In flux...

Have you missed me? I’ve been MIA for several weeks as life and it’s many facets shift priorities, one being, coaching a writer through a final draft of a contracted script. All said, it was exciting, frustrating and very rewarding.

Hollywood, however, has felt a little scary in the last few years. More and more filming has migrated overseas and production in the United States has plummeted, tens of thousands of workers have lost their jobs, plunging the industry into a state of despair.

To compound everything, the talk now is all about AI. A former student works for a company that produces AI content for airlines. Airlines negotiate contracts directly with Hollywood studios or In Flight providers, so in this case, the airlines can simply by pass that step.

Then we have the bizarre case of an AI filmmaker making his own 135-minute movie inspired by The Odyssey. The filmmaker said he’d hold off from releasing the work titled, Odysseus - The Fall, for at least another several weeks. Why is he making a movie on the same subject as Nolan’s $250 million epic for a few thousand dollars and no actors? Because, he claims, he is opening the industry up to more opportunities.

All that cautions us to think deeply about the sustaining passion that endures baffling times such as these. It calls on us to find and nurture that early passion, that love affair with film that got us interested in writing for film in the first place. And the best defense is for us to do original, quality work. To infuse our writing with a human sensibility. Even sci-fi or horror, all genres, succeed because of the relatable  human element. Find the emotional keys to your characters and to each character’s emotional involvement in the core intention of your story. Staying human is what will keep cinema alive.

Keep the faith, remember imagination is our best friend…and keep writing.

Please leave a comment, I love to hear from you. Check your spam folder as I have been told by a couple of people that the email has gone to a spam folder.

Until next time