150 and counting...

Y'essir, yes Ma'am, you read that right.

This is my one hundred and fiftieth post.

Not bad for a committed non-diarist huh?

Here's what I'm up to today...

Just sent a copy of a script to a writer in L.A.  The script is one I wrote back in 2005, three years into my quest to write/direct for the big-screen.  It was 2002 when it occurred to me that I better start bending my life (right NOW) in the direction of the silver screen or else my dream was going to pass me by.

So I bought this book.

Wrote my first screenplay, "THREE NIGHTS AT SEA" then proceeded to write seven or eight more.

Somewhere along the way I wrote the one I sent out today.

The reason I sent it out is 'cause I'm hoping said L.A writer will do a re-write on it for me.  Why another writer?

Well, for one, I've realized--along the way--that I'm not really a 100% pure, unadulterated, writer.  I'm just not.  I can write.  I 'get' story and have enough literature I.Q that I can recognized bad from good from great when it comes to words on paper.  But I'm not 'just a writer'.  For another, the best thing you can do to make your work great is work with people who are better than you at a thing.  Also, especially with the creative arts, it's very important to get unbiased, outside eyes on your stuff--eyes connected to big mouths who are going to tell you exactly what they really think.

I'm also not 'just a director'.  Directors come in all types.  The thing with Directors is that they don't work that much and, when they do, only work on their own stuff or on stuff someone pays them to make their own for a year or two.

That navel-gazing approach to life isn't enough for me.

I figure story--redemptive storytelling in particular--is important enough that I ought to spend my life not just finding ways to do it myself but finding ways to help others tell their stories as well.  

Which is why I'm a 'Producer'.

If I had to pick on thing to do it'd probably be to Produce.  For one, Producers 'work' a lot more than writers and directors.  For another you've heard it said that 'the director is king'...  Well it's also been said (often in the same breath) that 'the producer is god...' (don't believe me? who--pray tell--accepts the 'Best Picture' Oscar?  Oh yeah, that would be the PRODUCER...) and that kind of power appeals to me.  I just have a hard time knowing that someone else is in direct control of my destiny.  I tend to need to be in charge.  I (like M. Night put it) have a need to lead.

I (if you're reading this here blog for the first time) sound like an egomaniac.

Hope not.

What I'm trying to get across here is the importance of 'knowing' yourself.  Knowing who you are and what you want to do.  I read an Oprah quote (kind of by accident) the other day where she commented on the fact that most of the people she meets who are flabbergasted by her success can't answer her the standard question she lobbies back in response.

"Well, I've been successful because I know what I want.  What do you want?"

And they can't answer her.  

They say they want to be rich or happy but don't know the specifics.

And without the specifics--and the 'why' behind 'em--you probably aren't going anywhere fast friend.

Why do you do what you do?  What is doing what you do going to get you?  What is doing what you do going to give back to the World around you?  Would you like your kids to end up doing what you do?  If asked about the details of what you do could you go on an on about it or would you be boring yourself?  Would you do what you do for free?

If not, you're not living your passion.

Do you want to be in love or not?

Repeat after me...

My name is ___________ and I'm a _____________.

Now go figure out why.

T

the simplicity of it all...

No joke, one of the most important tools for the 'stay at home' filmmaker/preacher.

I'm currently listening to Nichole Nordeman's 'THIS MYSTERY' on the above FANTASTIC headphones, a Christmas gift from my Executive Producer/Business Partner and friend, the ever so lovely Mr. Tore Stautland (thanks Tore...) and, seeing as I'm fresh off John Mayer and Kanye's blogs I figured I'd post a 'thing' of my own that I'm currently thankful for.

Bose earphones.

The backstory on these is that I've wanted a pair for five years and haven't bought 'em.  I have circled the Bose store and Best Buy like an addict circling a fix, never actually closing the deal.

"Why don't you just buy 'em?"

Kinda' like my wife telling me I should just go out and BUY a friggin' flat screen TV already.

Yes, I'm a filmmaker, with an old-and-busted Toshiba 36inch tube set that just kicked the bucket (that we bought used for $150).  We tried for three or four weeks to watch the thing with no remote (the 'universal' one we bought didn't work too well--"...Sorry, this TV is SEVEN YEARS OLD, none of our codes will work...") but seeing as you can't manually switch to TSN (Canada's version of ESPN--and 'hello' to my Australian and East Asian readers...) and seeing as it's December in the NFL and seeing as both Sunday night football and Monday night football are on TSN we just couldn't have that, now could we?

So I was circling flat screens last month.

Couldn't bring myself to buy one though.

Part of the problem is that we're waiting to be renewed for 2009 on two of the TV series I produce which means any capital expenditure is strictly forbidden right now and part of it is I don't want to buy something of that magnitude unless I really LOVE it and that means a SAMSUNG 52inch Series 7 120hz model and that means I not only need a renewal but a RAISE.

'Cause the $800 Zenith at COSTCO just wouldn't cut it long-term.

So, instead of buying something just for the sake of buying it, I drove to my in-law's and 'borrowed' their ten year old 27inch SONY tube set.  Thing's so heavy, I could barely get it to the car then into our house.

Great picture and awesome sound though AND it pulled in TSN.

The point here is not consumerism.

The point is I'm turning into my GRANDPARENTS.

I was at my brother in-law's house this past weekend in Montreal wearing a sweater he gave me ten years ago.  He can't believe I still have it and wear it.  It's a great sweater, why should I replace it?  Then I looked at our 13 year old coffee grinder this morning, still happily ensconced in it's original cardboard packaging.  I thought to myself, looking at it, that Niki and I might still have that same grinder when we're as old as my grandparents.  Then I took out our 12 year old african coffee mugs and thought about the flashy new Christmas ones I didn't buy for my wife at my local Vancouver Starbucks last month and I realized...

That I'm turning into my GRANDPARENTS.

They kept everything.  Seemed  to always be content with what they had (both grandfathers were car freaks who treated their K-Car and Buick [respectively] as if they were Bentleys. Never saw nicer specimens of either...) never got rid of something that worked just 'cause they were bored with it and didn't have more than three dressy outfits.  I still remember my grandma's reaction when grandpa bought her a real fur coat.  Her one unrestrained luxury.

Seeing as grandma just turned 100 and, therefore, isn't 'out' too much, the coat has gone to my mom.  She came by in it the other day, had had it cleaned and repaired a bit, and the thing looked like a million bucks.

Just like it did on my missionary grandma.

And I'm realizing as I write this that we might all be better off to be a bit more like our Zenith-watching grandparents.

"Credit crunch?  What credit crunch?  You don't by it unless you can afford to pay cash for it."

That's what they'd say.

Maybe we should all be more like our grandparents.  

Do your grandparents grow their own veggies?  My wife's Nonna and Nonno do.  Do your grandparents read their Bibles more than they watch Desperate Housewives?  My Grammie and Poppa do.  Did your grandparents build a cottage with their own hands?  Is it still standing?  (yup)  When was the last time you built something with your hands?

The other point is that I don't think you should settle.

In life, as with flat screen TV's, you should do (get) the thing you know you should do.  That means you must always STRIVE for what you know is right.

(and an eye to the inner-life to make sure one is not lusting after the wrong TV is also good...)

And I'm not advocating becoming some stupid perfectionistic dick who's never satisfied, or an out of control 'artist' or a tyrannical 'super-pastor' or an impossible boss.  I'm just thinking that you shouldn't connect your happiness or satisfaction to an outside event.

You should know what's right and that should be enough.

Don't buy mugs 'cause you're lonely.  Think of your wife and hurry home.  Don't buy a Zenith 'cause you have room on your card.  Save for the Samsung.  Don't rush the scene to make your day but don't force an extra run of fussy coverage into it either.  Never (NEVER) shortchange an exegetical pass but make it so that your audience doesn't notice the work you did.

It's about humility.

Not the kind that most people think of (the 'oh I'm so meek and mild, might as well call me Mary...' kind) the kind that isn't fussy.  The kind that knows good from bad, that doesn't care about flash and pomp. The kind that rightly assesses personal value in self and others.

The kind that thinks of self (no matter how impressive your credits) as 'Just one of God's water boys...' as my Dad used to say.

The kind of humility that recognizes that we don't DESERVE anything, that everything is gift.

That K-Car?  A gift.  That ten year old coffee grinder?  Gift.  The money to pay for cable so I can watch Monday Night Football with my boys?  Gift.

Whether I watch the game on a flat screen or not is not going to change the scent wafting upwards from my son's freshly washed hair, nor improve the performance on the field, nor make my wife any more sexy after.  Plus I could afford to buy red wine for after.  Remember when $36 meant six hours (on a Saturday) life guarding?  

Gift.  Gift.  Gift.

It's Christmas season right?

Here's my vote for the simplicity of our forebears in our approach to Noel this year.

Here's to JM's blog being all about baking with his loved ones.

Here's to Kanye remembering his own line ('Cribs' vs 'Kids') from his new album.

Here's to "It's a Wonderful Life" on my simple, used, borrowed, tube TV.

Here's to a wife, some kids, and love for the Maker this Christmas.

Here's to you doing what you do with simplicity, humility, and a thankful heart.

You want some Christmas Spirit?  It's already in you, waiting...

T