Opus

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater." -- Gail Godwin

Last night I finally watched, thirteen years after its theatrical release, Mr. Holland's Opus. Really a fantastic movie. I can add the Richard Dreyfuss triumph to my short list of movies that made me cry. Here was a man (forget he was factitious) who dreamed of conducting a symphony performing his own composition but wound up falling back on his teaching degree to support his family. His dream took a backseat to reality, but he touched the lives of many who later applauded his efforts in one of the more touching scenes to grace my 37 inch Panasonic.

I could be Mr. Holland - I have visions of grandeur for my life - I have the teaching degree to fall back on - I'm going to lose my hair.

But I've already fallen back on my teaching degree. In six years as an elementary school teacher, I was the victim of budget cuts three times. Most frustrating for me is that I was an excellent teacher. My connection with my students went well beyond textbooks and answer keys. I found myself invested in developing these young people into upstanding citizens who practiced courtesy, confidence, and integrity. That just wasn't enough to de-throne the tenured statues in adjacent classrooms.

So what happens when your safety net is full of holes? I guess you just work harder on your highwire routine without looking down, without giving up. At this point, I don't even want the safety net. The intimidation of the concrete below shrinks proportionately with each step across the highwire.

Of course, it wouldn't hurt to catch a few falling Benjamins while I'm up here.

Do

"We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have done." -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

So I've read a few books about making movies. Big deal. No matter how much I feel I know about the world of talkies, the knowledge is useless if not applied. The last thing I want to be is a well-read wannabe. I'm applying the teachings of others to my own projects, but the gained knowledge is no vaccination from my own mistakes.

Isn't that the case no matter the endeavor? Flight simulators can emulate cockpit conditions remarkably, but would you hop on a DC-10 with a pilot trained solely by a computer game?

It is only through doing that one can become what they aspire to be. So what am I doing? I'm acting. I'm writing. I'm directing. I'm producing. I'm editing. I'm composing. I'm querying. And I'm looking into the school of anti-redundancy school.

But in order to do all I want to do, I need to continue to learn from those who have already done it. And I need to continue to learn from my own experiences. Every day brings a new mountain to climb, and the more I know about mountain climbing, the easier the scaling will be.

List 1 -- Books I recommend

3= Must Read!
2= Good Read!
1= Mediocre Read.
0= Don't Waste Your Time.

Books on screenwriting:

(3) The Screenwriter's Bible; David Trottier
(3) The TV Writer's Workbook; Ellen Sandler
(2) Screenplay; Syd Field
(2) Save the Cat!; Blake Snyder
(2) Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies; Blake Snyder
(2) The First Time I Got Paid for It; Peter Lefcourt, Laura J. Shapiro

Books on making an independent movie:

(3) Film and Video Budgets; Deke Simon
(3) From Reel to Deal; Dov S.S. Simens
(2) Digital Filmmaking 101; Dale Newton, John Gaspard
(2) Filmmakers and Financing; Louise Levison
(2) $30.00 Film School; Michael W. Dean
(2) So You Want to be a Producer; Lawrence Turman
(1) What They Don't Teach You at Film School; Camille Landau, Tiare White

Moviemaking insight:

(3) Rebel Without a Crew; Robert Rodriguez
(3) Pitching Hollywood; Jonathan Koch, Robert Kosberg
(3) The Real, Low Down, Dirty Truth About Hollywood Agenting; Rima Greer
(2) My First Movie; Stephen Lowenstein

Other:

(3) An Agent Tells All; Tony Martinez
(3) The Dream Giver; Bruce Wilkinson

Magazines:

(3) MovieMaker
(3) Creative Screenwriting
(3) Scr(i)pt

I imagine I'm leaving several works off this list. For one thing, I read biographies of Steven Spielberg and Frank Capra, both of which were outstanding, but neither for which I can remember the author.

So this will have to do. It's a start. Notice I didn't rate any of the above books a zero (0). I don't think any reading is ever wasted. Then again, reading up on the business of Hollywood can become an easily defended form of procrastination. So can blogging. ;)

Read

"I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on, I go into another room and read a book." -- Groucho Marx

Granted, when Mr. Marx was later finding success as the host of "You Bet Your Life," he qualified the above quote with, "...now that I'm a part of television ... I don't mean a word of it." I assume the latter statement is all in good Groucho contradictory fun.

I watch TV. I enjoy TV. I'm not one of the pretentious dramatists who claims to be above boob-tube drivel. Whether indulging in a new episode of "Lost" or "Two and a Half Men", popping in a DVD of a movie that promises to be 'one of the year's best', watching Season 4 of "Friends" for the seventh time, or cringing at my Minnesota semi-professional sports teams (seriously, I don't think we have an actual professional team, do we? Wait... the Gophers are good this year), there are times when the dancing HD pixels are the only thing on which I am willing to focus.

But usually I'd rather read. At the end of each day, I want self affirmation of at least nominal accomplishment. Having three or four nonfiction books going at a time gives me ample opportunity to further educate my diminutive mind, not to mention my subscriptions to Creative Screenwriting, Script, and MovieMaker magazines. Then there are the myriad worthwhile online resources hidden amongst all the obdurate Internet distractions - I'm looking at you, Facebook!

When my desire to work in television and movies professionally overtook my own common sense, I set out to find what would be commonly regarded as the best books on any and all subjects pertaining to the entertainment industry. Instead of finding Steven Spielberg's list of recommended books on producing and Tom Hanks' acting book recommendations and Ron Howard's list of suggested director books, I found little to no canonical reference to books about the industry.

In light of this deficiency, I offer in the next post, a non-exhaustive list of entertainment industry books I have read and a simple ranking for each.

Give

To laugh often and love much;
to win the respect of intelligent persons
and the affection of children;
to earn the approbation of honest critics
and to endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to give of one's self;
to leave the world a little better,
whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch,
or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm
and sung with exultation;
to know that even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived -
this is to have succeeded.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mr. Emerson's famous success quote has appeared in various forms all over the world. Words are sometimes rearranged and stanzas left out, but his message is clear in all reiterations. Success is easily attainable by all who care to accept it in its simplest form.

Trusting Mr. Emerson's words, I label myself a success, but there's room for so much more. I vow to laugh and love more than ever, to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me everyday, to ignore the faults of others in lieu of their best, and to give more of myself for the benefit of others.

In the coming months I will dedicate entries in this blog as resources for anyone interested in anything to do with the entertainment industry. I am no authority, but I have learned and continue to learn from those who are. I don't know what higher purpose any of this blogging will accomplish, but if even one life can breathe easier because of my efforts, I will consider this blog a success.