Forgive or not

Forgiveness is a theme in our movie… tell us what you think?

Safety lies in going on…

Safety lies in going on. Giving up is dangerous. Going backwards is a waste of time.

Taylorism

I am fascinated by different methods of utilizing time and becoming more productive (Taylorism)

A famous “time and motion experiment” involved bricklaying took place in the 1920’s. Through carefully scrutinising a bricklayer’s job, the number of motions in laying a brick went from 18 to 5. Hence the bricklayer both increased productivity and decreased fatigue.

Delegation is another way of increasing productivity. Saying no to procrastination is another. I am thinking about all these things as another project is falling in my direction.

Help as many people as you can…

Help as many people as you can… this is my current networking strategy. Of course this is not a sustainable practice if the only reason you are helping is in the hope that you will “get” some help back.

It’s all about cultivating an attitude of servanthood. Getting your value out of giving rather than getting. Switching your attitude from what I you can do for me, to what I can do for you?

That’s why I want to read as many of my fellow writers scripts as possible and help them in anyway that I can. My grandmother believed that it is better to give than receive, it’s surprising how some things never change.

Why preaching has no place in creativity?

This topic is rather dear to my heart. Those people close to me know that I consider the pursuit of faith, the number one reason for living; however it really irks me when people use the medium of film and cinema to preach their particular message. But please do not think that it is simply the religious right who fall into this trap…

You could argue for example that Woody Allen preaches his particular brand of “fatalism.”

I would argue that if you want to say something truly significant, you don’t have to “try” and say anything at all. The only thing you have to do is seek to be as truthful as possible in the imaginary “creative” circumstances. To do this you must honestly know yourself and you must really seek to “know” the people next to you.

Artist of the week…

Imagine me, thirteen years old, tight little school shorts and big thick glasses attempting to play the guitar. Next me is another small boy in equally tight shorts, both of us are trying to play G. This is a memory from third form music at Papatoetoe High school.

Fast forward three weeks and I am still trying to play a G, but the small boy next me has constructed something which sounds vaguely like a song. Fast forward twenty years and that small boy has released a “rock n’ roll” single that is ready to take on the world.

My acting teacher used to say that it took twenty years to become a great actor, my friend Huz has been playing music for twenty years and I think when you hear his band “Junipah’s” single you will agree that he is indeed a great musician. Download his single from I-Tunes it’s worth every cent.

I’m going to murder a turkey…

Thanksgiving is a great time to be in America… unless you are a Turkey. Pretty much everyone buys their own 20 pound Turkey and the secret methods on how you best cook the big bird have been handed down through the generations. In New Zealand we don’t celebrate thanksgiving, and I know for a fact from my previous work with animals that New Zealand Turkeys are indeed very grateful. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if after reading this blog, several families of American Turkey’s attempted to emigrate to our fine southern shores.

Of-course thanksgiving is as much about Turkeys as Christmas is about Santa Claus… not much at all really. Traditions are great when they serve to connect and remind us about what we truly value. Otherwise it’s just like eating a much bigger chicken.

Because of you I never gave up

I am loving life right now. It feels so good to be back in LA. Completely right, like I am in the right place doing the right thing. I am so involved in the things that I am creating that often I forget to eat, and I feel a little disappointed when I have to go to sleep at night.

I can sense that there are some incredible opportunities coming my way. I am so thankful for all the people who read this blog and have supported and encouraged me a long the way. Many times I felt like giving up… but because of you I didn’t.

Thanks

Aslan the Lion

Yes it’s true; after sleeping in some 35 different locations since March 19th I have finally ended up living in some very flash digs in Beverly Hills.

When you follow the winding road, without a map or a compass and with only your intuition and the hand of God to guide you it’s amazing where your journey may take you. C.S. Lewis describing Aslan the lion once said… “Safe? Who said anything about safe? He isn’t safe but he’s good.”

To often we can look for safety rather than goodness. When we lock ourselves up inside out houses and our gated communities, are we locked in or is the world locked out?

One thing I have noticed on my travels is that as people we often repel (or avoid) what we really desire. It is the unfriendly who long for friends, the deviants who crave intimacy and the safety seekers who truly desire adventure.

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Mining for Gold

To mine for gold you have to dig through a lot of dirt, to find a good story you have write a lot of rubbish. It is true that on occasions you can get lucky and find a lump of gold just sitting on the dirt track you are walking down. Sometimes when you are writing (or creating anything) you can stumble across a gold mine… a story that is just pure genius. But most of the time you have to write a lot of very average words before you find the pure gold.

I am reminded of this as I write a rugby film that is set in the Cook Islands. Woody Allen once said… 80% of success in simply turning up. For a writer “turning up” means sitting down at the keyboard.