Yup! I'm passionate for chocolate too. Hmmm...chocolate vid...where's Willie Wonka?

In life, as in film, there are an amazing number of things that all must come to bear, together, to create success of any kind.  Three of those things inhabit this series. Next up? Passion.

Passion. We’re those crazy, wacky things called humans. And if we just knew what it was that we needed, we could become adept at life, and everything would be peachy. Juuuust peachy.

But wait! We do know. At least, part of us does. What is it for you that drives you bananas – in a good way? That just makes you tingle even thinking about doing it? (Yes, including that. I think that’s, potentially, a completely valid life choice, at whatever level.) Writing? Eating? Playing wit da kitties (or puppies or bunnies or…)? Seeing the smile on a child’s face when s/he figures something out? Feeding others? What is it for you?

As you may have noticed, it’s been over a month since my last post. Waaaaaay too long. Sorry about that. Partly I’ve been workin’ on da biz, and partly I just didn’t know what to say in this blog. I was wrestling with it in late April, when I was doing Script Frenzy. (www.scriptfrenzy.org. I won!) I was hammering my script out, even when I didn’t want to. And that’s when it hit me – sure, Persistence is what got me to go back to the writing, even when I was resistant. And sure, Perspective showed me that if I didn’t get back to it, it certainly wouldn’t get done.

But…why do I care? Yup. You guessed it. Passion. It’s my Passion for writing, and for telling an original story that says, “Yes. Use your Perspective and your Persistence here. Because this is where the juice is. This is where the sweet Passion is. Go, man, go!” And so I got back to it, and with just a few hours to spare, finished the script.

Persistence will keep you on task, even when you don’t want to. Perspective will show you where you need to go next. And Passion will deliver you to those things worth doing.

What’s your Passion? Your Passion in work? Your Passion in life?

Thanks for reading!

Shake the foolish tree,

Ian Carruthers
Filmmaker
www.foolishtreefilms.com
Let’s make a movie!

Persistence (click here for part 1 of this 3 part series)

Perspective (click here for part 2 of this 3 part series)

Inspiration, for me, is often a matter of getting down to it. It’s my understanding that many writers (for instance) get “writer’s block.” Well, when I’m writing, at least for the past 7 years, I don’t have any problem actually writing. The words come. The trick, for me, is getting to the computer. I get, “sitting down at the computer” block.

One way to combat that is to have a regular schedule for writing. Every morning for a half hour, or every evening for an hour, or, if you simply don’t have the time, 20 minutes every other day. I had a teacher once, in Chicago, named Dr. Robin Herndobler. She was an amazing woman, and really the strongest “womentor” I’ve ever had. She taught English and writing and women’s studies. What she told us was something along these lines: “If you can’t find at least 15 minutes, every day, to write, then you shouldn’t be a writer.” Strong words, but I think she’s right (for the most part). A writer writes. That’s it. Getting published – and getting paid – are wonderful. But they do not make you a writer. Writing does that.

I adore being a creative person. If I thought that I could no longer create…that would be a bad, bad day for me. Part of the trick about running this business is allowing my learning about the business to be as creative as possible. Simply enjoying the newness – the creation – of the business. Tricky for me, sometimes, but worth it. This is the path, and it’s a way for me (and my lovely lady wife / CEO) to make our dreams happen.

So here I am, sitting at the computer, and pounding it out. It’s creative – and I hope inspirational for you all.

Best,

Ian Carruthers
Filmmaker
www.foolishtreefilms.com
Let’s make a movie!