Facebook and Tattoos

What is a Tattoo?

Body art? A fusion of skin and ink? Creative expression, so to speak?   

Jimmy Buffet called his “…a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.”
Kind of like your posts on Facebook.

So when is a person a tattoo?  

Everyone has heroes. Even John Wayne. He had mentors. He had a nemesis, too.
Who mentored your character? Who thwarted them? Who mentored you?

Ask any film director worth his salt about his qualifications, and he will tell you this: A director knows Life. In order to know Life, he must first know himself. It stands to reason that the dramatist might explore via his lead characters the same open-ended questions he once asked himself: Who or what stands in the way of getting what you want, really? Is it them? Or is it you?

Virtually every person you, or I, have met on this journey called Life has had some measure of influence upon us. The fundamental law of physics tells us that an object in motion will stay in motion until it encounters a force which opposes it.

Let us pause to consider the notion that, "We are people through other people." Those whom we encounter have the power to change our trajectory, surely as the rock alters the flow of the stream. Remove the rock, the water is no longer diverted. The course of the water's flow is once again changed.

Conversely, should the rock remain for a significant period of time, it is worn down. Again, the flow of the water is affected, perhaps subtly, over a matter of days, weeks, years. The length of contact matters not.

In the same way, each person with whom we encounter may alter the course of our journey, as artists, as craftsmen. They may become allies, whose presence smooths the way, or enemies, hell bent on thwarting the march of progress. Such encounters have the power to change us, sometimes irrevocably. Hopefully for the better. We call those moments defining ones.

The same is true for our characters. Some word or deed left a footprint. Or, perhaps, a knife in the back?
They hit a wall. Then what happened? Did they bounce back? Or push through? 

Aristotle said Plot is Character. The question for those of us who dwell on character is.... who did what?

The prince slayed the dragon.
The mouse reached for the cheese.
The girl said yes.
A parent did nothing.
A murderer sang.
The sun came out anyway.

A Russian extremist high-jacks a plane because the American President is on board.

Think about the love stories you’ve seen. Novels with revenge plots.

Sam, in Casino, for example, proposed to Ginger. The proverbial die was cast.
Scarlett accepted Charles Hamilton's proposal of marriage. Cinematic history was born.  
See also Evening, Citizen Kane. 

The Bottom Line: Plot IS character. (Aristotle)
 
Someone said a word or committed an act; OR he/she remained silent or failed to act. That, in turn, inspired your character to take his own action. Or not. 

Who is on your character’s heart, ”just like a tattoo”? 

Know thy character. Then perhaps your next tweet will go something like this: 
"The studio executive said yes... and greenlit the production."

En pace,
AL

Megamind: Disney's New Blue Dude

In movies, we must be comfortable going to extremes. In Real Life, always be kind. And never generalize.

People will fool you. Sometimes, the Good Guy arrives wearing a Black Hat.

See related post on Disney's Megamind.


Megamind Storify

Which came first: The Beginning, or the End?

Been home from L.A. for a few weeks now. Still struggling to finish the script. The good news is, I am now armed with great notes (thanks to Victoria Wu! ; ) Also, the energy to power through yet another rewrite. 

While writing at Starbucks, I ran into a former teacher or mine from junior high. She asked if I would talk with Ruby, her twelve-year old niece, about my own work and writing in general. Ruby is an aspiring writer.

I love kids, especially creative ones, so I said, "Sure!" Imagine. Me, a role model. Scary.

No sooner had the word left my lips than the Dark Half, the evil-editor-fiend-who-lies-beneath, surfaced. Mmmwwhhaaahaaa! DH's breath bit into my ear... what could I possibly have to say that the irrepressible Mrs. J. hadn't already said, better?

Ruby turned out to be incredibly bright and imaginative, in a way I suspect I wasn't, at her age. I blame Google. And my parents, of course.  (Love you, Mom and Dad!)

I invited Ruby to pitch me. Her face lit up, and she launched into an avalanche of story details. I asked her about her ending, and then, her outline. You know... the plan. Her eyes wandered briefly. I felt like I was looking in a mirror, talking to a younger, brighter version of me.   

While we were talking, my own journey scrolled through my head, backward. I rarely think about that first film. What I think about is that first audience. Or rather, their reaction to my work, up there on the big screen for the very first time. 

I was supposed to sit down front, to expediate access to the stage for the filmmaker Q&A held after the screening. I arrived so late the producers had written me off. My bad, as I gave my husband bad directions. I was so focused on burning the disc on my laptop, i didn; notice we missed a vital turn. 

As such, I had the privilege of sitting on the fourteenth row. A gift, as it turned out. From my seat in the middle of the auditorium, I heard viewers murmur and even gasp, at the same places where I, too, once murmured and gasped. For a brief collection of moments, the audience and I were connected, through the lens. 

I forgot about the shots, and the frenzied editing session that had taken place hours before. Due to a technical malfunction, I lost the movie. I had to re-cut the entire film, from source tapes, mere hours before the screening. No one knew that less than twelve hours before I'd been sitting on my bathroom floor, in the throes of a near-total meltdown. That from some place hidden deep within, I'd found the resolve to get up and start again. 

The audio was awful. I was mortified. Still, the message came through. By the time the lights went up and the applause came from the crowd, I could see that success is relative. The words and the moving images had made it, by hook or by crook, up there onto the screen. The audience forgave my technical failures, because they were entertained. That was all they cared about. Suddenly, it was all I cared about, too. 

Since then, my writing has never been the same.

In his book The Dip, Seth Godin writes:  Most competitors quit long before they create something that makes it to the top. Same is true for sports stars and pop singers. And lots and lots of (screen)writers.

The Bottom Line: Begin with the end in mind. 

In writing, as in life, know where you are going. If you don't have a road map, that's OK... but it helps to have a plan. This sets your mind free to listen to what your heart has to say.


Everyone who has ever tried to do anything has failed. Some people give up. How and when you/your character starts over again (or not) is up to you. 

Every time I write a script, or go to Hollywood, or shake someone's hand, I try to remember... "This might be the one/only/last time I get to do this."   

Which is exactly what I passed along to Ruby. 

The Bottom Line - Lies That Tell the Truth

Welcome to The Bottom Line, a blog for directors and other linchpins like us who spend the better part of their waking hours in an Alternate Universe. I am A. Linchpin. Now that we're friends, you can call me AL.

I started this blog in Hollywood in 2005. I was in the process of extricating myself from a rocky marriage, and in search of a safe place to land.

Well, not my actual Do you?-I Do!- Do you?- Sure... now let's screw!-Preacher-sanctioned state-licensed union of two. I'm referring to my other divorce... from my former career, and therefore Life. The one where I bottled my nerve and savings and left my soul-killing boss, a Bottle Blonde Sheriff of Nottingham and her Merry Band of Thieves. 'Til then, I had never had a job I didn't love. This one, I quit and ran for my life... literally!

What I didn't know is what messy proverbial kettle of fish I had opened. I had no idea what I was in for. Ahead lay a long and uncertain journey, for which I had no road map. In my ignorant haste, I walked slap into the too-long middle of Life... the part that comes sometime after the Opening and long before the End.

You know... Act II.

Ah, well. We don't know what we don't know, do we? Except that Ignorance really is bliss.

"Safe? In Hollywood?" Is there such a thing? Yes, Virginia... it's like Santa Clause. You see, Safety, like Happiness, is a relative term. Both have very little to do with where you go. What matters is who you choose to travel with. Seriously.

Making a movie is like rolling a boulder up a mountain. The goal is to get your personal boulder to the top, on time and under budget, as soon as you can. If you're lucky and collaborative, you have help. Producers are  showmen, there to light the path. Actors, a necessary evil. Crew is a godsend, even on the bad days.

Writers, ladies and gentlemen... they start your engine. Some are directors, too. We call them "hyphenates."

Directors are linchpins. Indispensable, as Seth Godin puts it. With applied motivation and a productive team, they are the driving force that gets a movie made. They have one outstanding trait: Vision. i.e., a point of view.

A director must know Life. To do so he must first know himself. He must make himself aware of how people relate to each other, in the real world. Armed with this self-knowledge, he is primed for lasting relationships... First, with characters and material, then producers, cast and crew.

He has peculiar insight into human behavior. Which is what I think this blog is really about.

Directors are the most proactive people I know. The ultimate communicators.When communication breaks down, in human relationships, misunderstandings occur. When we focus on our differences, we create a disconnect. Presumptions are made. Conflict is born.

In an Alternate Universe, like film, inexplicable behavior can be examined and impossible relationships can be explored. Ideas are expressed without limits and no holds are barred.

If you are an aspiring director, looking for a road map, then you won't find one here. I can point you to some helpful resources, but some things are best figured out on your own.

Here, you'll find more questions than answers. I'm a hyphenate, not a psychologist. I hold three licenses, but not a single academic degree. I cannot offer you wisdom, either. Only Life's experience can give you that.

Think of this blog as a conduit, offering up few souvenirs from my own artistic journey like seeds for a creative soul. Conversations with wise men. Fuel for your tank on days when it's running low. Come. Gather 'round the proverbial campfire. We'll tell stories about Life... and how crazy and sexy and beautiful it can be.

Why? Because deep down, we, you and me, we're just like everybody else. We want to be entertained. 

The Bottom Line: We are people through other people. 
 I can teach you nothing. What I can give you is my experience... because it is all I have. 

 Fill the well, if not here, then somewhere... so that you can get out there and fill the void.

Come in, kick off your shoes, and "hang" for a while. Here it's OK to channel Steve Jobs. Think different. You know... Be you.

en pace,
AL