When it comes to productivity self-discipline is everything. I found this out several years ago when I quit work as a full-time Veterinary surgeon and began to work part-time so I could concentrate on my art. What I uncovered is what I would call the “no boss” factor.
I actually didn’t “have” to get up in the morning and there was no specific person that I had to answer to. I could sit back and watch Sky Sport all afternoon if I wanted too. It is true that for the first 3 months of my “new employment” I learnt more about NFL than any other New Zealand alive… I did very little writing.
It took me a long time to learn to be my own boss and in many ways I am still learning, in tomorrows blog I will give you 7 things that have helped me…
So half-time is over and I am back in the game. Tomorrow I hop back on the plane and travel back to LA. The second time you visit a place is nearly always better that the first; familiarity makes the game easier, friends make it a whole lot simpler.
It’s nice to be going back to LA knowing that I have a number of friends and contacts in the city. The break has done me the world of good and I feel recharged and ready. If there is one thing I’ve learnt in NZ that I am going to back to LA it’s this.
In business don’t let people waste your time, listen to the colour of their money not the sound of their words, call them early, make them decide early… if they are not interested then move on.
So I decided to write the first 4 sentence of this blog in the morning and the final 3 at night. Right now I feel very nervous and I don’t really know why. It maybe that I am leaving on Tuesday and my future is again uncertain. Uncertain is kind of the definition of “future” anyway so I’m not sure why this is bothering me. I’m also struggling with the weight of what I am trying to achieve in regards to films & the internet… right now I feel like a fool… but a lot can change in a day.
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Unlike this morning I feel far more relaxed and at peace this evening. I think whenever we are taking risks it is important to realize that the pain (anxiety) comes and goes in waves, and this pain should never be allowed to influence our decision making.
Life is good and we grow when we are uncomfortable
On Tuesday I will hop on a plane in Auckland at 3pm and fly to Los Angeles. I will arrive in LA at 6:30am on Tuesday morning… after crossing the international date line I will arrive almost 9 hours before I leave…
Some of you who have been reading this blog and following my journey will shake your head and disbelief… how could I possibly go back? How could I keep going on this filmmaking journey that has so far been so spectacularly unsuccessful?
One of my friends has a saying… ” going onwards is the safest thing that you can ever do.” If you are climbing a mountain for the first time, it can be very difficult to know how far away you are from the summit.
I feel very close to the top of my mountain, but who ever really knows what’s over the next ridge?
Never look back
P:S: If you are on twitter you can follow my journey by clicking on Geoff’s Twitter
Today’s blog is dedicated to our “Independent Artist of the WeeK” singer/song writer Ashlee Morton. Check out her incredible voice and wonderfully spun lyrics on Ashlee’s Myspace and sit back and relax into the afternoon.
Ashlee Morton
Independent artists like Ashlee live for days like today… after months of hardwork(working two jobs) and much sacrifice her music has finally come alive. I so love her first track… “Don’t grow cold”, her voice is haunting and it sounds like it comes from heaven. It could so easily be a cover for a film soundtrack… race you to it.
Awhile ago Ashlee confided in me that she sometimes considered giving up music (it’s a hard and frustrating road at times) and taking up nursing… so glad she stayed in the studio. What do you think?
Is the world essentially good? Or is it essentially bad? You may not enjoy this philosophical debate but I think your answer to this question strongly influences how you will live your life.
Firstly, the actual question is probably… “are people essentially good or essentially bad?”
Please vote as I am really interested in finding out what you think.
I was strongly tempted to offer you a chance to vote “both” or “neither” but I decided not too. You must make a decision (at least for my poll), otherwise you are trapped lukewarm in the ambivalent existential middle…
P:S: If you are reading this blog on Facebook or via Email Subscription click on Geoff’s WordPress Blog to Vote
For readers of this blog who are wondering what’s happening with Lucky & Rich and our worldwide casting search for Scrap, a three legged dog to star in the movie, here is a quick update.
For the last two months I have been back in New Zealand renewing my passport and trying to get a visa to go back and live in LA fulltime. The process was taking forever, so I have decided to go back on a 90 day visa to have further meetings and attempt to raise capital for the project.
The good news is our Cinema/Internet Filmmaking model is now much further advanced and I will be able to offer investors something that is extremely innovative and well planned. At the moment, the search for Scrap the 3-legged dog is still sitting with William Morris on behalf of Nestle Purina… and now that the project is further developed I believe the proposition will be attractive to several other pet companies also.
In hindsight, I think the enforced lay-off back in New Zealand has done me the world of good and I so appreciate the extreme patience from all the dog lovers and tripods out there. I look forward to bringing you some good news soon.
The heavens have finally opened and after seven years of learning & loving films I have my first confirmed paid gig. Coming to a cinema near you… is the greatest rugby film of your life. Of course any great sports film is not really about the sport… it’s about the great human characters that are involved.
I am so grateful for this opportunity and I am 100% determined to tell a really great story. America you can unlock your daughters, I am going to be so busy that they shall be safe from me. Now I have three films in development, all of them vastly different and each one offering something special and unique.
Thank you to everyone who has read this blog and supported me, I just wanted you to know the good news.
P:S: What is your favourite sporting film of all time?
The internet is changing the art world forever; it scares a lot of people but I believe it is 100% good news for artists with integrity. It’s easy to get blinded by technology but what is truly happening, is happening on a very human level and it is 100% about RELATIONSHIP.
If you look at music… to get your music into the hands of your audience, the artist used to have to climb a very tall ladder. There was massive amount of structure, and a huge amount of confinement within the music industry. If you don’t believe me, simply count the number of people an artist would have to impress before his/her music found their way into the hands of a “fan” at a music store.
The internet(Twitter, Facebook & MySpace) allows a savvy artist to talk directly to their fans; and those fans are much more likely to become Lifetime Supporters because they are getting much more pure, unrefined and natural piece of the artist.
If you like to sing… sing online to your audience, you don’t need the machine anymore to make your dreams come true.
A screenplay… much like your life has a beginning, a middle and an end. When I write a screenplay the first thing I try and do is come up with my characters. I try to imagine them as real people, because I think of real people as stories. A screenplay is really just an intersection of stories (peoples lives) put together to tell a bigger story.
The hardest part of a screenplay is the middle act… which is probably the most difficult part of our lives to write also… especially if we are trying to live a great story. In early drafts of most film stories, one of the most commonly found problems is that the main character is too passive. Things just happen to them, they never force the issues, they don’t fight enough to achieve their goal.
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