Motivation tactics

Last night the writing program I'm doing had a seminar where we got to meet Barry Levinson. Barry as far as I can tell is responsible for about 85% of the great films that have come out in the past 20 years. Some of the amazing work he was involved with was as a writer/performer on the Carol Burnett Show, was the writer/director of Diner, directed Rain Man, Wag the Dog and most recently wrote and directed Man of The Year.

It was totally cool to hear his stories about how he got started by took some acting classes and doing sketch comedy (with Craig T. Nelson!) And at the risk of comparing myself to Barry Levinson, does that sound like anyone else you know? It was just cool to see this guy who has had an amazing career and writes amazing films and is still doing it the way he wants - not following any kind of structure or program, he just writes. It was very inspiring for me as I've been struggling these past few months to find my writer's voice and identity again. (I think I lost it somewhere between the massive airconditioning failure this summer and having to clean up the kitchen for the 39th million time. At any rate, what's lost was found (thank God) and I think I'm going to make it to my next script deadline - November 21. Crap.

The saying of the Writer's Bootcamp program is "The secret to writing is writing." Not particularly profound, but it's the truth, and it works for me. Thanks Barry!!