Leslie C. Halpern is an
entertainment journalist who has written for The Hollywood Reporter, Variety,
and Markee Magazine. She authored several nonfiction books about the arts, most
recently, Passionate About Their Work: 151 Celebrities, Artists and Experts on
Creativity (BearManor Media, 2010.) Also a frequently published poet who
performs with the Poetry Ensemble of Orlando, she wrote the book Rub, Scrub,
Clean the Tub: Funny Children’s Poems About Self-Image (Cricket Cottage
Publishing, 2012).
Thank you, Leslie, for being this week's Guest Blogger.
Links:
# # #
How Passionate Are You?
After interviewing hundreds of
famous (and nearly famous) people for entertainment magazines, I noticed that although
details about their projects varied, the underlying motives were always the
same. Creative people have important stories to tell and are passionate about
telling them. They will push past all kinds of financial, physical, and
emotional obstacles to get these stories told, whether on paper, film, stage,
canvas, or some other artistic means. They reject all forms of negativity when
pursuing their individual dreams.
This unyielding determination
(usually present from idea conception to product production) keeps passionate people
on track when others get derailed. My book “Passionate About Their Work. 151
Celebrities, Artists, and Experts on Creativity” pays tribute to many of the people
I’ve interviewed over the years who possess this passion, and takes readers on
a journey through the entire creative process from beginning to end.
Passion
varies according to people, projects and stages of the creative process. Take
writers, for instance. How do you originate ideas or find time and motivation
to begin? How can you embrace mid-project changes requiring hours of rewrites,
conquer writer’s block, or take creative risks while adhering to format? What
if you lack knowledge, contacts, and money to get work published or produced?
These answers are readily
available. I found that true artists have a generous nature and share their
advice, lessons, triumphs, and failures with others. They are not afraid of
competition because the market for creativity has no limits. Most of the celebrities,
artists, and experts I interviewed during more than two decades of
entertainment reporting were happy to tell the story behind the story, if it
could help others. This creative spirit is reflected in the quotes and
anecdotes they shared with me, and in turn, my readers.
Throughout my journalism career, I
have tried to stay away from CEOs, presidents, VPs, and publicists. These folks
usually offer polished prose ready for publication without a shred of
originality, authenticity, or vulnerability. Readers cannot benefit much from
the publicity of a publicist, but can have their lives changed from the art of
an artist. The quotations and anecdotes appearing in the book freely and openly
offer inspiration from 151 writers, filmmakers, comedians, and others to people
who may be starting their creative journeys, in mid-career struggling for a new
form of artistic expression, or well-established artists who want to reinvent
themselves.
Excerpt from the book
“Passionate About Their Work: 151 Celebrities, Artists, and Experts on
Creativity.”
Chapter 1
Ideas and Inspirations
Everyone
dreams of that one big idea that will bring fortune and fame. But from where do great ideas originate? As you’ll see in this chapter, our
imaginations, successes, failures, personal muses, or even the trivialities of
our daily existence may inspire them.
Sometimes ideas are created and developed in isolation; other times a
concerted collaborative effort is needed to flesh out a winning concept. Surprisingly, some artists may even start the
creative process – and be well on their way to finishing the project – before
they finally reach an “aha!” moment of clarity.
If there’s one thing creative people agree on, however, it’s that when a
great idea finally grabs hold, it won’t let go.
Spotlight Insight
I
get ideas by starting with the premise ‘what if?’ The beginning of a story is like a composer
sitting down at the piano and trying some combinations of notes…. First you
have to please yourself, and then decide whether the premise that you find
stimulating will appeal to your audience.
Once the premise is acceptable, you can keep going.
Kurt
Vonnegut, novelist (Slaughterhouse-Five,
Breakfast of Champions, Cat’s Cradle)
and graphic artist
# #
#
1. Sure it’s great for my ego
to get fan letters from Michael J. Fox’s kids or to have Michael Eisner keep
asking to see more tricks, but that’s not really the carrot at the end of the
stick. I just keep going because I would
have wanted my father to be proud of me.
Jon
Armstrong, magical entertainer (Magic Castle in Hollywood,
California; Caesar’s Magical Empire in Las Vegas, Nevada; Walt Disney World in
Orlando, Florida)
# #
#
2.
Making a film is a process, and it’s all intuitive in the end. Films start out as a faint pulse. As they grow, they evolve and gestate and
develop a strong personality. At a
certain point in the making of a film, it tells me what it needs and I become
just the caretaker.
Alan
Berliner, screenwriter, editor, director (Wide Awake [2006], The
Sweetest Sound [2001], Nobody’s Business [1996]) and installation artist
# # #
3.
Films are really the modern day equivalent of the stories we were told around
firesides, and the stories that were told in caves with firelight, darkness,
and shadow. The cinema is like that dark
cave that we like to go into to escape from our real selves. Films in some way always reflect the reality
of the world around us...Great films reflect the world in a deep and meaningful
way. Even bad films have a way of
mirroring some kind of reality.
Gabriel
Byrne, actor (The Usual
Suspects [1995], Miller’s Crossing [1990], End of Days [1999]),
producer, screenwriter, director (The
Lark in the Clear Air [1996]),
and author (Pictures in My Head)
# #
#
4.
Inspiration doesn’t drive me to write anymore.
When I was younger, I thought that I had to be inspired to write, and I
was always looking for inspiration. I
would sit in coffee shops, stare at people, and wait for things to happen. I don’t really know what I was looking for,
or waiting for, or what was supposed to inspire me. Now I don’t wait for inspiration. I work hard because I want to – because I
need to. Everything that goes on around
me serves as inspiration: people, life,
music, love, art. All of these things
factor into my thinking when I create.
Joseph Byrne,
playwright, producer, actor (Circles,
The Observer) and associate artistic
director (Women For Women – 15 Monologues)
# #
#
5.
Our goal [in making What the #$*! Do We
Know? ] was to make those words ‘quantum physics’ not so scary to
people. We wanted to take away the taboo
of science and help people see what science says, what science means to them in
their everyday lives, and how science and spirituality are related. We take away the big words and leave the
audience with ideas.
Betsy Chasse, co-producer, co-director (What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole [2006], What the #$*! Do We Know? [2004])
# # #
