Photography has paid my bills for quite some time. I'd like to think that I'm a decent photographer.
What is photography though? To me, it's not about pushing a button in front of a subject. It's about interaction.
As photographers we interact with things and try our best to capture a moment of time.
With this understanding, we shouldn't look to see how nice of a camera we can ladder up to. We need to master our gear we use, yes, but we should also take notes on who we've become as a person using these skills.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Stars not Actors
It can be a sad moment for me when an actor starts trying to be a diva. It reminds me why I must always stay humble.
I also get to see why so many people come to Los Angeles to make it big. They don't see the passion of the craft, they see stars in their eyes and are willing to hurt anyone in their path to it.
It's a little shameful if you ask me. We need to be more about the work, not the reward that the work can bring. The movies are a business. And actors are employees - even when they are independent contractors.
The only advice I can give it to show up early or on time. Be prepared as you can with what you are given. Be joyful around the people that work so hard to make you look good. Do as you're told when it comes to the story. Only speak up about it if it can enhance the story, not if it's a story change that you'd like to see. There's a reason we write what we write to see it on screen. We don't want to make your movie. If you feel so strongly about your story change....become a writer, not an actor.
I also get to see why so many people come to Los Angeles to make it big. They don't see the passion of the craft, they see stars in their eyes and are willing to hurt anyone in their path to it.
It's a little shameful if you ask me. We need to be more about the work, not the reward that the work can bring. The movies are a business. And actors are employees - even when they are independent contractors.
The only advice I can give it to show up early or on time. Be prepared as you can with what you are given. Be joyful around the people that work so hard to make you look good. Do as you're told when it comes to the story. Only speak up about it if it can enhance the story, not if it's a story change that you'd like to see. There's a reason we write what we write to see it on screen. We don't want to make your movie. If you feel so strongly about your story change....become a writer, not an actor.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
East and West worlds
The title is called Two because of the main character's two sets of parents and being of two worlds - the West and the East.
It's a drama about adoption reunion and growing up middle eastern in America. A story of a kid born and raised in the Midwest and he travels to California for the first time in his 20's to try to find his biological parents and himself in the process.
I wrote it because of my life growing up having a specific look but my allegiance to being a nationalist first. It can be conflicting having people/media say that middle easterners are the enemy when it's not the people of any place that are the enemy, just the radicalized ones in charge that have an agenda to push onto others. That and oligopolization of governments that are either bound by slowly adaptive religion and/or greed/fear of the true people taking over as leaders. We as people are scared into not saying or doing certain things. This is a system of control made early on by the powers that be - the Royal powers that started civilization. We are given consumption of information without a way to question it. We aren't given the chance to think large.
The happenings are fictional but the ideals written are real and of my own.
I've been told that this is my most mature work I've written. I'm going to make it with a budget of 1.5 million dollars and film it in the San Francisco Bay Area.
No matter what, this is supposed to be entertainment. But I do interject some thought-provoking content so people won't know they're being educated.
It's a drama about adoption reunion and growing up middle eastern in America. A story of a kid born and raised in the Midwest and he travels to California for the first time in his 20's to try to find his biological parents and himself in the process.
I wrote it because of my life growing up having a specific look but my allegiance to being a nationalist first. It can be conflicting having people/media say that middle easterners are the enemy when it's not the people of any place that are the enemy, just the radicalized ones in charge that have an agenda to push onto others. That and oligopolization of governments that are either bound by slowly adaptive religion and/or greed/fear of the true people taking over as leaders. We as people are scared into not saying or doing certain things. This is a system of control made early on by the powers that be - the Royal powers that started civilization. We are given consumption of information without a way to question it. We aren't given the chance to think large.
The happenings are fictional but the ideals written are real and of my own.
I've been told that this is my most mature work I've written. I'm going to make it with a budget of 1.5 million dollars and film it in the San Francisco Bay Area.
No matter what, this is supposed to be entertainment. But I do interject some thought-provoking content so people won't know they're being educated.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Regarding the Hollywood gender bias subpoenas
Hollywood is a strange place. It's like a strip club. No one really wants to go there, but some of us have no choice to either work there or be caught going there. Most of the action going on in a strip club is probably illegal but we all look the other way, because the alternative is independent contractors taking more money in without a middleman. Even our wording is male dominated. Middleman is just somebody that takes a cut, but we reference a man doing it. The major studios want money, just like any stripper or strip club owner wants. Actors and filmmakers being the strippers and the studios being the owners of the club.
This is America, where we are basically free to hire the best person for the job. Now, unlike strip clubs, the studios are being positioned as being immoral for not hiring women. I am not against the studios even though we don't work together. What I have been saying to friends and colleagues is asking why they haven't just created independent content instead with a camera and a lens like this?
Make a production company, hire women to direct, produce, write. Then hire men to make it even standards. But for some reason everyone wants to work in Hollywood, be a freelance director with an agent that is probably male, and hope for the best, but not expect the worst.
It's time our thinking evolved.
This is America, where we are basically free to hire the best person for the job. Now, unlike strip clubs, the studios are being positioned as being immoral for not hiring women. I am not against the studios even though we don't work together. What I have been saying to friends and colleagues is asking why they haven't just created independent content instead with a camera and a lens like this?
Make a production company, hire women to direct, produce, write. Then hire men to make it even standards. But for some reason everyone wants to work in Hollywood, be a freelance director with an agent that is probably male, and hope for the best, but not expect the worst.
It's time our thinking evolved.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
The movies I'm making now as opposed to what I thought I'd be making
I never thought I'd be making the kind of movies I make now. See, the thing is, I care very much about storytelling. Writing and making movies brings happiness to my day and makes me sleep well at night.
I matured while thinking my specialty was going to be action movies. You know, action with a little comedy supported by smart-ass characters: The Lethal Weapon, the Die Hard, the Desperado, the Reservoir Dogs. Anything with machismo and a 'too cool for school' vibe coming from it.
Now, I haven't been working a whole lot the last two years- Err, I say that, but I have been working a whole lot. My focus hasn't been on paying rent and making a per-year salary like most people. You see, before this, any money I've made from jobs or gigs has gone into paying actors, camera equipment, gas money for crew, travel expenses and the like. My end goals are to make these films and release them out this year and the next and the next.
What I've been spending more time with these last two years is trying to figure out what I should be doing instead of what I think I should be doing. This is the time I've gained by working less and technically not making a profit(or making less of a savings for that matter!).
And it's pretty simple, I find, really. I want...
EQUALITY.
I'm going to push for more women directors, movies about homosexual characters, different religions and faiths exposed to more people. I'm gonna risk everything on very young and very old writers. Alternative directors, producers, musicians, and I'll push for a wide range of diversity in front of and behind the camera. This is something that isn't being done in mass by other producers, and I feel I'm the right candidate for the job.
I've spent my early adult career losing lots of money. I stopped being afraid to lose money a while ago now. It's no longer even a worry for me. I expect to lose more money than I've ever lost before coming up in the future. And, yes, I do believe I'm going to win some profit substantially, because that's how gambling with big odds goes. It's who believes I'm passionate enough about my craft to gamble on me. It's these types of people that I like doing business with. The ones that aren't afraid either. These people are the ones that I want to fight for and win with.
That's it. There's really nothing to say. This isn't a "fireworks going off" celebration. Tomorrow, I'll wake up and do the exact same thing I've been doing since 2003. Fighting the good fight.
I matured while thinking my specialty was going to be action movies. You know, action with a little comedy supported by smart-ass characters: The Lethal Weapon, the Die Hard, the Desperado, the Reservoir Dogs. Anything with machismo and a 'too cool for school' vibe coming from it.
Now, I haven't been working a whole lot the last two years- Err, I say that, but I have been working a whole lot. My focus hasn't been on paying rent and making a per-year salary like most people. You see, before this, any money I've made from jobs or gigs has gone into paying actors, camera equipment, gas money for crew, travel expenses and the like. My end goals are to make these films and release them out this year and the next and the next.
What I've been spending more time with these last two years is trying to figure out what I should be doing instead of what I think I should be doing. This is the time I've gained by working less and technically not making a profit(or making less of a savings for that matter!).
And it's pretty simple, I find, really. I want...
EQUALITY.
I'm going to push for more women directors, movies about homosexual characters, different religions and faiths exposed to more people. I'm gonna risk everything on very young and very old writers. Alternative directors, producers, musicians, and I'll push for a wide range of diversity in front of and behind the camera. This is something that isn't being done in mass by other producers, and I feel I'm the right candidate for the job.
I've spent my early adult career losing lots of money. I stopped being afraid to lose money a while ago now. It's no longer even a worry for me. I expect to lose more money than I've ever lost before coming up in the future. And, yes, I do believe I'm going to win some profit substantially, because that's how gambling with big odds goes. It's who believes I'm passionate enough about my craft to gamble on me. It's these types of people that I like doing business with. The ones that aren't afraid either. These people are the ones that I want to fight for and win with.
That's it. There's really nothing to say. This isn't a "fireworks going off" celebration. Tomorrow, I'll wake up and do the exact same thing I've been doing since 2003. Fighting the good fight.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Why I won't change my black character
A potential producer/writer read my adoption script and notes he gave me were that I should write out the black character as being 'more urban'. Not that the character was a bad character; It was that the character wasn't 'black enough' and I shouldn't write a main character without some urban influence.
Background on the character I wrote: His name sounds urban-ish and his uncle lives in Oakland. That's it. That's about as far as he goes as being a stereotypical young black man. My black character I wrote is reasonably intelligent, a normal individual tossed into extraordinary situations. He's not white or black or yellow or brown in a box. He's a human being, a character in a story that has potential to be better if they make the right choices - and let's hope he does. I wrote the character to be like that, because that's the kind of people I write for. I want people to be better for watching my movies or be able to escape... or even learn to accept others for who they are.
I am not homophobic, racist, sexist, or hateful towards any types of people. The joke is that I hate everybody equally. People (currently) die eventually, one way or another. The next generation must succeed the previous. The producer/writer that read my script had some notes and I appreciate where he was coming from. But the fact that he is not understanding of today's nuances does make a difference. If this were a story set 10, 20, 30 years ago - then yes those notes would be much better to make a lot of impressions.
My black characters are black. They happen to have skin tone, but that is it. People come from a different range of backgrounds and cultures. This character is a modern man of the times. In fact, every one of the characters knows urban speak. They just don't need to use that type of language in private. Think about slang in your life. You might use it as a way of showing understanding but do most of you use it every minute? No. You are professionals, or working as professionals or you live with your parents who would slap the shit out of you if you talked to them like that. It's not a mindset that others think with on a consistent basis. That is important. There are kids growing up with knowledge of the world on screens all over. Ghettos will still be here for a while, but they are not going to be the same ghetto. The black characters I write for grow up knowing black culture, but are more interested in learning about the entire world's culture, and communicating with others in EVERY culture they can access.
So these black characters are not typical of media idealism. They can still be tough, they can still get respect. They just fight with words more than fists or guns. It's reality becoming art and art becoming reality. As a writer myself, I control that ideal.
I write for characters of emotional and comprehensive intelligence in tough situations. That is the drama which I want to see. And correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but everyone wants to feel that.
Background on the character I wrote: His name sounds urban-ish and his uncle lives in Oakland. That's it. That's about as far as he goes as being a stereotypical young black man. My black character I wrote is reasonably intelligent, a normal individual tossed into extraordinary situations. He's not white or black or yellow or brown in a box. He's a human being, a character in a story that has potential to be better if they make the right choices - and let's hope he does. I wrote the character to be like that, because that's the kind of people I write for. I want people to be better for watching my movies or be able to escape... or even learn to accept others for who they are.
I am not homophobic, racist, sexist, or hateful towards any types of people. The joke is that I hate everybody equally. People (currently) die eventually, one way or another. The next generation must succeed the previous. The producer/writer that read my script had some notes and I appreciate where he was coming from. But the fact that he is not understanding of today's nuances does make a difference. If this were a story set 10, 20, 30 years ago - then yes those notes would be much better to make a lot of impressions.
My black characters are black. They happen to have skin tone, but that is it. People come from a different range of backgrounds and cultures. This character is a modern man of the times. In fact, every one of the characters knows urban speak. They just don't need to use that type of language in private. Think about slang in your life. You might use it as a way of showing understanding but do most of you use it every minute? No. You are professionals, or working as professionals or you live with your parents who would slap the shit out of you if you talked to them like that. It's not a mindset that others think with on a consistent basis. That is important. There are kids growing up with knowledge of the world on screens all over. Ghettos will still be here for a while, but they are not going to be the same ghetto. The black characters I write for grow up knowing black culture, but are more interested in learning about the entire world's culture, and communicating with others in EVERY culture they can access.
So these black characters are not typical of media idealism. They can still be tough, they can still get respect. They just fight with words more than fists or guns. It's reality becoming art and art becoming reality. As a writer myself, I control that ideal.
I write for characters of emotional and comprehensive intelligence in tough situations. That is the drama which I want to see. And correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not, but everyone wants to feel that.
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