youuuu?

JOEL
Are you in for tonight? My entire class is talking about your numbers!

EMILY (PUZZLING LOOK)
Huh? Yeah, of course! What time?

JOEL
Let's meet at the school cafe at 19:30. We'll walk up to the club!

EMILY
Thanks a lot, see ya!

JOEL
See ya!

They hang up. Emily finishes her breakfast and leaves the kitchen.

INT. EMILY'S ROOM - DAY

Emily listens to REM’s song "Losing my religion", lies on her bed holding a book of poetry. While she browses her book, she looks kinda baffled and decides to throw it next to her. She lies on her bed staring at the ceiling.

CUT.

Apple iTunes link: https://apple.co/2mr75hO
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

"It seems that you'll be Working with Emotion, Concentration and Punctuality"

Emily has come to Joel's house and they're having a discussion with his father.

Emily re-sits and drinks one sip of coffee.

EMILY
How's it going at school, Joel? Everything OK?

JOEL
Definitely, as our teachers say, “don't just read, study!”

STEPHEN
Joel's fine! Just remember this, seriously. With my own experience, at my age, I admire people who have the peace of mind and peace of heart to read a good book.

EMILY
You just can't imagine how much I agree with that, Mr. Ryan. Praise a family that keeps you sane, Joel.

STEPHEN
Because in this field you're getting into, you may be inspired by other actors' meteoric rise to stardom; nevertheless, it seems that you'll be working with emotion, concentration and punctuality.

JOEL
So, dad, what do you believe I should focus on, so far?

STEPHEN
You'll just have to work on many things. You're young and none of the things you say or do right now is fixed.

EMILY
I feel you, guys, in my heart! You wouldn’t believe how I'd like to spend time with you, Joel, especially the two of you.

JOEL
This means the world to me, Emily. I love you two, thanks a lot!

The Words of Emily Logan, a romantic drama screenplay is available in iTunes & Amazon!

Apple iTunes link: https://apple.co/2mr75hO
Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

"Do you Know who she's Dating?" "Joel, the School Star!" "Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your Engines!"

Joel & Emily were the town scandal! An idealist and the daughter of a prominent business family on their first date:

OUTSIDE EMILY'S HOUSE - GARDEN - LATE AFTERNOON

Emily says goodbye to her parents, gets into her car in the garage and heads towards...

NORTHSIDE

She parks outside the campus and heads towards the school cafe. The streets are crowded at the sides with students talking. Two of her CLASSMATES stare at her impressed.

CLASSMATE A
Hey, this is Emily; do you know who she's dating?

CLASSMATE B
How could I? Enlighten me!

CLASSMATE A
Joel, the school star!

Emily walks past them and leaves towards the road.

CLASSMATE B
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

If you're truly familiar of in depth analysis of characters giving realistic emotional struggles, that is the essence of a romantic drama, find the book in Apple iTunes and Amazon! Here's the Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

After Listening to Bits of Ritchie Valens' song "Oh Donna"!

INT. COFFEE SHOP (10 MINUTES LATER)

The people at the coffee shop talk and listen to bits of Ritchie
Valens’ song, "Oh Donna". As soon as the music fades out, Joel and Emily start talking.

JOEL
Have you started making any university plans?

EMILY
I am thinking of Drama, English literature, but also of a down-to-earth approach: management. As soon as we start making applications, I'll know. What about you?

JOEL
I am thinking of becoming an actor. You know, drama is my field.

Joel eats his last bite of cheesecake and calls the waitress, in order to pay.

JOEL (CONT'D)
By the way, are you coming to our dancing party?

EMILY
I would love to! Shall we go together?

JOEL
If you could just give me your number...

Joel & Emily exchange numbers. The waitress comes with the bill. She gives it to them and they pay. Right afterwards, the waitress leaves.

JOEL
I'll call you on Saturday morning to plan for the night. I had an amazing time!

EMILY
Thank you, Joel.

JOEL
You're welcome!

They stand up and leave the coffee shop.

The Book is already available in iTunes and Amazon! Get a taste with this Amazon link: https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

Joel Flirts The "Golden Girl"!

INT. SCHOOL - HALL - DAY

The school hall is crowded. Emily and Joel talk next to the lockers. Emily holds books. Joel looks enthusiastically at Emily.

EMILY (PUZZLING LOOK)
So, what do you have in mind, Joel?

JOEL
If only we could play together! I would die for some theatrical moments with you...

EMILY
And if I may ask, how did you come to this conclusion?

JOEL (IMPULSIVE)
Right now, I just love the culture of next Emma Watson, Kristen Stewart, Susan and Lucy from Narnia. Could it be you?

Emily looks flattered, she smiles.

EMILY (PUZZLING LOOK)
Still, would it be all about me? In other words, Joel, I would be the golden girl, for whom though...?

Joel extends his hand over the locker and casts a loving and caring glance on Emily. Their faces approach one another.

JOEL
For me!

Are you a fan of romantic drama? The book is already in Amazon .com, UK, Australia, Canada! https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

In Between School Performances & Excitement!

Interested in school performances? Joel & Emily at The Words of Emily Logan began as artists! Just be a part of good school theater and find out all about my book if you like it!

INT. SCHOOL - REHEARSAL ROOM - DAY

The curtain opens and Joel appears on stage with a fellow actress. They smile and start performing an act. They use various ways of expressing themselves. The act is difficult. After a few moments, more actors and actresses appear on stage. Certain people from the crowd including their coach look excited. The act finishes. The crowd applauds. Joel gets off the stage and approaches the coach, LAURIN. He seems to be wondering.

JOEL
Hey, hey, how was it?

LAURIN
Off you go, kid, congratulations, you got the part!

Joel shakes with enthusiasm. The crowd applauds. Emily sits a few seats next to the coach. She stands up and approaches Joel. She looks proud. She kisses him.

EMILY (HAPPY)
Congratulations! Who the heck could truly beat this?!

JOEL
Thank you, Emily. I've worked hard for this!

A few other students approach Laurin's area, as they all smile and talk quietly.

The Words of Emily Logan has just gone into distribution and is already up in Amazon as a paperback! Get the book here: https://amzn.to/2kC2oS3

Victor's Hugo Passion for Greatness!

By Orhan Pamuk, Other Colors

Some authors we love for the beauty of their texts. This is the purest sort of reader-writer relationship, the closest to perfection. Other writers leave their imprint on us because of their life stories, their passion for writing, or their place in history. For me, Victor Hugo belongs to that second group. In my youth i knew him as a novelist, as the author of Les Miserables. I loved him for the way he conveyed the chemistry of great cities, the high drama of their streets, and for the way he could show the logic by which two entirely unrelated things could happen in a city at the same time (as Parisians are attacking one another's barricades in 1832, we have the sound of billiards coming from two streets away). He influenced Dostoyevsky; when i was young, and wedded to a melodramatic vision of cities as dark and dirty places where the poor and defeated congregate, he influenced me too. When i grew a bit older, Hugo's voice began to annoy me; I found it pompous, affected, ostentatious, and artificial. In his historical novel Ninenty-Three, he spends a great many annoying pages describing a loose cannon rolling back and forth on a ship in a storm. When he took Faulkner to task for being influenced by Hugo, Nabokov offered a cruel example: "L'homme regardait le gibet, le gibet regardait l'homme." What has influenced me the most - and disturbed me most about Hugo's life - was his use of emotion (in the negative sense of this romantic world!) to confect greatness through rhetoric and high drama. All French intellectuals, from Zola to Sartre, owe a debt to Hugo and his passion for greatness; his concept of the politically engaged writer as champion of truth and justice has exerted a deep influence on world literature. Overly aware of his passion for greatness - and mindful of the fact that he had achieved it - Hugo became a living symbol of his ideal, thereby turning himself into a statue. His self-conscious moral and political gestures gave him an artificial air, and that cannot help but make a reader uneasy. In his discussion of "Shakespeare's genius," Hugo himself said that the enemy of greatness was falseness. In spite of all his posturing, Hugo's triumphant return from political exile endowed him with a certain authenticity, as did his flair for public speaking, and his heroes live on in Europe's - and the world's - imagination. Perhaps this is simply because France and French literature were for so long at the forefront of civilization. Once upon a time, and no matter how nationalistic they were, France's writers spoke not just to France but to all of humanity. But it's not that way today. Perhaps that is why France's continuing affection for this strangest of great authors speaks above all of nostalgia for her lost days of glory.

Orhan Pamuk: Other Colours, ESSAYS AND A STORY, Writings on Life, Art, Books and Cities.

My Book Launch on the 15th of September!

Dear friends, I am happy to announce that "The Words of Emily Logan" has been currently activated for publishing at the international markets! The title will now start feeding out to the distribution partners and this may take several business days including approvals from the stores related with "marketability and technical criteria". The book is now launched! Stay tuned!

Inspired By Andersen's Fairytales

A Quote from the Legendary Writer as I introduce my Site!

The First Million Words Are Practice

By Kevin Tumlinson of Draft2Digital

David Eddings, an American novelist who was most famous for his epic fantasy books, once gave the following advice to new writers:

“My advice to the young writer is likely to be unpalatable in an age of instant successes and meteoric falls. I tell the neophyte: Write a million words–the absolute best you can write, then throw it all away and bravely turn your back on what you have written. At that point, you’re ready to begin.”

That same advice has come from a number of other sources—it’s tough to determine just who said it first. Some point to legends such as Ray Bradbury or Jerry Pournelle, both of whom famously advice that new writers should write a million words before considering themselves ready to take up the cause.

Regardless of who said it first, the sentiment always seems to come down to one thing: “Your first million words don’t count.”

But that seems a bit negative. Because of course they count. They’re the words you use to hone your craft, to learn the strategies you need to do the work and do it well. So to put it in more positive, less scary terms: Your first million words are practice.

PRACTICE MAKES SORTA PERFECT

We should probably clear something up, before it becomes a thing: There will always be room for you to grow and improve as a writer.

One of the mistakes that a lot of talented writers make is relying entirely on their talent rather than nurturing their skill. It’s a subtle difference—talents versus skills—but it’s important to think about and understand.

Talent, you’re born with. At least, that’s the common perception. It seems that some people spring forth from the womb with all the ability they need to become great in a field.

Skill takes effort. You develop skill by putting in the hours. Skill comes at the cost of tears and sweat and hours.

Of course, there’s nothing that says you can’t have both talent and skill. In fact, that’s exactly the sort of combination we should all aim for.

In her book ‘Mindset,’ Carol Dweck uses John McEnroe as an example of a fixed mindset, reliant more on his talent than on training:

“[McEnroe] believed that talent was all. He did not love to learn. He did not thrive on challenges; when the going got rough, he often folded. As a result, by his own admission, he did not fulfill his potential.”

Of course, McEnroe’s talent was more than adequate to make him the number one tennis player in the world—he just wasn’t particularly happy about it. Screaming at officials, throwing rackets, melting down into tantrums—when his talent failed him, he reacted as if his worth were taken away. And, since he was entirely reliant on talent to deliver him to success, he was kind of right.

If your entire sense of self-worth is tied to succeeding naturally, without effort, and you find yourself failing, you immediately start questioning everything you ever knew about yourself.

You start to worry that this thing you relied on—this ability that you didn’t have to work to earn—may have left you as easily as it arrived. And now you’re done. Your life, your career, everything that made you who you are is over.

That’s how it can seem.

Dweck further wrote that our culture puts a much higher value on talent than it does on effort—as if the fact that we have to sometimes put effort into improving our skills means that we have failed, that we aren’t worthy of success. If we must practice, then we don’t have natural talent, and maybe this thing we want isn’t right for us. We should give up and move on.

A lot of authors have walked from the business because they felt they weren’t ‘cut out’ for it, and at the heart of that decision is this idea of talent being more valuable than effort. That’s a sad state—because even the greats in this industry have had to pay their dues, to put in those million words so that they can rely more on experience and expertise than talent and a muse.

EVERY DAY IS THE PRICE YOU PAY

The mistake, of course, would be to go to the other extreme, and assume that because you have put in the time to nurture your talent into a reliable skill, you’re done. Objective complete. Achievement unlocked.

The reality is that even Stephen King comes back to the keyboard every single day, keeping the saw sharp by putting in the time and the words.

That’s really what those first million words are all about. They’re a measure of the time you’ve spent doing the reps. They are a gauge for how much effort you’re putting into honing your craft. They’re a proving ground for ideas, to help you find your voice and your style, and essentially define yourself as a writer.

Those first million words give you experience, which gives you strategies to use when you’re stuck, when you’re blocked, when you don’t quite know where to take things. Coming back to the writing, every single day, gives you momentum and toughens your writing hide.

1O STEPS TO YOUR MILLION WORDS

The point here isn’t a literal “one million words.” It’s more about doing something every day to improve yourself as a writer. Nothing (and I mean nothing) improves your craft and your discipline like actually writing.

Here’s an actionable approach to developing a daily writing habit and improving your craft.

Think of it as 10 steps to your million words:

Commit to writing every day, and tell people about that commitment. Make it a group of people who will hound you mercilessly if you don’t do what you said you’d do. We call this ‘accountability,’ and it helps. We’re far less likely to walk away from something when we know we’ll be letting someone else down.
Set a daily word target. If you’re just starting, and have a tough time getting things moving, set the goal low to start, with the idea that you can push your limits and grow over time. You don’t have to write 5,000 words per day. You can write 500. Or 250. Or ten. As long as you sit down every day and write to your target, you’ll make progress, and you’ll improve.
Treat all writing as practice. Emails, text messages, blog posts, Facebook updates—if it involves words, then put the energy and effort into making them good words. Check spelling, fix typos, and put thought into what you’re trying to say, and the best way to say it. If you get into the habit of treating every word that leaves your fingertips as practice for improving your talent into a skill, you’ll find yourself immersed in the culture of writing—and immersion is the best way to become fluent in anything.
Keep a journal. I recommend an app called Day One, if you like to keep a journal on your laptop or phone. It’s Mac-only, but you can find equivalents for Android and Windows (Evernote is a good one, though it isn’t strictly a journaling app). Or you could do it the ‘old fashioned way,’ which is still a preferred method by millions of people worldwide: Write in a notebook. I love Moleskine notebooks for this purpose. Just make sure you’re coming back to the journal frequently (daily, if you can), and treating everything you write as practice (see above).
Up your word target. If you’ve been consistently hitting your 500 word target every day for a month, it’s time to push yourself. Add another 250 words. And if you hit that new target for a month, add another 250. Or five hundred. Or a thousand. Keep adding words until you really have to sweat to do it every day, and press on that as long as you can, until the new number feels natural.
Periodically push your limits. A few years back I challenged myself to write 60K words in one day. I did it. It hurt. I won’t be doing that again. But the resulting book (Evergreen) ended up being a fan favorite. More importantly, pushing myself that hard helped me reset my limits, and my base level as well. Now that I knew what I was capable of, I could feel comfortable raising my daily word count. The lesson: Once you get to a comfort zone with your daily writing, set a challenge for yourself, and complete it. You don’t have to go to the extreme of writing a book in a day, but you might decide to double your word count one day, or set an ‘impossible’ goal and beat it. Later, you could decide to write a book in five days, or three, or anything else you might find challenging. Push your limits so you can redefine them.
Read widely. Writers read. These two skills are so intertwined, they’re inseparable. The problem is, we often lock onto a particular type of book, or only read from a certain genre or category. But writers who are determined to really bump up their craft always read widely. Along with the epic fantasy or romance novels you love, seed in some science fiction, a few biographies, plenty of history, and of course some how-to books. Really, just read everything you can get your hands on. It’s about more than leisure. The more widely you read, the more mental grist you have for the mill. Inspiration comes from the oddest places. Plus, as you read, you’ll experience how other writers use the language, as well as their talent and skill, and you’ll pick up on the rhythms of their craft, growing as you go.
Track everything. Use a tool like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to track how many words you write per day, when your start and stop times are, where you were writing, and any other details you can include. You should also track what you’re reading, how many pages you get through, and what you’re learning as you go. Tracking these things benefits you because it makes you think critically about writing. It gets you in the habit of examining what you write and what you read, evaluating it for how it helps you grow. You can also do this as part of the daily journaling we looked at above. Keep track of your relationship with the written language, and gauge how you grow.
Talk to other authors (a lot). Nothing will keep your mind on the game like talking to the players as often as possible. Back in ‘the day’ this was kind of tough. You had to join writer groups, and set aside a few hours a month to attend and sit in on readings and discussions. You had coffee, sure, but at what price? We writers tend to be introverts, after all. Peopleing is difficult. But now, with Facebook groups and other online communities, it’s easy to keep up a near-constant conversation about the writer biz. Join these groups. Talk about writing, about the challenges you face and the successes you’ve had. Get into encouraging every writer you connect with, and you’ll soon find them encouraging you. This is about accountability, but also about learning from exposure. And, in some part, it’s about keeping up with your peers. You’ll find it easier to hit a daily word target if you’re hearing about this kind of success from people you know and trust and admire, every day.
Define your why. There’s a phrase used by special forces and other military types that espouses a life philosophy: “Embrace the suck.” Basically, there’s no escaping the horrible and uncomfortable and painful parts of life. So we just have to accept them and get on with our day. But we can endure things that suck for much longer stretches of time when we know why we’re doing them. Before you write another word, spend a few minutes thinking about and deciding on the “why” of your writing. What drives you? What is powerful enough that it makes you want to sit down and spend hours, days, weeks, months, even years cloistered away from friends and family, missing out on popular TV shows and movies, letting your Summer tan disappear into the pasty white porcelain of your skin, all so you can put words on the page? When you know what that is, write it down somewhere, and refer to it every day. That’s the biggest motivation you’re ever going to have. It can get you to come back to the keyboard every day, even when it’s the least fun thing you can imagine. Embrace the suck. Define your why, and you can define your career and your life.

GIVE YOURSELF SOME CREDIT

No one is harder on themselves than an author. We criticize ourselves far more than any internet troll or bad review ever could. Part of that comes from the fact that our work is so solitary, most of the time. We get into our own heads, we forget that there are people who actually do love and support us, and we tend to obsess over all the flaws and errors that somehow ‘prove’ we’re not good enough.

We’re also inundated with pearls of wisdom and free advice and sage words about what we should or should not be doing, or how we should or should not think of our work. Case in point: “The First Million Words Are Practice.”

Here’s the reality: It’s not the first million words. It’s not the first billion, either. The reality is, all the words are practice.

Writing is a lot like the game Othello. It takes a moment to learn, but a lifetime to master.
The thing is, while you’re learning you need to give yourself credit for where you are and how you got there.

First, just having the courage to sit down and start doing this work is something to celebrate.

Seriously—the fact you’ve even read to the end of this post is something you might want to write about in that journal we mentioned. It shows a willingness to improve yourself, which means you had to at least acknowledge that you might need improvement. Way to go!

Second, no matter what level you perceive yourself to be on, as a writer, you are, every day, advancing above that level, just by writing. Your victories are worth celebrating. Your skill is ever improving. You are getting better at this, so smile.

Adopt what Carol Dweck refers to as a ‘growth mindset.’ See every challenge as a chance to grow and improve, rather than a sign that you aren’t talented enough. And as for those first million words, consider them practice, and then decide that the next million will be practice, too. Determine for yourself that you can and will grow in this, and then go out and find ways to make that growth happen.

You’re an amazing writer. This is going to be right in your wheelhouse.

Greece Through History & Time

My First YouTube Video Inspired by The History of Greece through Centuries!

Fairytale Fairies!

My YouTube Video Inspired by Fairytale Fairies

Expected To Be Published At International Markets!

"The Words Of Emily Logan" has been a romantic drama written in a movie format. The love story of Emily and Joel is initially set during their teenage years and followed by 16 years of silence to be born again at their adulthood! Below are the distinctive differences that separate screenplays from other forms of literature and prose. Screenplays more fit the category of dramatic writing.
Screenplay Clarifications
• Movies happen faster than life.
• INT: interior
• EXT: exterior
• CUT: the scene is cut, the camera changes its focus, we only cut on ACTION.
• Scenes begin with action and not dialogue.
• In movies, we write exclusively what we hear or see (AudioVisual).
• Information, explanation, unnecessary description are not allowed.
• Character names are only all caps the first time they’re introduced.
• When a character is first introduced, his/her age is written next to him/her, especially for protagonists.
• Scene titles proceed from the wider to the subset.
• Success relies on continuously surpassing ourselves.

Staying Tuned For My Book Launch!

Dear friends, "The Words Of Emily Logan" has been a romantic drama that will be published at the world wide web. Written in a movie format, I present it to you, hoping that word of mouth communication before actual book launch will trigger nice impressions! Below is the book summary.

During their teenage years at high school, Joel and Emily fall in love.
But the two young people’s relationship will be tested, as they’re driven to different paths by following their educational and artistic pursuits.
At the age of thirty two, Joel and his family will be tested at all possible levels. His father is at the hospital, Joel is unemployed and family relationships are at risk.
At Christmas parties with mutual friends, Joel and Emily find each other again. Caught up in a stream of memories and words, Emily is caring, interested, helpful, understanding and loving towards Joel. In the end, it is proved that destiny has a way of catching up with the man and changing his way of thinking.
Stay tuned to discover it!

We Choose Our Inventive Path

By Pen Densham, An Oscar Nominated Filmmaker

The Tilted and Glass-Ceilinged Playing Field
We face unfairness in our lives. That’s especially true for women, minorities and outsiders. Some of us are forced to run uphill more than others. Only 19 percent of produced feature films are written by women—a grossly unfair statistic. How to cope?
I asked screenwriter/director Robin Swicord for her perspective on creativity to share in my book. Reading her words got me teared up. Their humanness and power apply not just to women but anyone who is treated as a minority or an outsider. I share some of her thoughts here:
“Dr. Lauzen’s 2009 report shows that women comprised 16% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors working on the top 250 films the previous year.
Would it have been better to know all of this before I dedicated myself to becoming a filmmaker? Or is it better not to be aware of the obstacles we face? I found myself having to constantly weigh similar thoughts when I became a parent of two daughters. How do I help my two intelligent, creative daughters be strong and mentally free in the face of subtle bias? How do I prepare them to thrive in a world or a career where they might not be fully valued? Anyone who has ever overcome a seemingly impossible obstacle knows the simple answer that silences these questions: Do it anyway.
Write your script anyway. Direct your movie. Is there a barrier? Go around it. Ignore conventional wisdom if it doesn’t serve your goal. Use your own judgment. Break the rules, if the rules don’t make sense for you. When you succeed, no one will mind that you didn’t do things “their way.”
When you fail, accept the blame. Apologize and begin again. Keep going. I don’t believe that ignorance is always bliss: I like to know what I am up against, so that I can ignore it. Make alliances, if you can. There’s strength in a common goal. Whatever is impeding you eventually becomes irrelevant when you follow your intention, and do good work.
Not sure that you know how to do good work? Do it anyway.”
Own That We Chose Our Inventive Path
The world is speeding up. Inventions are avalanching into all phases of human experience. Technology is pushing us to frontiers both positive and negative that we never dreamed of. Nobody knows where this is all going.
Here’s an example: There are going to be 5 billion media consumers out there using everything from Google Glass to iWatches and goodness knows what else, alongside the traditional film and TV delivery systems. With business support, USC just inaugurated the Edison Project, which involves fourteen professors from multiple disciplines trying to find a sense of direction for entertainment production, new media and new distribution platforms.
In all endeavors and industries there will be obsolescence, loss and change. For we, the creative, navigating these new and uncharted and sometimes stormy futures, all seems chaotic. But in chaos, I see opportunity.
Those steeped in the safety of their old ways will still be trying to teach blacksmithing in the automobile age. Others, meanwhile, will embrace change using crowdsourcing incubators. Change is the new gold rush.
Work hard at what you love. Trust that the human animal will not change its emotional make-up and create from your heart. Dynamic people attract others. When you do what you love, when you work from passion, it is not so much work anymore.
If you don’t attempt something distinctive, different and dangerous, how will you get noticed? Ask yourself: Is it better to occasionally face going down in flames than being hidden in the shadows guessing at what others want and making Xerox copies?
My Passion?
When asked where did I grow up? With quiet pride, I say I haven’t yet. I left school at 15, a stigma at that time, but I think it saved me from being academically processed into a “useful” worker. It has taken a woefully long time to call myself an artist, give myself pure permission to play, explore, be eccentric.
Yet since childhood, when I witnessed my parents making theatrical shorts at age four, it is what I yearned for the most: to cast spells with a camera and my imagination. In filmmaking, I have tried to avoid the critics’ opinions, both good and bad. Neither is correct, only time will finally judge. I have come to see the true test of what I accomplished is simply to ask myself, “Knowing the outcome, would I do it again?” Surprisingly, my usual answer is yes.
And about my creativity goals in the future? I have three of them. One: I have film projects that impassion me enough to “spend” my time on them, including a script that makes me tingle when I work on it. It’s a character study of a white detective with a tragedy in his past, re-discovering his humanity and spirituality learning from a Navajo Tribal police woman struggling with her own beliefs. Two: I am on a personal journey of photographic discovery. I love cameras and wanted to make images that cause the eye to dance. For most of my life, I followed the “rules” and failed my aspirations. And then I stopped obeying and starting asking “What if?” I am making stunning impressionistic, in-camera, nature images that are unlike anything I have ever seen. Some exclusive editions are selling for as much as ten thousand dollars.Three: Increasing my knowledge of creativity by sharing experiences with impassioned people, young and old, from my tribe.
I was inspired to write this article because a close and encouraging ally of mine was feeling the blues. It could just as easily have been the other way round. So, I dedicate this to all of you who have similar yearnings and deeply wish you the greatest of creative adventures!
I may be tempting you to become Van Gogh, who only sold one painting in his lifetime. There is that risk, which is why it is vital to see your daily work as your passion being fulfilled. But, if there is an afterlife, the old Dutch dude has to be looking down and laughing his ass off right now.
The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.
-Vincent van Gogh

We All Have To Be Salesmen

By Pen Densham, An Oscar Nominated Filmmaker

I believe we have a responsibility to expend equal creative energy, if needed, to bring our ideas to the market. I call this Creative Entrepreneurism.
The word “selling” can negatively remind us of gimmicks and sales manipulation. How about we reframe it as: “Effectively communicating about what you have created so others are more able to understand its value and buy it?
Those whose support we need may have different perceptions than ours. Promotors, marketing executives, financial investors and, yes, the gatekeepers who are just plain incompetent.
Market analysts have told me consumers crave novelty. The problem with selling a creation or invention that’s truly novel is it can scare the crap out of a lot of sales executives. There are no benchmarks to measure the risk. It is far easier to sell last year’s hit dressed up with the word NEW slapped on it and claim it’s what the buyer/audience wants.
Apple does the opposite. They invent new products to replace successful old ones before the latter run out of steam. And Apple is frequently pilloried by the so-called experts. Speaking on the introduction of the iPhone, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Balmer prophesied: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.”
Be diplomatic with decision makers. Make clear the value and abilities of what you originated is a winning strategy. Help your potential allies with mile markers and freeways signs. At Trilogy, we enthroned this process as: “Building a bridge backwards.” Or, to put it more impolitely, “Asshole proofing.”
Use psychology. Explain your vision with reference to significant successes that they understand and value. For example, I pitch movies that way. “This story combines the box office potential of Alien and The Exorcist. A priest is flown to a moon-base because NASA has found the devil’s bones up there!” Our goal is to gain incentivized and informed supporters in our quest.
Maintain a dialogue with your enterprise collaborators and financiers. Have patience and avoid anger. Anger only entrenches both parties. Interpret what “they say” to the best of your skills. Sometimes there are good points hidden in subtexts. Share your problems—it can define you as empathetic and trustworthy.
I once took a sales training course sponsored by Kodak, and I still remind myself to use a major technique I learned in the course: “Eliminate the objections.” Dig for them, answer to your buyer’s satisfaction, then dig for more. People tend to hold back their biggest, most personal reasons for making a rejection. When we have built trust by being reasonable, those final, most suppressed doubts and objections will usually be revealed. Often small insightful changes accomplish their needs and ours.
And when the objections are answered, the only thing left is to buy.
I overcame major objections at MGM to financing Moll Flanders, a film I wrote and eventually directed, by gentle persistence and reframing areas of my spec script to overcome the objections. And then I begged for a second read.
Want a tip on how to get the most from a creative person?
Don’t tell them what to do. You short-circuit what you might gain. Define your need and ask them to help achieve it by using their imaginations.
Emissaries, Ambassadors and Evangelists
When we aim to land an agent, manager, a salesperson, choose the honorable to represent you. Humans buy from people they like and can trust. Deception is a short-term ticket to oblivion. Morality is part of selling yourself and your creations. It will be worth it.
You don’t want a hard-core car salesman. They are too likely to abandon you as soon as they see resistance to a sale. Seek an all-weather friend. A philosophical fan of your work you can talk to. And who will be there when times are tough.
In the most subtle and diplomatic of ways, sell your “sellers” on the passion you have and the values of your work. But be sure to listen in return. We need the information and instincts of our salespeople who are experienced in the buyer’s ecosystem. They can give us realistic appraisals of how our product will fit the market. What we should fight for and what to give up in order to give our work it best chance to thrive.
Spend heartfelt time with the people who support your sales heads. Assistants are there daily and observe all, but they’re seldom given the respect they deserve. They have knowledge of the market and their bosses moods and availability. Many are on a growth track and may be fantastic allies. Taking a sincere interest in their lives and goals can be fulfilling and instrumental in building a team.
Holding Yourself Back Is 100 Percent Self-Created Failure
What do you yearn for in your life? Are you aiming at it? The Huffington Post recently ran an article on the top regrets of the dying. Their message can give people like us comfort. Faced with the end of their path, they reflected and wished they had the courage to be their true selves. They wished they hadn’t worked so hard, that they had the courage to express their feelings and had let themselves be happier. These are choices.
I am sure I am one of the pinnacle achievers of procrastination. In fact, I feel like I put the “pro” into the word! Looking back, my “errors of omission” are my greatest mistakes. Where I allowed doubt to make me a coward. Where I let my fear, vanity and lack of faith in myself hold me back, it cost me more pain and self-retribution than my “errors of commission”—that is, when I tried to create or sell something that caused myself occasional embarrassment.
I do let my passion loose and push my work—once in a while I pull off amazing feats. I went back to Les Moonves, the head of CBS four separate times over a period of years, before I got his permission to revive a show I adored, Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone. By number four, I felt more like a giant idiot than an emissary. But I was still excited enough to find a way to ask one last time. Les had taken over the UPN network, and I suggested Twilight Zone as a companion show to Star Trek. I was writing the pilot within days.
Every attempt to create is a roll of the cosmic dice. Sometimes, it is just quantum mechanics screwing us up. Yep. Science says success is random. It rolls around chaotically. But luck comes best to the prepared.
And if it doesn’t come? Frankly, I always worry that too many of us fail to realize we must enjoy the journey, not judge our success by an end result that is often in the hands others. Not everything sells. But every attempt teaches you.
Barry Mann and his wife, Cynthia Weil, said they had written many songs that never sold. But felt they needed to have written them to evolve the ones that did become timeless standards like, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” the song that BMI said was played more times than any other in the twentieth century.
Reportedly, when Mann and Weil sang this for The Righteous Brothers, low-voiced Bill Medley loved it but Bobby Hatfield was puzzled. He asked, “What do I do while he’s singing the entire first verse?” Phil Spector, who was there, replied, “You can go directly to the bank.”
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”
- Chinese Proverb

Mistakes Are Inevitable

By Pen Densham, An Oscar Nominated Filmmaker

Aim for imperfection! You can clean it up later. I call my first draft in script writing the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Any f—ing way to the coast is the right way! It is unfair to criticize ourselves for taking a few wrong turns on a journey of exploration that has never happened before.
When we have roughly mapped our new territory, the next step is to prune out the failed branches of the journey, put the freeway through and erect helpful direction signs. This is also called a re-write.
Apart from the occasional brilliant “eureka” gestalts, most great ideas have to be raised like tiny babies into the adults they will become. Expect some throwing-up and diaper changing, some falling down and bruising, some tears and tantrums.
Professor Robert W. Weinberg of Temple University studies problem-solving and creativity—or, as he describes it, “The cognitive processes involved in the intentional production of novelty: solutions to problems, works of art, scientific theories, and inventions. He examines creative geniuses like Edison, Charley Parker, Frank Lloyd Wright and Picasso. He feels they are not born geniuses. Instead, he says, “Most creative giants work ferociously hard and, through a series of incremental steps, achieve things that appear (to the outside world) like epiphanies and breakthroughs.”
You and I may have a chance yet. As Einstein said, “It’s not that I am so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
Seek Out “Creative Midwives”
Ideas are like small children. Avoid letting anyone shout at them, it can make them run away. Seek out men and women with spiritually supportive souls, who value your work and who can help you push through the pain of birthing something new. They are there for your child and not to impose their prejudices. The best can give you truthful insight on how to strengthen your progeny for the hard scrabble world it will have to grow up in.
Dr. Ericsson is the researcher who concluded that spending 10,000 hours at a skill is required to become a true expert—a statement that might ignore the many good works and breakthroughs accomplished by the young. He assessed research on top performers in fields ranging from violin performance and surgery to computer programming and chess. And in a 2007 Harvard Business Review article, he stated that true expertise requires teachers who give “constructive, even painful, feedback.” And he found that all of those who reached a pinnacle of accomplishment deliberately picked unsentimental coaches who would challenge them and drive them to higher levels of performance. A committed tough-loving but sympathetic ally to share your philosophies and fears with can be astonishingly helpful.
Conversely, do not share your early intuitions carelessly. Especially with the selfish, desperate, arrogant or self-absorbed naysayers. They can suck the optimism and energy out of your vision by casting their ignorance and prejudices over the glowing embers of what might have been a blazing discovery. Consider Steve Jobs words.“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Don’t Judge Beginnings by the Finished Work of Others
It’s like looking at the brightness of a light bulb and assuming that it was an easy creation for Edison. It was not. It took more than 4,000 attempts to get the darn thing to work! And he’s quoted as saying he “ached to give it up!”
Annoyingly, after all the blood and tears have been invested to get them “right,” finished works can look deceptively obvious and simple. Blaming our early ragged progress for a lack of instant perfection, by comparison with completed successes, is a cruel and unnecessary punishment.
We need to give ourselves rewards and encouragement along the journey. We need to see ourselves as heroes and enjoy the challenges in our lives. And sometimes we need to rest and build up strength because inventing the future involves brief inspiration followed by a lot of perspiration. We can exhaust ourselves without being aware of it. I have often felt guilty about taking a break and then been stunned how quickly solutions flew into my head afterward.
Rejections Have to Be Expected
Being right doesn’t always make a breakthrough inevitable. Kathryn Stockett’s smash success The Help was rejected by 60 literary agents. The Beatles were rejected—”We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.”—and this poetic statement about a scientific breakthrough:”Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” That was Harry Warner of Warner Bros. in 1927. The list of brilliantly abysmal rejections is laughable—except when it hits home.
Do not surrender your beliefs. We are often dynamically much stronger than we think we are. There are courageous models of unusual stamina all round us—soldiers, firemen, people with debilitating illnesses—who find the spirit to endure more obstacles than we can imagine.
I was very moved by Diana Nyad. She swam for 53 hours to make the 103-mile crossing from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. This was her fifth attempt to make this swim! “All of us suffer heartaches and difficulties in our lives, Nyad says. “If you say to yourself, ‘find a way,’ you’ll make it through.” Then she adds. ”You never are too old to chase your dreams.” She is 64 years young.
We homo-sapiens are pretty cool creatures. There is a spark of that courage in all of us. But we may not know it until we call on ourselves for it.
Oprah Winfrey was fired because she was “unfit for TV,” J. K. Rowling was a divorced mother on welfare and 12 publishers rejected Harry Potter. Steven Spielberg was rejected by USC Film School three times and never got in. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Winston Churchill was cast to the wildness, as he described it, for many years before being called in to become prime minister and lead England during World War Two. We should be honored to be in their company.
People Who Accept Rejection Better than Me!
I have immense respect and empathy for those willing to act. I hold them in awe. As a writer-director I get to hide behind the camera and send my scripts out to audition for me! I collect my rejections by remote control.
Actors are visibly and personally exposed from the audition to the edit and frequently sacrifice control of their final work to people like me. That is courageous, and I respect that trust immensely. Without them, there’d be no one to make my words sound much better than they are.
Like actors, we cannot control whether we get the role. The variables are too random. But we cannot fail when we use auditions as opportunities, ones we control by exploring our personal best and, thereby, making ourselves stronger for the future.
Celebrate your rejections. You got up to bat, and that’s the only route to win the World Series. Babe Ruth was the king of strikeouts as well as home runs.
Stay in the game somehow. I have seen the unexpected come to the rescue. This year, I was one of the producers, along with John Watson and Julian Adams on RCR’s Phantom, starring Ed Harris, David Duchovny and Will Fichtner. A great project, written and directed by good friend Todd Robinson. When it seemed we hit a major road block, our team at the Paradigm Agency made a generous gesture that enabled the movie to go foreword. There are businesses out there, run by people with hearts.
Caring is a powerful business advantage.
- Scott Johnson