Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” –Hamlet “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster; And treat those two impostors just the same…” –If by Rudyard Kipling “When something is wrong of going bad, you just look at me and say, Good.” -Jocko Wilink One of the many giftsContinue reading ““How Can I Use This?””

Inspired by The Criterion Collection’s “Three Reasons” film promos. (watch this as an example; and definitely see the film!) here are three reasons to check out filmmaker Ed Burns and his work. (1) “Head down. Ass up. Keep moving forward….What other choice do you have?” His mantra. Listen to this podcast. (2) From superstar debutContinue reading “Ed Burns: Three Reasons”

How do you know if you have something to say? How do you “find your voice”? How do you attract and engage a readership? You write a book. Ship it (as Seth Godin is fond of saying). Share it with the world. See what happens. Then you do it again. And again. And again. And…Continue reading “Say What? (Part Two)”

I get some form of this call or email with regularity… “Hi there. I’m looking for a good producer for my upcoming theatre production. Know anyone who might be interested?” My first thought, especially knowing it’s intimate theatre, is… “Why are you trying to hire someone else? Why not do it yourself?” It’s your baby.Continue reading “Looking For A Producer”

It’s easy to write a book. Discipline and commitment will get you there. It’s really hard to actually have something to say.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” -Shunryu Suzuki Know what Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of his time and arguably of all time, would do after every golf season? No matter how successful it went? He’d return home to work with Jack Grout, his childhood teacherContinue reading “Beginner’s Mind”

Just like baseball, it’s really hard to practice acting on your own. You can do a bunch of drills and such to stay sharp, but it’s just not the same as playing in a game or being in a play or film. Acting is, by far, the most collaborative of all the artforms. As such,Continue reading “Acting and Baseball”

“Deliberate practice is characterized by several elements, each worth examining. It is activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher’s help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it’s highly demanding mentally, whether the activity is purely intellectual, such as chess or business-related activities, or heavily physical, suchContinue reading “10,000 To 1”

Make no mistake, when you hire a director, you are signing on for that person’s taste and spirit. Which will then inform everything about your project. Have you done your due diligence? Are you absolutely certain their two elements are aligned with what you want for this production and this experience?

I love podcasts. I love listening to plays. When they’re good, oh man, the imagination just runs wild. LA Theatre Works does a phenomenal job. Check them out if you’re not already familiar. This got me thinking… The next time you write a play or a screenplay, what if when you finished, no matter what,Continue reading “Turn It Into A Podcast?”