The Bucket

I have a bucket that I carry with me wherever I go. I collect things in it, hour by hour, day by day. Some of the things are ordinary like a piece of string or a broken watch, but other things are quite unexpected, like love letter or the lens of a telescope.

Yesterday I found a thumb tack on the bottom of my shoe; it went in the bucket, along with three dried chips of turquoise paint and an empty Coke bottle. While in the shower a bright yellow frog appeared by the open window, and I would have put it in too, but I left my bucket in the car, and by the time I fetched it, the frog was gone.

You have to be quick.

Often I will steal things, usually from my closest friends. They’ll be talking and a little golden coin will drop out of their mouth and tinkle on the floor. I’ll snatch it up when they aren’t looking and then call it my own. I don’t feel bad about it because they do the same thing to me. Just the other morning I spied a little porcelain bird that a friend had copped from my pail and had put into hers. I think she felt guilty, but I didn’t mind; in fact, I was glad that she could use it. I just couldn’t find a place for it anywhere, and it suited her collection perfectly.

I know people who leave their bucket at home most of the time, only taking it out when they think they need something. Of course, after just a few hours of searching they get bored or frustrated about not finding the thing they were looking for, so they put the bucket away. What they don’t realize is that you have to keep your bucket at all times and you can’t be so picky about what you collect.

Me, I’ll pick up anything.

Some people like fancy buckets made of tin, old-fashioned buckets made of wood, or electric buckets with flashing lights, but I’ll use whatever is handy. The container isn’t as important as the things you collect. You can use a cereal bowl or discarded Starbucks coffee cup, or even your pocket in a pinch. The mistake is to see something and tell yourself, “I’ll get that later, when I have more time,” because as soon as you turn your eyes away (from the bronze nail, the dead caterpillar, the silk yarmulke) it will disappear. You’ll never find it again.

Recently I’ve gotten in the habit of getting up very early and meeting friends at coffee houses. They bring their buckets too, and together we sort and sift and show each other what we’ve found. Often we trade: a rusty license plate for a silver toothpick, a rubber ball for scrap of shag carpet. It’s fun to share.

But most of the work I do alone, dumping out the contents of my bucket and deciding what to use, what to throw out and what to save for later. It’s really amazing what turns up if you keep your eyes open and you make sure to have your bucket with you.

For instance, while driving in my car, my cousin appeared in the passenger seat - not as she is now, a middle-aged mother of two, but as a child with fiery red hair and a doll that was missing its left eye. I didn’t know why or how she appeared, but I didn’t ask questions. I just collected her and her doll in the bucket as soon as I reached a red light, keeping an eye on her in my peripheral vision to be sure she wouldn’t vanish.

I sometimes put expressions in the bucket, like “posilutely splificated.” I put sounds in the bucket, like the popping of bubble wrap or the giggle of a barista. I collect attitudes, poses and gesticulations. I gather confusion and doubt. I pick up itches, headaches and ennui. I take things I don’t believe in, like ghosts or trickle down economics. It’s important not to be judgmental, and accept whatever appears in your path. Anything.

Do I sound crazy to you?

Well, if you haven’t guessed, I’ll tell you that the “bucket” is just my notebook. And the things I find are seeds: seeds for writing, seeds for filmmaking, seeds for acting, seeds for understanding, seeds for meaning. If you are an artist or creative person, you need to have a bucket, you need to take it with you everywhere, and you need to collect whatever you find. Whatever idea flashes in your head, write it down. Anything and everything.

Just put it in your bucket – it may look dusty and ordinary, but you may discover something rare and beautiful in it later. Don’t wait. Do it now. Right now.

Before it disappears forever...

A Filmmaker's Life: Idea, Concept and Story Development - PART 2

A Filmmaker's Life: Idea, Concept and Story Development - PART 2

A Filmmaker's Life: Idea, Concept and Story Development - PART 1

My friend and mentor, Jacques Thelemaque, writes about his process of story development. (Click the link below)

A Filmmaker's Life: Idea, Concept and Story Development - PART 1

"Melancholy Baby" in Echo Park

Date: Monday, November 17, 2008

Time: 7:30pm - 10:30pm

Location:

Echo Park Film Center Street:
1200 N. Alvarado St.
City/Town:
Los Angeles, CA

Come and see what FA members and other members of the LA filmmaking community are up to creatively, and support the great work that the EPFC people are doing in our community. The center is a volunteer run organization that offers fantastic adult super 8mm film classes, youth classes, and much more, so we do ask that you leave a $5 donation at the door to help keep the Center going.There is a brief Q&A after each film, not to mention complimentary food & drinks. So come on out on the 17th and enjoy the following line up:

FILMS SCREEENING:

-"A Shade Before Pink" : by Jackee Chang

-"The Parrot Gang": by Grant Falardeau-"Birthmark" by David Woods

-"THE cycle": by Amanda Sweikow

-"Melancholy Baby": by Sean Hood

Hope to see you all there!

National Accademy of Sciences meet Genre Hacks

For all you sci-fi nerds and science hacks out there, there is a nifty symposium that I will be attending and blogging about later this month. The idea is for "top scientists and engineers to discuss collaborations between science and entertainment and explore new projects." 

Here is the official announcement:

NAS and entertainment industry to discuss collaborations 

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is sponsoring a symposium to bring together professionals from the entertainment industry with top scientists. Film producers Jerry and Janet Zucker and Patrick Soon-Shiong, chairman and CEO of Abraxis Bioscience Inc., will co-host the event with the Academy. Participants will include directors, producers, script writers, designers, art directors, show runners, and prop masters as well as scientists, health and medical professionals, and engineers. The symposium is part of an initiative called the Science and Entertainment Exchange that was developed by the NAS to facilitate a valuable connection between the two communities. The Exchange is endorsed by the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, and Women in Film.

DETAILS: The symposium will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 19, from noon to 6 p.m. PST in the Creative Artists Agency Building, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles. Reporters must register in advance to attend; this event is not open to the public. For a complete list of speakers and agenda, visit http://www.scienceandentertainmentexchange.org/.

CONTACT: Maureen O'Leary, Director of Public Information, Office of News and Public Information at the National Academies, tel. 202-334-3875 or e-mail moleary@nas.edu

HIGHLIGHTED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

• BONNIE BASSLER, director of graduate studies, department of molecular biology, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.

• RODNEY BROOKS, Panasonic Professor of Robotics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and chief technical officer, iRobot Corp.

• STEVE CHU, director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; professor of physics and professor of molecular and cell biology, University of California, Berkeley; and 1997 Nobel Prize winner in physics

• NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, astrophysicist; and Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, New York City

• V.S. RAMACHANDRAN, director, Center for Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego

• J. CRAIG VENTER, president, J. Craig Venter Institute

A Filmmaker's Life: You and Your Cinematic Vision - A Relationship Story

As usual, Jacques Thelemaque writes inspiring metaphors for filmmakers of any ilk.  (click link)

A Filmmaker's Life: You and Your Cinematic Vision - A Relationship Story

Personality

The Thinking Writer had a good link today on delving into the personalities of characters by finding their "personality type." He suggests Keirsey Temperament Website. The best  personality typing system for me is The Enneagram. It's a little more writer friendly and less academic than Keirsey. 

And it's particularly fun when you go against type, imagining your action hero as a "Peacemaker" or your femme fatal as an "Individualist. Fun Joel's Screenwriting Blog has a series of five posts on the subject, which you can read here.

Just my tip for the day.