More close encounters: Barbara Streisand, Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese, Mardik Martin and Lauren Bacall

Successful Hollywood screenwriters were once struggling to survive by washing dishes.  Famous movie stars were once terrified young wannabe actors, trying to get a break Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin The screenwriter Mardik Martin, who was teaching at USC whilst I worked there, had made friends with Martin Scorsese when they were both …

Close encounters: David Schwimmer, Ronald Reagan and Others

And some ideas about what it takes to make it in Hollywood DAVID SCHWIMMER During my second year of study at the University of Southern California, I took a beginner’s screenwriting course.  The class was a group of about fifteen students, mostly in their early twenties, who were taking a Masters in Film Production, together …

Why did you stay in Los Angeles?

There are too many reasons to include in one post, so they are divided into sections. Part One Playing polo - all year round The Weather Living in summer sunshine, almost every day, all day.  Mostly there is no need to pull back the curtains to check the weather before you dress – every day …

The Baby-in-Chief

On a day when lives lost in the US are still climbing, thought it might be worth posting this cartoon I made, back on May 12th, when there were 50,000 fewer deaths.   The original story is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-52627604/trump-spars-with-asian-american-reporter-over-nasty-question

Fantasy Artist’s Collective

Taking an Art Access course, I had a go at using Photoshop and setting up an artist's website.  It is meant to be a daydream, of the artists that you might have hung out with and been inspired by, if you were a time-traveller. Some examples of my own work is included. https://macj1.weebly.com/ St Francis …

A COURSE IN WRITING DURING THE LOCKDOWN

Exercise 1:  Building Atmosphere Describe a person entering the same room three times:  A. The first time readers will understand that this is going to be a thriller/horror storyThe second time we will know that this is going to be a comedy. B. The second time we will know that this is going to be …

The War of Attrition

There has been much talk about the power of resilience in the press, with news outlets reporting that it is this quality that, above all, determines whether we succeed or fail. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/07/is-grit-the-true-secret-of-success A lot of creative success seems to be just down to this: keeping going. There was one professor at the University of Southern …

Lovely Los Angeles on a winter’s day

Despite the song, even though our skies are grey, and I am very happy not to be living in Los Angeles. The first thing I get asked when British people find out that I lived in California for 11 years, is if I met any famous people.  The answer is yes, quite a few.  I …

Added to the New Year’s gift

With reference to the poem by Yehuda Amichai quoted in the previous post, if you liked that you might enjoy Bill Wither's wonderful song, 'Grandma's Hands.' The song starts at 1'22" roughly. A beautiful example of how you can sum up and bring back the character of someone you've loved dearly just through one image. …

A New Year’s Gift for anyone who’d like a moment off

Just planning my first writing class of the year - there's something about the lovely energy of the writing group - I am really looking forward to it and finding it difficult to articulate exactly why it lifts my spirits just to think about meeting up with these students in a few hours. The answer …

A Christmas Wish

Peace on Earth Oil on paper Wishing you a peaceful, Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. My painting: ‘Palymra Burning’ was part of the Malvern Art College 2019 exhibition. The horses in the picture are based on a Palace frieze from the Neo-Assyrian Empire (934-609BC).  My idea was to bring the horses to life …

Writing opposite my daughter

Right now she is hard at work revising for a Chemistry exam. We are on a 'working retreat' which goes something like this: We sit opposite each other at the table, then set an alarm for an agreed time, say, 45 minutes. Then we work in silence, opposite each other, until the alarm goes off. …