FILM PRODUCER | WRITER | HUSBAND | FATHER
I’ve always been a bit of a productivity nut. I had a palm pilot when I was 16 (which got stolen out of a hotel room in Prague, but that’s another story for another day), a Blackberry at 21, and the first iPhone within days of it coming out. I even had those Franklin day …
I’ve been watching the conversation around assistants in Hollywood and the #payuphollywood movement from a distance over the last few months. If you want to get caught up, these posts on JohnAugust.com and this podcast episode are good places to start. I have a few reasons for finally chiming in: I’m a film & TV …
Stop using inanimate objects or others as an excuse to not make the thing you say you want to make. Movies can be shot on iPhones and still get into Sundance. Stories are free. Books can be written using a pencil and paper or using a free text app that comes with every computer. Words …
The reason you’re not doing the thing you claim you want to do – starting that new project, changing jobs, getting up early to create – is because your reasons for not doing it are stronger and more convincing that your reasons for doing it. Even fear, one of the strongest reasons for not doing …
Just had the experience of dealing with the “we’ll fix it in post” mentality. It’s the belief that one’s lack of planning can be deferred onto people later in the chain of something being created. In film, you have the writer who comes up with the story and writes the screenplay. Then the producer hires …
The canvas theory (or “Canvas Strategy”) is a concept Ryan Holiday wrote about in his book Ego is the Enemy. The concept is simple: when you want to work with someone, offer to hold a canvas for them to paint on. You can take that as face value, but it tends to limit you to …
Frustration around traffic – or anything else in life that is out of your control – stems from the difference between your expectations and reality. The higher your expectations of your commute being smooth and traffic free, the more frustrated you will get when it doesn’t work out that way. The longer your commute, the …
After nearly a decade of tweaking my diet, I feel like I’ve finally found an eating plan that will help me maintain a desired weight. Over the last year or so I managed to pack on a few extra pounds, and went looking for a solution. One thing that has been a little difficult for …
I was chatting with another student in this course that I’m taking and she’d asked for some feedback on her website. At first glance, the site seemed purpose-built to attract a very specific demographic. The font, the color scheme, and the images all told me that her clients are middle-aged women. But then, she said …
Over the last ten years I was the CEO of a small (read: two-man) production company called Telekinesis Entertainment. I left that position at the end of 2017 to go back to freelancing on my own. During those 10 years I had this running note in Evernote that I would periodically update, which kept track …