Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

“Attention is the most basic form of love.” -Tara Brach “So attention must be paid…Attention, attention must finally be paid to such a person.” -Linda Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman “True humility Is not thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less. -C.S. Lewis In life’s conversations and when on stage, payContinue reading “Pay Attention”

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” -Gustave Flaubert Another report card-themed post… We’re all trying to be “A” students in life. We do our very best to follow the rules. And for the most part, that’s a good thing. But in our art,Continue reading “I Got An “F” In Art”

The writer/director Kenneth Lonergan (You Can Count On Me, Margaret, Manchester By The Sea) has said that when making a film, he’s thrilled if he gets 80-90% of what he originally envisioned in his head. As a director (film and theatre included), you must do everything you can to create the conditions for an “A”Continue reading “B+”

“A dream is just a goal without a deadline.” -Robert Herjavec If you really want to achieve that goal, start thinking like a producer. Turn the goal into a project. Ask yourself questions like…How much will it cost? What’s the overall timeline? What are the key milestones? Who do I need to help me achieveContinue reading “Produce The Dream”

They don’t know how many camera tests you did before shooting. How many hundreds of drafts you wrote before you turned in the novel. How long you looked until you found the exact, right, period wallpaper. How hard you worked to get the costumes perfectly tea-stained and distressed. How you obsessed every night to getContinue reading “They’ll Feel It”

Maybe you weren’t the first choice for the project. Or the second. Or the third. None of that matters. That’s just ego. Get over it. Assuming you love the project and the people behind it, all that matters is you’re a part of it now. You get to do meaningful work. Be grateful for theContinue reading “Not The First Choice”

The firefighter rushes in to danger and the burning building while everyone else rushes out. The athlete rushes in to discipline, pain and suffering while everyone else rushes out. The artist rushes in to vulnerability and emotional rawness while everyone else rushes out. If you wanna do something great, it’s gonna cost. You need toContinue reading “Rush In”

“I criticize by creation, not by finding fault.” – Cicero “The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” – Richard Rohr Let others judge. You stay busy creating. And iterating and learning and growing. That way, all your time is spent making things better. And making better things.

If content is king (as Bill Gates famously declared in this 1996 essay), then context is the ace. Together you got blackjack. One without the other though?…Busted. P.S. – Always double down on eleven.

Don’t you ever wonderMaybe if things had been slightly differentYou could be somebody else?Don’t you wonder maybeIf you took a left turnInstead of taking a rightYou could be somebody different? Don’t you ever wonderCould I have beenDon’t you ever wonder?Anyone, anyoneDon’t you ever wonder?Don’t you ever wonder?Anyone, anyone, anyone Could I have been a parkingContinue reading “Could I Have Been?”