There are certain things in this life
that are predestined for all of us. Some folks grow up loving to cook
and become chefs. Others have no souls and grow up thinking Eric
Clapton is the best bluesman out there. It happens. For me, art has
been my Siamese-twin since birth. Whether it was putting on plays
with household objects when I was little or educating myself about
cinema, it's my old friend and my continual habit. Film writing, in a
lot of ways, is one of my pre-destined paths. Writing is something I
have always done, mainly because I have no choice. With anything
creative, you do these things out of a sense of need and compulsion.
Working in the arts in general can be a long road of rejection,
mental blocks and loved ones who don't understand why you are not
getting Stephen King sized book deals. Even worse, once you get into
specific types of art, you then have to deal occasionally with petty
peers and weird agendas. One person brands you as too intellectual
while another thinks you're too crude and working class. For a piece
of fiction I once submitted, I had an editor get offended by my story
having a morally flawed but goodhearted hero. (Namely, a dandified
gigolo named Renaldo.)
The thing they can never teach you in
school about writing is that you can't please everybody and if you
are foolhardy enough to try, you risk compromising your own voice but
for the worst kind of results, the dreaded mediocrity. Granted, that
doesn't mean disregard constructive criticism, because anything that
can help you grow tighter with your craft is a gift that should be
fully accepted. In addition to all of that, art is subjective and not
everyone has to like what you do, either. This is normal but there is
a difference between someone having a different opinion and someone
being a dick. If it's the latter, learn to laugh at them, have a shot
of something strong and use that vinegar to fuel something even
bigger and better than what you originally created. Success is better
than slashing their tires or investing yourself in the dark arts just
to curse their joyless selves.
With film, what moves me are often the
same things that move me about expression in general. A great film is
a like a great song, story or painting. It should move you, punch you
in the gut, give you a warm hug, leave you bleeding in an alley under
the stars, make love to you, make you feel like the world is a
little more jewel like or alternately, have you come crashing down to
the realization of how jacked up the human condition truly is. Great
art is like being in your favorite neon lit bar, the one that reeks
of nicotine and stale beer, with the sound of someone crying behind
you while a couple dance on obliviously to an old Slade tune, too
lost in their good time and lust to notice the fringes of human
sadness all around. Or great art can be a cute puppy. The beauty is
that it can be all of these things and more, just as long as it
doesn't just settle. Settling is the worst. It's almost better to
hate something then to feel indifferently about it.
The beauty of cinema is that for being
a relatively young form, the options of what you can explore are
almost endless. The only limitations are time, money and your own
tastes. The best thing about the latter is that, much like your
palate, it will change and evolve. I hated westerns as a kid but as I
got exposed to films by guys like Sergio Leone and titles like “The
Great Silence,” that changed quite a bit. The best surprises can
sometimes come from within.
My biggest goal as a writer is to
bring you into these worlds, sometime as an act of love, warning,
preservation and maybe a bit of all three. The work has to be like a
bright neon light, attractive to some, too much for others but always
colorful. (And attractive to moths. I love moths.) But not only that,
I hope to help, dandelion style, spread the seeds of all the great
art out there. For me, that's what a writer who delves into cinema,
music and art in general does. If you don't love what you do, then
stop doing it because life is too damn short. But if you do love it
and need it, then you owe it to yourself to damn the torpedoes, storm
the barn and keep creating.
