It’s often forgotten that we storytellers are in fact magicians. In all the hullabaloo of egos, opinions, reviews, funding proposals, endless rewrites, never ending shooting days in the rain, bad food, overdrafts, broken relationships… we have all been there and have that T shirt right? But what keeps us going is that we recognise at […]
So on Tuesday I posted a blog about peer groups, and also emailed it out to my newsgroup. I got about fifteen messages back and the responses were quite polarised. You can read the original blog HERE but in short, the message of the piece was that we are heavily influenced by those around us […]
Environment is EVERYTHING. No-one wants to really confront this, but it’s really simple. We become the five people we hang out with. And these five people may well be the biggest five reasons your career is not going where you thought it would be going when you began your journey. Uncomfortable, I know. Don’t get […]
Werner Herzog is one of the most diverse, uncompromising and staggeringly prolific filmmakers on the planet. His gaze is often so clear and direct as to become painful, yet a truth regularly reveals itself inside the scrutiny of his work. Like his work or loathe it, the bottom line is this, every filmmaker can learn […]
There are few writers whose work is so distinctive that as soon as you hear it spoken in a show or film, you know who wrote it. Aaron Sorkin is one such writer. His dialogue just crackles along leaving writers like me breathless and Joe public grinning in satisfaction. And his CV is stunning – […]
John Hughes was, for me at least, one of the greatest American filmmakers ever. His work, often overlooked by many, is both the soundtrack to an entire generation AND an extraordinary body of work that was compressed in a short hut staggeringly creative period. I also found a rare podcast with him some time ago […]
We are the five people we hang out with. The key to success in life is setting high standards and then taking action in accordance with those high standards. What makes it hard to do this is that we become the people we are closest to, and they may not share our goals or dreams, […]
It’s hard to write anything about Steve Jobs without being awed by his life and career. Apple and Pixar. What a stunning legacy. Above is his Stanford Commencement speech from 2005, and it’s as inspiring as it is instructive. What a man. ‘Just make it great.’ ‘Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living […]
OK here it is. If you are not successful right now, you have two choices. Give up or keep going. But know that true success, true mastery, is something that takes dedication and a great deal if time. So keep going, success lies in your future if you continue to peruse it vigorously. True success […]
As a kid, I remember long distance runner Zola Budd. Running barefoot and a clear underdog, she did more for me than win championships and excite crowds, she inspired me profoundly. It has been demonstrated time and again to me that success in this industry is largely about being the last woman or man standing. […]
HR Giger, who died earlier this week, was a genuine, authentic, bonkers crazy artist. The genuine article. Imaginative, daring, confronting, shocking, sublime… when I saw his work as a teenager, it was like hearing a new genre of music for the first time. Something I had never experienced before. It assaulted the mind and eyes. […]
Reality is not the world around us. Reality is a story we tell ourselves about the world (often seeking confirmation and evidence from our family, peers and even strangers). Reality is defined by what we focus on and what we make it mean. Choose wisely as what to focus on, and examine what you make […]
Hitchcock, the original master of suspense, was also a master of promotion. His pithy one liners are great reminders that audiences LOVE thrill, shock and suspense, even in dramas… ‘Drama is life with the dull bits cut out’ ‘The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder’ ‘The […]
I have just spent the last hour on the phone to an extraordinary artist whose work will shake the world. The only problem is, she only gets glimpses of her brilliance and power. So how do you cope with the urge to create when you feel shut down by judgement, often from yourself as much […]
Every filmmaker could learn a thing or two about leadership, grit and determination from Winston Churchill. When I was growing up, my dad often quoted him, even playing an LP of his greatest speeches. It resonated with me then as much as it does today. So here are ten quotes to stick above your computer […]
‘We are delighted to confirm that you have successfully achieved a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for ‘Most co-writers credited for a film’. We would like to congratulate you on your record-breaking achievement. You are OFFICIALLY AMAZING’ The co-writers of ‘50 Kisses’ are now WORLD RECORD HOLDERS and will appear in the next Guinness Book […]
What game are you playing? Who are you competing against? Consider most of us compete with the people closest to us, who rarely are world class in their field right? Do they feel that competition with you in perhaps negative ways? Does that shut down some possibilities? Can you rely on them to share strategies, […]
Why You Should Consider Virtual Filmmaking For Your Next Project Guest blog post by Hugh Hancock, filmmaker and author of Machinima for Dummies Everyone knows that it’s impossible for micro-budget filmmakers to make a CGI animated movie, right? It’s horrendously expensive. It’s brutally slow – hours of rendering for every frame. It’s so technical that […]
I enjoyed these two films about cliché in Indie film (US above) and Brit film (below). Of course cliché exists because it works, and often works well (if only mechanically). But when it becomes highly visible in our work, it’s also a real problem – the answer? Turn the cliché on its head. The heroine […]
A blog that will entirely contradict my previous blog! (READ LAST ONE HERE) In filmmaking, as in life, there is no right way, no best way, only the way that works for you, the way that chimes in with who you are. And in storytelling and filmmaking, I believe there are no rules, only guides […]
If you want to work and make films in the mainstream industry, you need to be honest about your work. Is it, and are you, ready? If your film is not going to be the best it could be, if it’s not something you will be immensely proud of and feel it represents the filmmaker […]
The London Screenwriters’ Festival was the biggest yet, a huge logistical undertaking that is in many ways like shooting a massive movie. With over 1,000 people on site – staff, speakers, VIPs and of course our fabulous delegates, just managing the event requires both extensive planning and amazing people to execute the very best laid […]
One way to get the industry to notice your work is to be blisteringly original. When I teach the Guerilla Filmmakers Masterclass, I present a five stage career plan. This is a stage three ‘door opener’. I have noticed that most filmmakers screw up because they don’t understand that there is a time to learn […]
I believe that I have a condition, a psychological disorder that sets me aside from most of my family, as well as the friends I grew up with. The condition is called ‘creativity’. What’s the cure to this ailment? Creating stuff of course. Beyond that, in my experience, there is no way to purge the […]
What is the primary job of a story teller? To tell the truth. Every so often, someone tells us a story that stops us dead in our tracks. On rare occasions, the telling of that story is also a milestone for that person recounting the tale. And this act of sharing can be transformative. I […]
