Hey Reader, Lots of streams of consciousness here for this one. In Toronto last week, my slides wouldn’t display. All 35 of them. So I winged it. Turned out pretty good! I got to meet some really great people. And on the flight home, a colleague called. He’d just spoken in Vancouver (of all places) and asked if I’d speak at an event. He wants to introduce me. I’ve also started a course to apply for a grant, which means I’m interviewing people. Each conversation confirms an assumption or...
14 days ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, TL;DR: Letting go of control, comfort in the uncomfortable, disappointments are opportunities, and how it connects to the AD Playback Lounge, and speaking in Toronto. In The Antidote, Oliver Burkeman mentions a word someone else coined for the opposite of closure: opensure. The idea is that it’s the ambiguity of the unresolved. As uncomfortable as that is, it can be a strange sort of acceptance. I felt that ambiguity watching You Can See Everything, a three-hour documentary that...
21 days ago • 3 min read
Hey Reader, Ten years ago I found out hundreds of my Audio Description credits had been pulled from a website. It hurt my business. So I went to a coffee shop and built my own website. I'll be honest about the first reason. It was selfish. They were my credits and that's my credibility. But there was a second reason that's always been on my radar. When a track got noticed, people asked me why I wrote something a certain way. Or why it didn't travel from cinema to streaming. Legitimate...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, I put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and set it for about two minutes. For the first thirty seconds, nothing happens. NOTHING. I start wondering whether the microwave is broken. Whether I should open the door and check that the bag is still in there. Whether I need a different microwave. Nope, none of that helps. Then .... one kernel pops. One #@$)%ing kernel. After all that waiting, there is a single piece of popcorn in a bag I was counting on to feed me. OK feed is a strong...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Would you be completely opposed to spending an hour a week, for eight weeks, on how you come across? No is a fine answer. This one's worth your time either way. Did you ever take a breath then run out of time before the sentence is over? Easy fix - take that breath before your cue starts. It takes a little bit of time to get used to it, like rubbing your stomach and tapping your head. But you figure that taken breath out, and you'll be able to start right when you need to, and...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I had one client for years. Good work, warm relationship, and I wanted more work. After on of our business lunches, I steeled myself, and asked "Can I have more work?" I meant it as warm, I like working for you, and this is something I really enjoy doing. Instantly, I saw in their eyes, that this was not a welcomed conversation. The relationship never got back to what it was. It cooled. Permanently. Think about the way I asked, and the three things this cost me: Not sharing...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, When I started, I thought pacing in Audio Description was arithmetic. Count the frames, count the syllables, make it fit. Here's what I've been doing, and it works: pick the verb first. An intent verb is what you're doing to someone. To reveal. To warn. To disarm. It's what you're doing. You add these intent verbs to scripts, to make them come to life. And every intent word you add has its own speed built into it. Assault might take its time. Smash is instant. When a cue feels...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hey Reader, In June I sold you three programs at once and asked you to pick between them in the first email, before you knew enough about any of them to pick. That was a lot! Some of you told me so. This fall there's one thing. You'll get a few more emails about it and then it's done. If you'd rather sit this one out, click here and I'll leave you off the rest. You stay on the newsletter and nothing else changes. Here's the one thing. BoothCamp. Eight weeks, eight people, starting Wednesday...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Here is the technical breakdown of how I walk. I shift my weight to my right foot. I lift my left, bending at the knee. I extend it forward. I lean into the space where my foot is going, and my left knee bends again to catch me. I transfer my weight to the left, and pick up my right. All of that happens in about a second. I'm told I learned it by leaning forward until I fell, and my feet ran to catch up. There were times I went down face first. I still do occasionally. But I walk...
3 months ago • 2 min read