Mark Evanier has a time-honored inscrutable tradition of putting up an image of a can of mushroom soup when he’s too busy to blog — though lately even those have been full blog posts in and of themselves. I have yet to develop an inscrutable image or tradition in this regard, so I’ll simply point out that a lot of you know what I’m busy with today. Wish us luck even as we invite actors…
Hostage negotiation has always seemed interesting to me, and not just when Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson are doing it. Bourree Lam’s interview with veteran hostage negotiator Chris Voss in the Atlantic is fascinating in its own right. But, of course, they’re looking at how his experience translates to the business world, specifically asking for a raise and how to deal with the concept of “fairness.” Bet you find some ways it can help you…
After last month’s deep dive into the realm of writing, I suppose it’s only fair that I touch on the fine art of producing and project management. Simply put, just as a “risk” and an “issue” are different in the land of project management, so too are documents like a Policy, a Process, a Procedure, and a Work Instruction. On a very basic level, you could think of them as increasingly detailed versions of the…
I recall a pleasant chat with one of the founders of the 48 Hour Film Project about producing, how so much of producing means making lists, and how I often fell into that role. “Someone found out you were responsible, huh?” she said, knowingly. Upon consideration, ‘someone’ figured that out over 20 years ago, when I first started being a crew chief and then stage manager for theatrical productions. Being a stage manager led to…