It's the tail end of summer 2017 and we have a few scripts out and about with folks in tinsel town who may or may not have the means to move things forward.
In spite of dipping a toe into the sparkling pools of Hollywood I'm more aware than ever of the smoke and mirrors.
Big Studios are selling. China is buying -- and then backing out. Deals are not being met or honored and everyone from the indies to the old suits are scrambling for production dollars while SVOD runs away with the silver spoon.
Hollywood is crumbling before our very eyes. Will it be the next Camelot; For one brief shining moment?
Does any of this sugar-spun fantasy really matter when half a world away a woman holds her child who is all sticks and bones while they wait for Cholera to finish them off ?
Do we hang on to the sparkling Hollywood dream while mass atrocities are being carried out in South Sudan -- or while 12 million people are uprooted from their homes from the Iraq/Syrian clashes? The Kurdish and Palestinians and a number of other refugees living on this earth are on a forced march to find a home. Tensions are escalating between hot-headed leaders in need of education and an ego-check.
With all that's going on I have to ask myself what good is a movie?
A screenplay?
A story?
My answer:
It's everything.
Stories help us communicate. They preserve our past and help us face what may lie ahead.
A story can:
- Lift us out of despair
- Spark hope
- Ignite a revolution
- Inspire us to be our better selves
- Relate to us so we know we're not alone in the world
- Bridge cultures
- Scare us or warn us
- Make us laugh
- Help us dream
- Help us understand
- Shed light
- Give us a journey to another world
And no matter the message, we dream spinners cling to Aristotle's words of wisdom. To paraphrase: Art, above all else, must entertain.
If we must live in a world where extreme groups exist, where bullets fly, where mines blow up innocent people and animals, where people are being pushed out of their homes, one small spark of an idea, shared on a page or a screen, may give us pause long enough to help enlighten the world through our shared human experiences.
Is a story necessary?
No.
Water. Food. Air. Shelter. Those are necessary to survive.
But stories make your life soar.
