ICH BIN EIN LONDONER

How embedded are you in your heritage? Were you simply born somewhere that you no longer live? Do you still speak the language of that society?
If I am to use the definition of culture to mean the society from which I originate, my roots, ancestry, heritage then is that more or less what defines me as an adult? Or is it my choice of residence – the place, town, city where I choose to live and work and pursue my hobbies – my ‘cultural’ activities – art, literature, films.
My ancestry is Persian/ Scandinavian yet I choose to live and work in London UK in the medium of film - which in itself is the universal, commercial machine that began in Hollywood USA. Am I an amalgam of that? Or simply one disconnected from my genetic past?

The new American President is one of this new breed of identifiers – no longer identifying with his parents’ heritage and ancestry and religion. His father is Kenyan, his mother from Wichita, Kansas, of European descent. He is now simply identified as ‘American’.
American culture is relatively new – relative to the rest of the world in that the United States is a nation that is only a couple of hundred years old. Young in the scheme of things. I have lived in houses older than America. Despite its youth, American identity seems to be very apparent. Stand on any street corner in any city in the world and look at the tourists. I bet that you could easily spot the Americans. They could be of Irish or Scandinavian or African descent, no matter. You can spot them. They are distinct.
How quickly that nation defined for itself what to be American was. Perhaps because that identity is still so young that it undergoes regular scrutiny and redefinition. George Bush made it clear to the world what being Un-American was. Perhaps their new President will be the harbinger of a more positive definition: one of inclusion and responsibility; one of basic moral and ethical foundations that are forged not in ones religion or past but on ones choices in life and responsibility for what goes on in your name.
In my opinion America is still, despite recent history, the most coveted ‘culture’. It was built by immigrants from everywhere who still kept close to their language and rituals yet described themselves as Americans. ‘Melting pot’ is the term most often used to describe American society. A welcoming, inclusive society that champions hard work and ambition and allows you to overcome the weight of your past. After all, anyone born in America can become President. The same cannot be said of anywhere else to my knowledge. Isn’t that the best definition of culture? One in which you can assimilate all that you are – genetically, historically, and reinvent yourself as what you choose to be.

I have great admiration for this ‘chosen’ culture. I envy those who feel they have some form of identity, a sense of nationality, a passion for a place that supports an ideal that speaks to the very core of you. I never had such feelings.

What happened on London on 7 July 2005 changed all that. The series of coordinated bomb blasts that hit London's public transport system during the morning rush hour were carried out by British Islamists and were motivated by Britain's involvement in the Iraq War and other conflicts. I thought I had lost my sister that day. She was on London transport, only a couple of stops away from one of the trains that was bombed. After the blasts the cell-phone network was shut down and I presumed she was on that train and had died. I will never forget those two hours the rest of my life.
As the following days settled, a new form of consciousness enveloped London. Our mayor, Ken Livingstone, summed it up best when he stated, quite simply, that “We are one. We are London”. I felt a pride and a strength like never before to an intangible ‘place’. This is what defines me. This is my culture. I am a Londoner.

The Book of Secrets : Chapter One

In order to make anything, we need a script.
Audiences pay or tune in to see actors, but actors need something to say. Directors bring everything together, but directors can't direct a blank page.
The closest there's ever been to a movie made from a blank page is 'Last Year at Marienbad.' It's a French film (say no more). It does have words, just not in any coherent order. It does have a script yet no known human understands it.
The film is infamous for its enigmatic narrative structure, in which truth and fiction are difficult to distinguish, and the exact temporal and spatial relationship of the events is open to question. The surreal nature of the film has fascinated and baffled audiences and critics alike. Oddly enough, like a case of the Emperor's New Clothes, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1963. [An auspicious year?!]
Even that incomprehensible piece of garbage / masterpiece (delete at whim) had to have a script.
Writers are also needed for non-fiction TV shows, because without a script a non-fiction show would just be like watching people at a bus station. Mind-numbing. These shows are promoted as supposedly being "reality." If they were not scripted, no-one would watch them. Even the choice of participants in this false reality is scripted.
Many foolish individuals regard a script as merely a blueprint. That is dismissively cold and two-dimensional. Never mind that the person who designs a blueprint is the 'architect,' which would make the director only the 'project manager.'
The script is the creation of the film's world, bringing the characters into existence with themes and structure. It is a bible.

Where's the Drama

When I was at film school I was privileged enough to attend a workshop in directing by a prominent, successful and highly-respected Hollywood director. He wanted to impress on us students the very simple fact that all a director has to do is to read the scene, find out where the drama is and then place the camera there. It should be a clear decision. “There is only one place for the camera to be”, he would say. It is the director’s job to figure out where that is. Find out the drama in a scene and that is where you place the camera.
For example: Your story involves a couple on a first date, they have just entered her apartment and she goes to the kitchen to fix coffee. Where should you, the director, place the camera? With her? That’s definitely where the action is. Or with him? In the living room doing nothing? Well, it’s a no-brainer. With him, all the time. The action may be with her, but the drama is with him. He is in a strange room, a room belonging to a person he likes and wishes to impress and/or find out more about. He may not be ‘doing’ much but there is a lot of drama going on in his head.
That’s the beauty of film – through the actors eyes and slightest of movements we can sense tension, anxiety, sadness, elation – a whole gamut of emotions can be communicated. Even stillness can convey so much drama. And that is always where the camera should be. Watching the drama.

Sometimes the action is also where the drama is. For example, a woman performing CPR on her husband, who eventually dies. Action and drama combined. And that is always a great way to convey drama – through action. But it is not always possible and perhaps it is a braver filmmaker who goes straight for the drama and does not hide behind action. Ingmar Bergman was one of those filmmakers. Not a lot of action in some of his films but a whole lot of drama.
In one of his iconic films, ‘Persona’, a young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth, an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer, eventually finding that her own personality is being submerged into Elisabeth's persona. It is an extraordinarily powerful drama that relies on the medium of film to convey its message. I do not believe that this same drama would work in live theatre for example. One cannot see into a character’s eyes on the stage. And that is so often where the drama lies. The unseen within the scene.

Another film that uses eyes as the window through which we see the drama is ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, directed by Stephen Frears from the adaptation by Christopher Hampton. Glenn Close’s character, the Rococo-era French aristocrat Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, has been amorally hellbent on bending everyone to her will, no matter the method or the cost. The finale has the Marquise sitting in front of the mirror removing her make-up, accepting her own betrayal and defeat. It is an extraordinary scene that lasts a whole five minutes. That’s a lot of screen time – count it in your head – an awful long time for nothing much to be happening. But watch her – watch her eyes – a thunderstorm of emotion is going on. That is where the drama is – within her.
That is the beauty of this medium of story-telling – the moving picture. It alone has the ability to transmit to an audience like no other art form.

It's OK to be bad

The biggest mistake people make is to compete with one another. This is the biggest mistake people make in Hollywood. It's the most deadly thing because it's paralyzing.
You must turn off that 'noise'.
This is not politics.
It is LIFE.
Success is about not being afraid to fail publicly. You cannot fall apart.
You make bad decisions. You're wrong plenty of the time.
it's OK.
Get used to it.

Film-making more than any other business reflects real life by it's very nature.
There is no sure thing. No 'path' to success.
You just have to live it, day by day, full of hope for improvement, excitement about the daily adventures and, most importantly, without fear of being bad at it.
There is no failure in this business. Only death

The New Week

As financial markets and global economies free-fall, I have come up with a lateral solution.
I have re-named the days of the week. With a plan for action for each day.

MoanDay:
Bitchfest from sunrise to sunset without any consequences. Bitch alone, bitch to others, bitch with others. Feel the bile.

ToulouseDay:
Be an artist for a day - explore any medium AND be kind to prostitutes - do their shopping, take them to the beach, buy condoms, babysit.

WeddednessDay:
Spend the day with the one / ones you love. This is all that matters after all..

ThroughthelookingglassDay:
Look at the day from an entirely different perspective: Spend the day in someone else's shoes; Take mind-altering substances; Enter a think-tank; Read a novel in a language you barely know; or just go for a walk in a new neighbourhood.

FreeDay:
Do anything as long as it's totally free. NO spending of any currency/credit system is allowed.

SaturatedfatDay:
Eat and celebrate comfort food. it's what fed and fueled the renaissance.

SunDay:
We still need a day to honour and worship the great big orange thing in the sky. Go out. Sunbathe. Grow plants. Just get some rays people!

The Holy Trinity of Film-making.

The Holy Trinity are the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The creator (Father); made human (Son); made holy (Holy Ghost).
In my opinion, a film has pretty much the same ‘Trinity’ within it. We first have to set up a story, be the creator. Then we need to introduce the characters, who they all are and what their relationships to each other are, make the story human. And finally we have to conclude with a satisfactory resolution, an uplifting one, impart a ‘spirit’.
Father / son / holy ghost = Setup / drama / ta-da!
I’m not being facetious here, I do believe that stories are the most powerful art forms of this day and age and storytellers have a tremendous responsibility to relate and record stories that can resonate beyond language, culture and time.
And the most important person in this entire process is the writer. The person who sets up the story, the creator, the Father.

Irving Thalberg is arguably the most-legendary executive in Hollywood history. As MGM's head of production, he was responsible for classics like "Mutiny on the Bounty," "Grand Hotel" and "Broadway Melody of 1938," all winning the Oscar as Best Picture. The Motion Picture Academy created the Thalberg Award to honour the high quality of an artist's career. Here is what Irving Thalberg said about writers:
"The most important part in filmmaking is played by the writers. We must do everything in our power to keep them from finding out."

A writer myself I know full well that we are generally a bunch of anti-social geeks who have chosen as a life-profession to sit alone and imagine things in our heads. Some days I’d be grateful if people would simply speak to me. It is easy to forget that without us there would be nothing.
To make anything we need an idea – we need an originator – a creator. Without the Father there would be no Son and indeed, no Holy Ghost.

Whilst audiences will go to a film to see the actors – the actors can do nothing without action and dialogue. Whilst the director gives the action and dialogue form and style – without any action or dialogue the director would have nothing to shape.
There would be nothing.
Actors, technicians, producers and directors all need writers more than writers need them. We don’t need actors because we have created our characters. We don’t need directors to give the story a shape. It has been shaped in our minds already. The story has unfolded itself within our consciousness and has served its purpose.
What it has yet to do and where the other players in filmmaking are required, is in communicating this story to others. And isn’t this the point anyway? What’s the point of a story if no one hears it?

The creator wants to be heard. It is not enough to create a story, the creator has to also have that story resonate with others and in order to do so it has to be shaped into a form that can best be employed to impart those words – a piece of celluloid that will flicker at speed creating the illusion of continuous motion – and in doing so, perhaps creating a new reality.

Whilst I may be able to imagine my own reality my individual creation can only be made collective once the other players enter the scene – the actors, the Son, the creation made human. This new reality can only enter the collective consciousness once it is seen and heard – the Holy Ghost. Without a ‘spirit’ imparted, a message is useless.
Filmmaking is the most powerful art form today as we create new forms of reality – a new consciousness.