As you know I'm always on the lookout for stories that are relevant to our time. After all these years in the business it has become second nature to me to seek out that which is part of our collective experience. One of the most powerful ideas out there right now is the concept that we create our own reality.
Every day in my own personal life I experience more and more that this is not just wishful thinking but fact. I knew it well when I was younger and seemed to have forgotten it along the way. Most recently, I attracted a house into my life without any money at all. Not only that the entire place is being furnished.
The house is just part of a series of "miracles" that are occurring as I work to get my mother out of a nursing home and back into a home environment. I am celebrating it today and want to share this inspiring clip from Abraham-Hicks, the force behind the movie The Secret and all the buzz out there about "the law of attraction".
Rampage of Invincibility
Here's Will Smith on the same basic idea. He refers to The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho as his inspiration. It would not surprise me if this book or another of Paolo's books, is optioned for film development. It is a modern fable - a story of hope and miracles for our time.
These ideas are also reflected in Eckhart Tolle's latest best-selling non-fiction book The New Earth and most recently in the Academy Award nominated film Slumdog Millionaire - the story of a young man from the ghetto who finds a way to see abundance and success as his destiny. No wonder this film strikes a chord around the world and it may well sweep the Oscars next month.
For those of you who are more comfortable thinking of dreams coming true in the context of fantasy, then Pixar has just the film for you coming in May. Check out this trailer/teaser for UP! - a story of transformation from yet another unlikely everyman character.
Food for thought. Have a great day.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Barak Obama's Inaugural
Unprecedented crowds gathered today in Washington D.C., to watch Barak Obama, the 44th president of the United States of America take office. His inaugural address was excellent, as one would expect from such an accomplished writer, speaker and student of the Constitution. He also has a new web address and blog. Check it out.
I had a nice clip of Obama's half hour prime time special (another great example of good writing for the media) but Hulu.com has just made it unavailable. Oh, well. Hulu has also withdrawn all the Golden Globes coverage I had for you on the previous blog post so I've deleted that post as well. Doesn't really work without the clips.
On a lighter note, I learned this morning that Kira, the purebred Himalayan kitten I found on the Internet yesterday, will be mine as soon as she's weaned. What a great day. Here she is again. To find your own Himalayan or Persian baby click on Kittybabies.
The name Kira, by the way, means "sun" in Persian. It means "light" in Latin and "sunlight" in Japanese. This comes as a surprise but isn't it perfect? I love her already.
I had a nice clip of Obama's half hour prime time special (another great example of good writing for the media) but Hulu.com has just made it unavailable. Oh, well. Hulu has also withdrawn all the Golden Globes coverage I had for you on the previous blog post so I've deleted that post as well. Doesn't really work without the clips.
On a lighter note, I learned this morning that Kira, the purebred Himalayan kitten I found on the Internet yesterday, will be mine as soon as she's weaned. What a great day. Here she is again. To find your own Himalayan or Persian baby click on Kittybabies.
The name Kira, by the way, means "sun" in Persian. It means "light" in Latin and "sunlight" in Japanese. This comes as a surprise but isn't it perfect? I love her already.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Life goes on: Updated
Cheers all. On the eve of President-elect Obama's inauguration, I have many new things to report.
First, I have decided that both commercial Internet portals I've been writing for are not viable or worthwhile for me personally so I will not be posting any more to either of them. It makes more sense to work on my own projects at this time.
Second, after many months of agonizing over my mother's failing health in a local nursing home, I am in the process of getting her transferred out of the most recent institutional facility into a home based care environment. Something of a miracle, to put it lightly!
Mom is very frail but it is my hope that establishing a warm and caring home for her will help restore her reason to live and physical strength. To that end, I have rented a cozy 3 bedroom 2 bath one-story home in Kyle (about 15 miles south of Austin) and am in the process of getting it set up with utilities and furniture.
The odyssey of mom's and my own experience with the health care industry is the subject of a new writing project. Sometimes the things that happen to us are opportunities to make a difference. Stay tuned. Paging Michael Moore ...
Meanwhile, ever since the passing of my beloved kitty Zachary and his appearance to me in a dream, I have been on the lookout for his replacement/incarnation or kindred spirit. Does that sound just completely strange? There's no other way to say it.
Tonight I believe I may have found my new baby on the Internet. Here's a picture of Kira. A purebred female Himalayan kitten, born New Year's Day. She has the same piercing eyes as Zachary. I learn tomorrow if she's still available. Isn't she lovely?
First, I have decided that both commercial Internet portals I've been writing for are not viable or worthwhile for me personally so I will not be posting any more to either of them. It makes more sense to work on my own projects at this time.
Second, after many months of agonizing over my mother's failing health in a local nursing home, I am in the process of getting her transferred out of the most recent institutional facility into a home based care environment. Something of a miracle, to put it lightly!Mom is very frail but it is my hope that establishing a warm and caring home for her will help restore her reason to live and physical strength. To that end, I have rented a cozy 3 bedroom 2 bath one-story home in Kyle (about 15 miles south of Austin) and am in the process of getting it set up with utilities and furniture.
The odyssey of mom's and my own experience with the health care industry is the subject of a new writing project. Sometimes the things that happen to us are opportunities to make a difference. Stay tuned. Paging Michael Moore ...
Meanwhile, ever since the passing of my beloved kitty Zachary and his appearance to me in a dream, I have been on the lookout for his replacement/incarnation or kindred spirit. Does that sound just completely strange? There's no other way to say it.
Tonight I believe I may have found my new baby on the Internet. Here's a picture of Kira. A purebred female Himalayan kitten, born New Year's Day. She has the same piercing eyes as Zachary. I learn tomorrow if she's still available. Isn't she lovely?
Crisis in Hollywood: Take 2
About 10 days ago a group calling themselves SAVE THE BIZ made a classy promo to help persuade SAG members to vote no on a possible strike. Since then, a group calling themselves KEEP SAG RELEVANT edited and dubbed that clip to tell a different story.
The debate within SAG has been hot for more than 6 months. Here's another clip by supporters of the "vote yes" contingent, which claims the SAG site as their URL.
Here's another, from a passionate "middle class" actor in response to the "vote no" campaign launched by celebrity actors. It's very convincing. What do you think?
Without taking sides, it seems to me the celebrity actors are likely to have more insight into the executive mindset than the middle-class actors because they DO have powerful agents, established relationships and the clout to leverage premium deals. Maybe it makes sense to imitate success? It's not logical that the A-list is threatened by SAG members who can't support themselves.
As a member of the Editors Guild, it has been my experience that the guilds, in their solidarity under the I.A.T.S.E. umbrella, have their own agenda that is not always apparent to the membership or beneficial to the individual. The idea of a strike at this juncture is more of a power play on the part of labor in general. As for me, I have chosen to become a non-active member of my union for now.
The debate within SAG has been hot for more than 6 months. Here's another clip by supporters of the "vote yes" contingent, which claims the SAG site as their URL.
Here's another, from a passionate "middle class" actor in response to the "vote no" campaign launched by celebrity actors. It's very convincing. What do you think?
Without taking sides, it seems to me the celebrity actors are likely to have more insight into the executive mindset than the middle-class actors because they DO have powerful agents, established relationships and the clout to leverage premium deals. Maybe it makes sense to imitate success? It's not logical that the A-list is threatened by SAG members who can't support themselves.
As a member of the Editors Guild, it has been my experience that the guilds, in their solidarity under the I.A.T.S.E. umbrella, have their own agenda that is not always apparent to the membership or beneficial to the individual. The idea of a strike at this juncture is more of a power play on the part of labor in general. As for me, I have chosen to become a non-active member of my union for now.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Find Your Voice Screenplay Competition
Got a killer script ready to go and need financing? You have from now until February 9, 2009 to submit your project to the newest screenplay competition on the block. This is only open to the first 2,000 entries so don't wait.
The Netflix/Film Independent FIND you voice competition will award money, film stock, dailies and mentoring worth up to $350,000 to the winner plus guaranteed distribution. You will also retain all the rights to your film.
Check out the details at this Netflix portal. The industry is changing. Good luck and Happy New Year!
The Netflix/Film Independent FIND you voice competition will award money, film stock, dailies and mentoring worth up to $350,000 to the winner plus guaranteed distribution. You will also retain all the rights to your film.
Check out the details at this Netflix portal. The industry is changing. Good luck and Happy New Year!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Crisis in Hollywood - Will SAG strike?
The Screen Actors Guild is voting on whether or not to strike. One group put together this video presentation to help persuade SAG members to vote no.
What do you think? For more info about this video and the people who produced it, go to Savethebiz.org
What do you think? For more info about this video and the people who produced it, go to Savethebiz.org
Monday, January 5, 2009
RIP 2008! Stories of Transformation
Hello again! Every time I say that it reminds me of one of my favorite comedies by the same name. Hello Again is about an accident-prone housewife who chokes to death, comes back to life and finds her husband with her gold-digging best friend.
There's an element of that in The Duchess. Have you seen it? Bit of a downer but Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes are fantastic as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Even more incredible is the parallel this story traces between Georgiana Spencer and her 20th century counterpart Diana Spencer (the late Princess Diana).
In any case, RIP 2008. What an excrutiating year for me and so many others who've had their hopes dashed and lost their homes and savings. Maybe that's why my thoughts have turned to thinking about stories for film that are about transformation. Stories that document transformations will be popular topics in studio development circles this year. The world is looking to transform.
Of course, when you get right down to it, transformation is at the heart of every screen story and all the main religious icons including Abraham, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna and Mohammed trace arcs of transformation. For the the most part, Hollywood avoids these topics. Too controversial. Of course then there's The Passion of the Christ, which is one of the highest grossing movies of all time.
The thing is, there ARE no hard and fast rules. But we can deduce and predict a fair amount and be on safe ground doing so. I'm mainly talking now about everyman stories (and these include superhero stories) that have transformation as their dominant plot. It is said that the transformation sequence from the original animated Cinderella was Disney's favorite sequence.
Cinderella has been done to death but the basic motif still works because it's all about transformation. I'm writing a more "academic" report on the subject of transformation stories in the movies for Examiner.com. Visit me there, if you're interested! I should have that story up by tomorrow afternoon. Here's the link.
In the meantime, here's a movie about transformation you can watch right now! The Family Man is a surprisingly good, uplifting movie that did a respectable $75,793,000 in U.S. domestic box office. Enjoy! This is a feel good movie. Just what the doctor ordered.
There's an element of that in The Duchess. Have you seen it? Bit of a downer but Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes are fantastic as the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Even more incredible is the parallel this story traces between Georgiana Spencer and her 20th century counterpart Diana Spencer (the late Princess Diana).
In any case, RIP 2008. What an excrutiating year for me and so many others who've had their hopes dashed and lost their homes and savings. Maybe that's why my thoughts have turned to thinking about stories for film that are about transformation. Stories that document transformations will be popular topics in studio development circles this year. The world is looking to transform.
Of course, when you get right down to it, transformation is at the heart of every screen story and all the main religious icons including Abraham, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna and Mohammed trace arcs of transformation. For the the most part, Hollywood avoids these topics. Too controversial. Of course then there's The Passion of the Christ, which is one of the highest grossing movies of all time.
The thing is, there ARE no hard and fast rules. But we can deduce and predict a fair amount and be on safe ground doing so. I'm mainly talking now about everyman stories (and these include superhero stories) that have transformation as their dominant plot. It is said that the transformation sequence from the original animated Cinderella was Disney's favorite sequence.
Cinderella has been done to death but the basic motif still works because it's all about transformation. I'm writing a more "academic" report on the subject of transformation stories in the movies for Examiner.com. Visit me there, if you're interested! I should have that story up by tomorrow afternoon. Here's the link.
In the meantime, here's a movie about transformation you can watch right now! The Family Man is a surprisingly good, uplifting movie that did a respectable $75,793,000 in U.S. domestic box office. Enjoy! This is a feel good movie. Just what the doctor ordered.
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