Day: March 17, 2011

Back at the head of the year I did a three part post for the indispensable website/podcast Film Courage pondering what might have been in Indie Film and what actually could still be. They have been kind enough to collect all three posts in one handy dandy spot for your reading enjoyment. They have also been generous enough to post it on their front page. Here’s a taste, but I hope you dive in for the whole meal.

I graduated from high school in 1980, the year often associated with when the Hollywood Business fully became the Blockbuster Business. When I graduated I thought I had revolution to run (even if I wasn’t prepared to run it), but I didn’t get around to finding the film business for a few more years.

I was fortunate in the timing of my professional & artistic pursuits that I could benefit from the DIY aesthetic, the approach of the first wave of punk rock (circa 1977), and political events like the class antagonism of the Reagan Years, and the fear & consequences of the AIDS epidemic. Add to that the prevailing post-modern, multi-culti, deconstructionist sway of academia, the birth of a new distribution platform (VHS video), and Hollywood’s abandonment of the complex and personal. What could have been a more perfect storm for the coming wave of American Indies?

Circumstances gave me and my generation of filmmakers opportunity (even if some paid a high price). Has such an opportunity come again over the next thirty years? Did we miss it?

Read the rest (and enjoy Film Courage’s choice of photos too!) here.

Every once in a great while, someone comes along and shows us we have not really been recognizing the reality of the world we are living in. People tend to speak of this as “disruptive thought”, subtly implying that this clarity may not be a good thing — at least for some. Certainly Freud, Marx, & Einstein have been leaders in this field, but equally disruptive has been the community at large, as we recognize that our group think might well be a bit wrong headed. Now it is being recognized that the traits that make good filmmakers, traits that haven’t previously been championed in other fields, may just make the world a much better place.

I was so fortunate when I met and fell in love with my wife, Vanessa. Among the many gifts she has given me is a vigilance to make sure that I grow and become more thoughtful in all my actions. Among this focus is a greater attention to my emotions and general empathy. Although I have struggled in some areas, I have always felt comfortable applying those aspects to characters on the page and screen. Perhaps this is because those skills are always rewarded in development, and generally by the critics and audience. People appreciate it when films help us connect with one another both on the screen and later, off.

Often when I am speaking to filmmakers they express dismay that their skills appear to be so non-transferable. “What else can we do than make films?” “Who would ever need the skills that we’ve developed, other than other filmmakers?”. Well, it seems like the world is now waking up to the fact that those same skills are needed everywhere and both politics and business are in desperate need of our gifts.

NYTimes OpEd contributor had a must read piece last week entitled “The New Humanism“. Of course, Vanessa tipped me to it. The article distills a great deal of thinking being done in many fields, but when Brooks laid out the new necessary attributes, he might as well have been speaking about much of the creative community:

Attunement: the ability to enter other minds and learn what they have to offer.

Equipoise: the ability to serenely monitor the movements of one’s own mind and correct for biases and shortcomings.

Metis: the ability to see patterns in the world and derive a gist from complex situations.

Sympathy: the ability to fall into a rhythm with those around you and thrive in groups.

Limerence: This isn’t a talent as much as a motivation. The conscious mind hungers for money and success, but the unconscious mind hungers for those moments of transcendence when the skull line falls away and we are lost in love for another, the challenge of a task or the love of God. Some people seem to experience this drive more powerfully than others.

Isn’t it nice to know that your skills and talents are needed? But, dang, it is a bit of a heavy responsibility to try to make the world a better place. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Maybe if we all woke up an hour earlier…