Producer Phil Cooke shows why it's time for you to stop using compilation reels to showcase your work.
A few years ago, I found myself in a place in life in which I couldn’t drive my car for several months. So a generous friend bought me a good bicycle, for which I was truly grateful. Yes, it got me where I needed to go, and, sure, it got me in pretty good shape, but that bike helped me to do something even more substantial and worthwhile. It got me to slow down.
A couple years ago, I decided to take motorcycle lessons. Okay, I’ll admit it: motorcycle lessons appealed primarily to my over-developed sense of adventure, but in my defense, it’s not a bad skill for an actor to be able to list on his résumé. So I got all geared up and drove my car out to the nearby community college parking lot with visions of me whipping my bike around pylons with Matrix-like precision and ferocity...
Every art form has certain rules that are inherent to it, whether that form is writing, filmmaking, painting, or something else. With that said, there is a place to break those rules sometimes. In fact, some creative artists have become truly great because they broke the rules...
One of the things I hear pretty often from fellow creative artists as they wrestle with their aspirations is that they don’t have the equipment, finances, relationships, (insert your own word here) that they believe is needed to get started on their projects. That's not necessarily the case...
In preparation for an acting role, I started taking martial arts lessons. It looked so easy at first...
We all have those days when we try to tap into our creative juices and come up dry. There are a lot of ways to address that problem, but here's one you may not have thought of: take a nap.
Anything that requires real Courage, by definition, also will run the risk of hitting those occasional pockets where Courage is stolen away, where it is in rare supply, where you find yourself gasping for it like oxygen at high altitudes. Where you are dis-Couraged.
I’ve got a good friend who is a successful writer for television sitcoms. At an event one evening, a woman approached him and asked, “How can I help my young daughter to become a successful Hollywood writer?” In his characteristic wit doused in friendly sarcasm, my friend replied: “Withhold your love from her for the next ten years.” One of the main reasons many creative people come to Hollywood – and this is at the same time rarely mentioned and rarely denied – is that they are looking for significance, a sense of actually mattering in and to this world.
Our guest artist, professional drummer Matt Tobias, answers the question: What's the one thing creative artists should know?
So it's going to take some creativity and hard work, but what is your year going to look like?
You probably noticed that it’s a brand new year. Although you may poke your head outside and discover it feels about the same, a new year offers the opportunity to contemplate where you’ve been as a creative professional and where you’re going. Like most other people, I like to take this season to think of some good New Year’s resolutions – not only the things I’d like to tackle, but also what I’m leaving behind in the rearview mirror. After all, some baggage belongs in the previous year, right? So let’s start the year correctly. As you’re drafting your resolutions for the New Year, here are a few to consider...
A few years ago, I took a nine-day trip with my father to Hong Kong, which is where he grew up. What I got was a perspective on artistic perspective.
I’ve lived just long enough to know that true friends – the sort who not only will prop you up on the lean days, but who will also avoid running up the tab on your abundant ones – are exceedingly rare. I’ve been blessed to have them in my corner, and I’m sure you can think of a few in your own. As artists, we need people like that around us. Artistry, which so often occurs in solitude, should never be solitary.
You tell us: Why did you decide to become a creative professional? And how does a person know when he/she is called to Hollywood?
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Over the course of my career in the media, I’ve had the opportunity to visit hundreds of churches, ministries, and Christian organizations and help them face a multitude of challenges…
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