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Excerpt from “Apart”
Here’s a teaser excerpt from my short-form novel “Apart.” Enjoy. “Kelsey. What do you want?” “I’ve got two tickets for a dance performance tomorrow night. Katie and I got the tickets a while back....
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Where the Good Stuff Happens
“The unknown is where the good stuff happens,” says photographer Trinette Reed. “Not knowing what you are doing is an integral part of being a good artist.” Trinette Reed and Chris Gramly...
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Feeling Moved
Two inspiring Facebook posts greeted me this morning. Both came from Ireland. Sinead O’Riordan One post spoke of a theatre experience moving the writer so deeply she found a way to leave her software...
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In Art There Are No Boundaries
Nuno Sá Pessoa, film director at Skookum Films, is a true global visual storyteller. Educated in Denmark, based in Portugal, and working extensively in Brazil and the United States, Sá Pessoa knows...
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Shaping the Story
A writer shapes an image, a story, with words. Other artists create stories that are perhaps more visual, more touchable. Here are several artists who caught my eye this past week. I hope the images...
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Writing on the Edge
Logging cut: credit Animals.About.com When changes occur in animals’ environments – roads, logging cuts, canals, fences, agricultural developments – the newly-exposed edges are referred to as edge...
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The Spirit Pauses
I’m sharing a Tweet I saw recently from playwright John Patrick Shanley (@johnjpshanley): When the tide goes out, the ocean pauses. The spirit is similar. Remember. The tide will resume, and recover...
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Storytelling: A Life Lived Outside the Box
The Power of Storytelling “I think… the power of all storytelling… is to change the way people think. To have them ask questions or question their way of thinking in ways they hadn’t before.” Filmmaker...
View ArticleStorytelling in advertising
Storytelling in business. Two examples of companies marketing themselves by telling a story in their ads: Amazon Prime and Subaru. And both involve dogs! Both are catchy little stories, and both are...
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Dead Along the Way
“I was on my knees in every sense and I had some industry people telling me that I was biting off more than I could chew.” Filmmaker Maurice O’Carroll talks about bringing his first feature-length...
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Mental Illness: You Are Not Alone
“You are not alone.” Mental illness among today’s youth is the focus of a film from three young filmmakers from Maine. College students Becca Hurd, Kate Doherty and Daniel Sinclair just wrapped on...
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LGBTQ Docu-Series Takes Off
Writer/producer Pony Gayle talks to us again about OUTrageous, her evolving LGBTQ docu-series now midway through its first season. She first spoke with us back in November of 2014. OUTrageous features...
View ArticleStorytelling Tools
Fast Company magazine features an article on the recent film Cameraperson, a documentary self-portrait on the 25-year career of cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. Cameraperson is “an aptly visual memoir...
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Pre-visualizing Your Shoot
Veteran camera operator Georgia Packard learned pre-visualization from Ansel Adams. When Packard was a kid, she took summer classes with Adams. “Ansel Adams was such a wonderful mentor,” Packard says,...
View ArticleFight the Dragons
All the experts urge writers to find their voice. John Steinbeck found his voice. So did Ernest Hemingway. As did Maya Angelou. Anne Lamott discovers her voice as she writes. Louise Penny, Michael...
View ArticleYour Take is Genius
Here are a couple of recent tweets that inspired me. One from actor Christopher Walken, the other from playwright John Patrick Shanley. I hope they inspire you too. “None of us are getting out of here...
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How to Let Your Story Tell Itself
Filmmaker Magazine shares an interview with DP Sean McElwee. He recently screened his The Incredible Jessica James at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Netflix will air the film later this year....
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10/1 and Other On-Set Film Terms
“10/1.” On-set code for “I’m going to the restroom.” Check out Matt Webb’s blog post on Indie Film Hustle. Never appear to be a newbie again. 20 terms you’ll need to survive on a film set. “I need a...
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“What Are My Idiocies Now?”
Playwright John Patrick Shanley recently tweeted: “I think of my idiocies in times gone by, so clear to me now, invisible to me then. It makes me wonder, what are my idiocies now?” A writer wonders,...
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The plastic-foam peanuts authors sometimes toss into a story
“Her early pages are teeming with dead-end digressions. They’re also packed with descriptions of décor and menus — the plastic-foam peanuts authors sometimes toss into a story to give it volume,...
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