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Thoughts on Writing Prompts

In the summer of 1991, I attended a camp for artistic expression of all sorts — I had applied and entered for writing and so I took a number of different writing courses of the creative variety. One of the things that we did nearly every day was to work with different writing prompts to inspire our writing. On one morning we were handed photos from magazines (one each) and on another day we were instructed to go outside and just write based on on what we saw out there. There was even one morning when one of the professors simply said, “Thirty seconds — write!” That didn’t seem like so much of a proper writing prompt as much as it was a direct order from our commander!

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Censoring The King's Speech

It is never an easy nor a short path from when a film is first conceived and when that same film is being watched — to a big calorie-rich bucket of popcorn in the lap. The idea for the film can come from many a place — in the case of “The King’s Speech,” it came from something that actually happened in history.

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Outlining for Effective Playwriting

In the fall of 1998, I had the idea for a play — about a woman who got dumped for no reason whatsoever, and must go through a process of healing in order to ultimately get over the relationship ending. I was really excited and I wrote the first scene of the first act as a monologue for the most part — her explaining what had happened and how she was handling the whole situation. This is followed by a phone call that interrupts her and sets up the next scene, in which she meets up with friends.

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A Necessary Crushing

Not all creativity deserves expression.  Editing passionate inspiration with the instinct of a formed aesthetic is a necessary filtering of the creative impulse.

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Show Business Not Show Show

Many artists in the entertainment field who were trained in Master of Fine Arts programs often mistake show business for higher art.

Show business is not art.  It is not creative.  It has no soul.  It is not everlasting.

“It’s show business, not show show” as one middling director instructed me in a correction of my expectation that spectacle must not triumph over plot in a dramatic performance.

“People want to make money, not a show,” he went on to say, “This isn’t about being smart or even interesting.  It’s about paying investors.”

That lesson was hard to learn because you always want to do your best and try to win not only the bottom line but the day of the mind as well. 

It was made clear to me the mind and soul do not play a role in show business — only profit matters — and that’s why I always prefer to make my own show show so I can fight the want for a bottom line that won’t ruin the greater intentions of humanity while the rescuing of the spirit of the people with the craft of the art and not the want for the dollar.