Archive - October, 2009

Your life is a Screenplay

October 31, 2009 0 Comments


A screenplay… much like your life has a beginning, a middle and an end. When I write a screenplay the first thing I try and do is come up with my characters. I try to imagine them as real people, because I think of real people as stories. A screenplay is really just an intersection of stories (peoples lives) put together to tell a bigger story.

The hardest part of a screenplay is the middle act… which is probably the most difficult part of our lives to write also… especially if we are trying to live a great story. In early drafts of most film stories, one of the most commonly found problems is that the main character is too passive. Things just happen to them, they never force the issues, they don’t fight enough to achieve their goal.

How to beat a 10 year old in a running race….

October 30, 2009 0 Comments


It was billed as the race of the century; I was to take on ten-year old Harry in a lap around a park in Richmond, Nelson, New Zealand.

I last took on Harry (my nephew) two years ago, he was eight years old and only three feet tall and he nearly beat me. Earlier this year Harry, now well over four feet in height came second in his school regional; he could not be taken lightly, I trained hard and turned up on race day with a cunning strategy…

Blitz him at the start, get as far ahead as possible, crush his spirit so he no longer believes that winning is possible. I am somewhat ashamed to tell you that the strategy worked; I almost died of exhaustion, gasping for air like Eric Lidell in Chariots of Fire.  But I must say that Harry is a true champion, and I am proud to say he took his defeat like a real man.

The clock is ticking, and as every year rolls round, Harry is getting closer and closer to victory, because I refuse to let him win, it will be so much sweeter when it comes.

Twitter & the Movies

October 29, 2009 1 Comment


Twitter can ruin or make your business, Twitter can make or break a film. News breaks faster on Twitter than on CNN; it’s the voice of the people, it’s unmodulated and it’s un-regulated.

When Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie Bruno opened in the USA earlier this year it took close to $9 million on the Friday night; analysts predicted that Bruno would break all records and take $50 million in opening weekend…. by Sunday night it had taken only $30 million. What happened… Twitter.

Tweets (peoples opinions/reviews) flew around the USA at an alarming rate and their reviews of the film were savage. Many were horrified at the way the film portrayed a stereotypical gay man, most importantly they tweeted that the film was in poor taste and not funny.

People changed their movie plans because of Twitter and in one weekend it cost the filmmakers of Bruno 20 million dollars.

P:S: You can follow me on twitter by clicking here

Jesus, Johnny Cash & You

October 28, 2009 2 Comments


If you want to have a fulfilling life the most important question you can ask yourself is…”What do I have to offer and who needs it most?”

Johnny Cash asked himself this question… music was his answer and then he went and sang in prisons. Jesus Christ hung out with the prostitutes, drunks, beggars and extortionist… he said it was the sick who needed a doctor not the healthy.

If you are good with money, why help rich people get richer? Why not help poor people to use what they have and build a life?

If you are writing a blog that offers inspiration… maybe you should design it for people who are depressed, rather than concentrate on people who are already inspired.

Why be friends with the most popular kid in school (or on twitter) when there are loads of kids out there who could desperately do with another friend?

What do you have to offer and who needs it most?

I can see that scar on your face…

October 27, 2009 0 Comments


Ten people were asked to take part in a psychology experiment. A make-up artist applied a nasty scar to each person’s forehead and then showed the person what it looked like. Each person was then sent into a doctor’s surgery and told to make an appointment and to sit down in the busy waiting room.

Ten out of ten people came out of the surgery and complained that people treated them differently, 100% of them said that everyone was staring at their scar. But here is what they didn’t know…

Before they went into the surgery, the make-up artist telling them that she wanted to “touch up the scar” had actually removed it… there was no scar on their foreheads.

It just goes to show that sometimes perception is everything…

 

2012 Copyright Seven Sentences – Scar Experiment

Nostradamus did not understand

October 26, 2009 0 Comments


In the 1960′s, as the first computers were being imagined and born, a very famous prediction was made. Someone predicted that the machines (Like Terminator) would automate many of our processes and the biggest problem people of the 21st century would be finding things to do with all our spare time!

Alas this Nostradamus did not understand that we are addicted to busyness and ambition. Maybe we are afraid of being still? I find myself constantly feeling guilty and pressured by all that has to be done each day… sometimes I think that I am addicted to this pressure.

It is good to carry our responsibilities lightly for they are ours only for a short time. I remind myself that if I keep faithfully putting one foot ahead of the next everything will happen at the appointed time.

Love and War

October 25, 2009 1 Comment


When you are writing a screenplay it is important that you create obstacles that your main character or characters must overcome. Essentially if you have no obstacles you have no story.

It is funny that in our own lives we are often tempted to a crave a life without any heartache, without any enemies, without any obstacles. It would be nice to have the happily ever after bit… in the beginning, in the middle and at the end. Unfortunately that is not a story that anyone would ever want to watch.

Character is developed through fire, you find out what people are really like when they are forced to face their biggest fears. Trouble brings people together… love is far more common in a time war than in a time of peace.

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