One way to get unstuck is to imitate your favorite artists. It was Elvis Costello who said 'All artists are magpies and thieves.'
So steal from your favorites.
If you'e stuck writing movies, read.
Here's a great resource.
http://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/read-screenplays-online
LOG-IN ENTRY:
Streak Count: 13 days.
#FindtheHour
Stay frosty.
#POV.
Self doubt is a bitch.
We've all been there. The engine's are humming and creativity is flowing like cheap wine. You're drunk on the power of creating. You. Are. A. God.
Then someone you don't even know looks at you sideways Or maybe that one part of the story, the one edit, the blank page, comes to a screeching halt because... what?
Because we let the monster in. The wondering of 'Am I good enough?'. And its talons, small and almost cute at first, grow into life threatening thrashers.
You have to Sigourney Weaver that shit. Put on the kevlar, light the blowtorch, and blow it up. Remind yourself of who you are. Affirm your place.
Scott Adams says to write down your Big Hairy Audacious Goal 15 times each morning. Bake it into your DNA. Self-affirmation again and again and again. Be ruthless about the monsters you kill.
Blow it up.
Log-in entry:
Listening To: Dunkirk soundtrack. Amaze-balls.
I wrote in some cool spots: The Woods, Boulevard Park in Bellingham, gets the nod.
Streak Count: 9 days.
Stay frosty.
#POV.
Life is always going to throw you a curve at the plate. Wednesday night, for example, is when our house got robbed. Actually, our house got burglarized, which has the fine and very important distinction of meaning we weren't home at the time. But when we got home, everything was in disarray: drawers emptied out onto floors, papers everywhere, things scattered across the false narrative of having security.
Then the police came and we stayed up late counting what was missing, which fortunately could have been a lot worse than it was. Passports, my drone, some cash, a little jewelry, a hell of a lot of pride.
And what did I do? I used this as an excuse to break my routine and wake up a little late the next day. Yeah, I did get my writing done finally, but it was much later than usual and had the odd affect of slipping into the next day as well. Which reminds me of this:
Momentum is too easily lost. Streaks too easily broken. Just like that.
I managed to hit the curve allright, it dropped in for a single and all runner's are safe. But boy, you let your guard down for an instant, and the excuses start to pile up. The resistance, it finds just the toehold it needs to get under your skin. And then you got to fight back all that much harder the next time, just to get back on track. Lesson learned? Maybe.
Log-in entry:
7/21: 1 hour 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Location: The back of a speeding van.
Listening To: Before the Flood soundtrack
Streak Count: 4 days.
Stay frosty.
#POV.
I'm one of those guys who can not stand half-finished projects. But that's where I am right now - at least a half dozen half-finished projects that are in various stages of disarray. Some are in the outline stage, some have wrapped a first draft, others are 99% there.
So what I'm doing is going through and focusing solely on each one until they are wrapped. So as of this exact moment, I'm editing the novel I'm working on called Devil's Candy. Devil's Candy is about a screenwriter in Hollywood who gets framed for the murder of a famous producer.
What we could all use is a little more focus, I bet. It's a simple trick, but setting the alarm on my phone for one hour, then diving in with little distraction, has been the ticket so far. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Log-in entry:
7/18: 1 hour 7:30am - 8:30am
7/19: 1 hour 6:45am - 7:45am
Primer Coffeehouse: Double Machiatto ****
Listening To: Before the Flood soundtrack
#POV.
I've talked a bit about 'finding the hour' to pursue your passion. But lately, I've been seeing that hour slip away and my projects get further and further behind.
So, starting this week, I'm back in the saddle. My new plan is to write from 7:00 - 8:00 AM each day, and then log my success here. If you want to follow and see how I'm doing, this is the place. I'll discuss strategies about finding time, inspiration, and happiness - and hopefully you can apply some of this to your own day to day to make your own stuff happen.
Either way, your life isn't going to happen without you. Or maybe it will, and you'll just be along for the ride.
Here's my first log-in entry:
7/17: 1 hour
Writing Soundtrack: The Martian (so good)
Onward.
A Basquiat painting just sold for $110 million.
The house down the street just sold for $100,000 more than your's did (and they looked just about the same).
You pay .99 cents for a new song that someone spent months writing.
A book that costs ten bucks changes your life.
Values are all over the place. Maybe you think your job doesn't pay you enough (you might be right) or that you deserved more from your last effort. Or maybe you're one of those people who say "God, I can't believe I get paid this much doing what I love."
The market can be a harsh mistress. It tends to equalize things, and has a habit of racing to the bottom. And if you're in the creative space especially (like a writer, an artist, or a filmmaker), you feel that pressure pushing on you everyday. I can find someone cheaper is often our greatest fear.
Then there's Basquiat. To remind us that no one wants to hear our excuses. Our complaints.
So it's hard, so what?
The sooner we embrace that, the sooner we stop devaluing ourselves. To paraphrase Eleanor Roosevelt, nobody can make us feel inferior without our consent - and this extends to the market as well. If we think we're worth more, fight back. Prove it. Play the long game and grind and grind and grind some more. Go out there and make it happen.
That's about the only thing that markets, and other people, respond to.
There used to be a really cool model for producing great work, three sides of a triangle that dictated how things would happen.
Side 1 of the Triangle = Quality
Side 2 of the Triangle = Speed
Side 3 of the Triangle = Cost
It was reasonable that you could ask your clients (or yourself) to pick two. Only two of the sides could be achieved at once.
If someone wanted Quality and Speed, it would Cost MORE.
If someone wanted Quality and low Cost, it would take LONGER.
If someone wanted Speed and low Cost, the Quality would SUFFER.
People lived by the Quality Triangle for a long time. But that time has passed.
I love Amazon, but it's model is to provide ALL three sides of the triangle. It has embraced that on a significant scale. And this approach to business (the expectation of customers) has permeated every industry, from creative to manufacturing (though we may all be loathe to admit it).
If you're a creative especially, this can be a hard thing to accept. We need our time. We always need MORE time.
What's the solution? We can rebel against the collapsing of the triangle. But we do this at our own peril. Going slow has come to imply that someone is passing you. Being expensive implies someone can do it for less. And though the qualities others provide may only be 90% as good as what you provide, there are some people who can't appreciate that last 10% anyway.
I'm not advocating for less quality or less time or that we cheapen ourselves. I am advocating that we be aware of the market, and figure out how we are going to respond accordingly. Providing deeper value is part of the solution. Audience/customer experience is key. So maybe we start there.
Thoughts?
My three super words for 2017 are Deepen, Sharpen, Share. These are the three words that are supposed to guide my approach and intention through the year.
Overall, I'm doing all right. There's still lots of room to grow and shake things up. To make bigger impressions. To connect more. To love more. That's the goal, isn't it?
Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity' is, at the end of the day, all about perspective. How you see things is a direct result of your position in space.
So what if we made the choice to put our headspace in a positive place? So that what we saw was through a filter pf gratitude and joy?
This doesn't always work. The glass half-full conundrum fails miserably when the glass is shattered by illness, depression, death, poverty, war or a myriad of other things life likes to throw at us. People out there are suffering well beyond anything considered humane. That's indisputable..
But I bet 95% of the time, for most of us, happiness is a choice. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in the middle, in relative comfort, should exercise that when we can.
Thoughts?
When was the last time you asked yourself that question?
Was it this morning? If not, why not?
What's holding us back?
Who are we trying to please, other than this goal?
Are we all afraid it might not be good enough?
Or would we prefer to watch other people make stuff, every time we turn on the TV?
Just some questions.
Want to create some cool stuff? Of course you do.
Here are the steps:
So do you want to commit to do this with me? The first person who comments below - and who is in - will get some #FindtheHour swag and some other coolness down the line. I'll also be posting at least 3-4 times a week letting you know how to make it easier - and will look to you for ideas as well. Let's make it happen.
Need some inspiration? Hell, I do.
Create to this:
Enjoy.
This is Day 40 of my '100 Days of LinkedIn', which is 100 posts on content creation and the movie business. Call me crazy.
In most movies, there is a moment in the story about half-way through where the plan just might work.
In business, this happens all the time. You win the big account and all seems right with world.
Until...
Things change... and the bad guys close in. You snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Your answer to this is where Academy Awards are won and lost. And where businesses rise or fall.
With all that's going on in the world of business, politics, and on the streets of the inner cities, the real revolution isn't so much a radical approach of new ideas as it is a radical embrace of civility. The simple act of respecting one another enough to show common decency and grace has vanished, a tremendous casualty.
That perhaps is where our deepest thinking needs to happen. Around regaining our ability of discourse.
It's obvious that businesses like Wells Fargo have lost their way. Politicians disrespect any ideas but their own. Law enforcement and 'the people' push the edges around each other, often at deadly consequence.
Our differences aren't what we need to smooth over. That's the good stuff.
Our approach to how we communicate, how quickly we pull the trigger, how we respond to an idea that's different than our own: that's what needs to be examined.
Ask forgiveness. Give forgiveness. That might be a great place to start.
This is Day 39 of my '100 Days of LinkedIn', which is 100 posts on content creation and the movie business. First I post it here, then I post it there. Call me crazy.
If you haven't read my post about how the structure of a good movie is similar to that of a good business and maybe even a good life - you might want to start here.
Right now, we'll take a look at FUN AND GAMES, which usually occur within 30-45 pages/minutes of a movie - and how this might relate to what you're up to.
This is when the bad baseball team gets the new coach, has some initial fumbles, but then goes on an immediate winning streak. Or when Indiana Jones finds the first real clues to where the Ark is.
Or, in the case of the BELVEDERE SALES LEADS, I start closing deals. I start making real money for a change, and maybe buy myself a Porsche and a house on the beach. Hey, I'm King of the World.
Or, maybe it's when you start to see big orders rolling in. You ride around the office on your hoverboard giving your people high fives.
In business - this is the initial run of success. But as we all know, sustainability is the ultimate goal. Not the one-off moment of champagne and Black Label Vodka with Kanye.
Because, again as we all know, those things lead to hangovers. And the very old saying:
This too shall pass.
There's a hurricane out there somewhere.
