Dear reader,

Someone said it best when they said, “I don’t know that I’ve seen any movies that I can definitively say were good films, but, I’ve definitely seen some things that I can tell you were bad.” It was me that said that, after all I have been called ‘Most Quotable’ or at least I call myself that. The point I make is very simple, judging something is not black and white. A book, movie, TV show, poem, anything and everything creative is prone to judgement but it is also open to subjectivity. Anybody can say, “Citizen Kane” is really good or “Jurassic World” is the worst thing my cognitive brain has ever had to endure, they should make prisoners watch this as cruel and unusual punishment on Guantanamo Bay. It is in analysis and critique that we sometimes uncover meaning in film and sometimes technique that we didn’t realize was being utilized before.

Good is hard to explain. Often times, if something is good it is because it has an intangible characteristic that makes it that way. If this wasn’t the case, anyone with a camera and a book entitled, “The Intangible Factor of Filmmaking” would be able to make something worthy of the entire world’s attention.

Bad can be just as complicated to explain but really, it doesn’t matter WHY you found something bad. People are often less interested in the reasoning behind what made something bad. They seem more interested in knowing WHY when you really enjoyed something because there is something intangible. I think I’ve hit the wall. Did I just say intangible ten times? (Let me reread this paragraph at a later date in order to find some sort of though pattern). I digress.

Today was a day to come alive, however, I was asleep basically until 2:30 when I woke up in a panic. You see, today was the day I was waiting for all this time. At 3 pm there was an event at the Glenn Gould Studio called, “So You Want to be a Showrunner”. Talk about anticipation, however, at this point in the festival most of the industry panels I had been to were a complete waste of time. Perhaps the single exception to the rule would be the “Anomalisa” conversation with Kaufman. The event had four speakers from the shows, “Shoot the Messenger”, “Mr. Robot”, “Rookie Blue”, and “The Knick”. None of the speakers had I heard of. Luckily for me, Jack Amiel was one of the speakers. For those of you who don’t know (all of you) Jack Amiel is one of the Showrunners for HBO’s “The Knick”, with Clive Owen and director/editor/cinematographer Steven Soderbergh. I’ve never seen this show. I’ve never heard of this guy. All I know is Jack’s presence on stage, his words of advice, and talking about himself were very important to me as a writer. So much so that I stayed after the panel finished and listened to him speak to a select few of us about the way to break in, the need (or lack thereof) for a college degree in the field of writing/filmmaking, and I asked him to come to Michigan to speak to my Screenwriters Guild. Whether he was blowing me off or not is yet to be seen, nevertheless, he took time out of his day (rejecting the people from the conference, trying to drag him away) and spoke to every person that circled around him.

“Inspire people and have something to say, otherwise, what are we doing here?”

“Write, write, write.”

Following my meet with Jack, I made it back to the hostel with plenty of time to don my suit and head out on the town with the class. A fancy dinner followed by photos and one last hurrah out in the town of Toronto.

When asked if we are the golden age of television, all four of the speakers echoed each other’s ideas that there is no more $30-40 million and economics favor television right now. Not to mention a lot of talent is seeking out success in television.

From a writing stand point, this has been full of inspiration. Once I catch up on my homework and school activities I can’t wait to write out some of these scenes that exist only in my head.

From a filmmaking stand point, I feel like time behind my camera was more than needed and I’m hoping I captured a lot of useful shots not only for the documentary but for some of my own ideas. If only I had thought of recreating something along the lines of ‘Too Many Cooks’.

Shows to add to your watch list.

• Sopranos
• West Wing
• The Wire

I finish these words on the bus, surrounded by new friends as we wave farewell to the city of Toronto and the country of Canada.

This, dear reader, is where I leave you.