Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

I am the man, I suffered, I was there. Agonies are one of my changes of garments, I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person -Walt Whitman, “Song Of Myself” “Nothing forces us to knowWhat we do not want to knowExcept pain” -Aeschylus, The Oresteia: Agamemnon, TheContinue reading “Pain And Game”

“Storytelling is a tool for knowing who we are and what we want.” – Ursula K. Le Guin “An artist is a sort of emotional or spiritual historian. His role is to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are. He has to tell, because nobody elseContinue reading “Storytelling”

“I love actors. Part of that is my theater background and being a writer who cares about performance. Actors have usually chosen their profession because they have a dream of doing it and they want to express something about the world. That’s the same thing that I have with writing. Most of the good actorsContinue reading “Three Billboards Outside Los Angeles, California…”

You say goodbye and I say hello(Hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye) Hello, hello – song, “Hello, Goodbye” by The Beatles Thoughts are just thoughts and they are inevitable. It’s foolish to try and control them. As Jeff Bridges advises “thoughts are like secretions.” A practice for when the firehose of negative thoughts threaten to overwhelm andContinue reading “Hello. Thank You. Goodbye.”

Dear Reader.  I apologize for not writing any posts last week.   After a long battle with cancer, my dad, my hero, my best friend, John Francis Clark, passed away last Sunday night.  While he’d been suffering for a long time and I can take some comfort that I was with him and that he’sContinue reading “My Dad, My Hero, My Best Friend”

“When I give a genuine answer to the “if”, then I do something, I am living my own personal life. At moments like that there is no character. Only me.” -Konstantin Stanislavski As detailed in Isaac Butler’s terrific book “The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act“, one of the breakthroughs legendary director KonstantinContinue reading “As If”

You look around and see vastness. There are tons of possibilities. Tons of choices. The future’s wide open. (Especially when you’re young.) But at some point, you will want to choose. (Otherwise, choices get made for you.) Decide what you want to do. Know why you want to do it. Believe that you can andContinue reading “Plant Your Flag”

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;Thy fate is the common fate of all,Into each life some rain must fall -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poem “The Rainy Day” If you can force your heart and nerve and sinewTo serve your turn long after they are gone,And so hold onContinue reading “Despair”

Once you’ve decided on what’s important to you and started taking action, prepare to get tested and tempted. Tested by all kinds of obstacles to get you to quit. Tempted by all kinds of shiny new objects to get you to lose focus. Stay the course. The tests and temptations are just proof that you’reContinue reading “Tested And Tempted”

You’re lucky to be nervous. It means you’re doing something you care deeply about. Most people don’t get that opportunity. Most lead “lives of quiet desperation” as Thoreau famously wrote. Cherish and be grateful for those nerves. And then, go kick some ass.