A couple of years ago I blogged about a “not so distant future” where the portrait photographer Debra has an all-digital operation and a camera that makes it brain-dead easy for her to get beautiful images. A lot of people labeled it “doom and gloom.” I found that very interesting since nothing in that post […]
John Lasseter: A Success Story of Passion, Purpose and Perseverance
Pixar is batting 100. They are 11 for 11. Eleven feature animated films that all have achieved both massive commercial as well as critical success. Their films have garnered 26 Oscars, 7 Golden Globes, 3 Grammys and over $6 billion in worldwide sales. Every sequel they make is better than its predecessor. Their record is […]
Business Networking – 7 Valuable Lessons from the Movie Swingers
“You’re so money baby and you don’t even know it!” Ah, who can forget those ten beautiful words so eloquently and comically cemented into our pop culture lexicon by Vince Vaughn as Trent in the 1996 indie hit “Swingers.” Written by and starring Jon “Iron Man” Favreau, Swingers tells the story of… Wait! If I […]
Recapturing the Love of Your Craft – Five Suggestions
It started just as a hobby. A side thing you did because you loved it. Then at some point a friend, or a colleague or a family member said, “You really should do this as a living. You’d be so great at it.” Their words encouraged you. You thought to yourself, “Yeah! I could be […]
In Pursuit of the Truth
The firestorm of comments on my “haters gonna hate” post raised an issue that I think is prevalent in the industry: attacking one’s character or making an insinuation about one’s ethic without really knowing the person or their background. I’ve seen it done to others where I knew the background of the person attacked, and […]
Haters Are Gonna Hate Part 2: The Real Deal
Some who read my blog post yesterday were under a couple of wrong impressions. The first wrong impression: that I think anyone who disagrees with someone else is a hater. As I specifically wrote yesterday, you can offer a dissenting opinion about a topic, or disagree with something someone is doing and NOT be a […]
Haters Are Gonna Hate—A Surefire Strategy For Dealing with Trolls and Other Dregs of the Internet
The title says it all. Five full-proof strategies for dealing with hatahs.
A Podcast with Inspiring Filmmakers from Hollywood to Bollywood
Yesterday I posted the 29th episode of Crossing the 180, the filmmaker’s podcast that breaks all the rules. I originally started the podcast January 2010, but stopped four months into it. So for the better part of a year it laid dormant. I re-energized it a couple of months ago and it’s going strong with […]
Creating Work That Honors Both Your Style and Your Client’s Brand
Yesterday I wrote about the challenge of balancing a unique, signature style as a visual artist with authentically communicating the brand of your client. B2C studios (e.g. wedding filmmakers/photographers, etc.) will tend to benefit greatly from putting their style first. B2B studios (e.g. commercial photogs and video producers) have a more complicated task at hand. […]
Whose Brand Does Your Work Project? Yours or Your Clients?
I recently put the finishing touches on the promotional film for Shawn Reeder Photography. Shawn is an amazing photographer specializing in the Yosemite and Sierra mountain region. Shawn is one of those people who exudes this amazing sense of peace and generosity. He is Zen personified. It’s an undeniable and 100% sincere aspect of his […]