{"id":2367,"date":"2012-01-07T18:34:45","date_gmt":"2012-01-08T02:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/risabg.com\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2012-10-29T06:57:16","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T13:57:16","slug":"in-the-company-of-naked-wounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/07\/in-the-company-of-naked-wounds\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Company of Naked Wounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c<\/span>to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.\u201d – e.e. cummings<\/em><\/p>\n

As 2011 became 2012 loads of \u2018end of the year\u2019 and \u2018new year\u2019 writings materialized — evaluations, reflections, resolutions\u2026 I was swept away in reading everything that landed in my inbox\u2026 I went from inspired to overwhelmed. I was swimming in what was and what can be\u2026 Kind of numbing. (No judgment, quite the opposite, but flooded nonetheless.)<\/p>\n

I did find myself, however, getting more emotional as the year rang-in. I had a really good evening with my family \u2013 a little Dragon Tattoo and dinner out close to home. Then we watched the New Year land with Dick Clark (who thankfully didn\u2019t stay on camera too long) and Ryan Seacrest. (Is there nobody else?)<\/p>\n

When the ball dropped (even though it had happened 3 hours earlier in NY), I was unexpectedly deeply moved. I was filled with a big love\u2026 And for the first time I figured out gratitude. I totally got that this journey we\u2019re on, each of us individually, and all of us together, is profound. It\u2019s often challenging, it\u2019s sometimes surprising, it\u2019s intense, it\u2019s powerful\u2026 It\u2019s big screen stuff. And it\u2019s communal.<\/p>\n

I had the privilege of working with a so many actors this year, teaching, guiding, coaching, and learning more than I ever imagined. In LA, New York, Chicago, Toronto, Memphis, Baton Rouge\u2026 with the aid of technology and in small studios, theatres and churches, where we all sweated through shedding and rebirthing our self-expression. Then tried to figure out how to package it, put it in a bottle, label it, and then atomize it into the hearts and minds of the gatekeepers, those who seem to have the key to something we seem to want\u2026 badly. Do they? Of course not. They\u2019re looking for it themselves.<\/p>\n

I had the absolute joy of creating 99 Actors Day a couple of months ago. (Not sure how the title will evolve but the day will certainly carry on.) It was a kind of happening – experienced by at least 150 actors and other players, individually and collectively. It was transcendent, sort of paranormal.\u00a0 (And I don\u2019t offer that up easily; those of you who know me well know how hard I am on myself and everything I do.) But it was a rare occurrence for me and in this town, a kind of secret meeting of souls. (99 Actors Day<\/a>)<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what I think our work has to be. It has to enter the realm of the unknown. It\u2019s mysterious. It shouldn\u2019t be explained or analyzed. It certainly shouldn\u2019t be evaluated before it\u2019s even born. Our creations are in us. They\u2019re distinctive, extraordinary, unique, waiting to be coaxed out of us, even exorcized. Not to be expelled, but to be freed. And looked after. We\u2019re in this life because we have no choice. Because we believe we have both brilliant creations in us as well as indescribable demons. That\u2019s the power of our inner lives and our imaginations. And it\u2019s our work to undo whatever inhibits them. It\u2019s our work to reach in. Deep. And dance wildly in our imperfections. Every chance we get. That is where the great beauty of our creative forces lives. (\u201cHas she been watching too much of this past season\u2019s Dexter,\u201d you wonder? Yes, but that\u2019s another story.) The rest is the music of our souls.<\/p>\n

I recently watched the lecture Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine\u2026.) delivered to BAFTA Screenwriters this past September. (Thanks Steve B. for sharing.)<\/p>\n

Charlie Kaufman BAFTA Screenwriters Full Lecture\u00a0Here<\/a><\/p>\n

Charlie Kaufman BAFTAScreenwriters Lecture Highlights Here<\/a><\/p>\n

If you have a little time, watch it. It\u2019s pretty fabulous. Even though he\u2019s talking about screenwriting it pertains to any of our creative endeavors. Here are a few things he says that reverberate in me\u2026 and I hope they do the same for you.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 I\u2019m just telling you off the bat that I don\u2019t know anything. And if there\u2019s one thing that characterizes my writing it\u2019s that I always start from that realization and I do what I can to keep reminding myself of that during the process. I think we try to be experts because we\u2019re scared, we don\u2019t want to feel foolish or worthless, we want power because power is a great disguise\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2026 What can be done? Say who you are, really say it in your life and in your work. Tell someone out there who is lost, someone not yet born, someone who won\u2019t be born for 500 years. Your writing will be a record of your time, it can\u2019t help but be. But more importantly if you\u2019re honest about who you are you\u2019ll help that person be less lonely in their world because that person will recognize him or herself in you and that will give them hope. It\u2019s done so for me, and I have to keep rediscovering it, its profound importance in my life. Give that to the world, rather than selling something to the world, don\u2019t allow yourself to be tricked into thinking that the way things are is the way the world must work\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2026The obvious solution was not to throw my hands up but try to find myself in a situation where I was doing me, not someone else. Do you<\/span>. It isn\u2019t easy but it\u2019s essential. It\u2019s not easy because there\u2019s a lot in the way, in many cases a major obstacle is your deeply seated belief that you<\/span> is not interesting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd since convincing yourself that you are interesting is probably not going to happen, take it off the table. Agree, \u2018Perhaps I\u2019m not interesting but I am the only thing I have to offer, and I want to offer something. And by offering myself in a true way I am doing a great service to the world, because it is rare and it will help\u2019.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2026I now step into this area blindly. I do not know what the wound is, I do know that it is old, I do know that it is a hole in my being. I do know it is tender. I do believe that it is unknowable, or at least inarticuable.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe you have a wound too, I do believe it is both specific to you and common to everyone. I do believe it is the thing about you that must be hidden and protected, it is the thing that must be tap danced over five shows a day, it is the thing that won\u2019t be interesting to other people if revealed. It is the thing that makes you weak and pathetic, it is the thing that truly, truly, truly makes loving you impossible. It is your secret, even from yourself. But it is the thing that wants to live. It is the thing from which your art, your painting, your dance, your composition, your philosophical treatise, your screenplay is born\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c\u2026 Movies share so much with dreams which, of course, only deal with interior lives. Your brain is wired to turn emotional states into movies. Your dreams are very well written. I know this, without knowing any of you. People turn anxieties, crises and longing, love, regret and guilt into beautiful rich stories in their dreams. What is it that allows us the creative freedoms in our dreams that we don\u2019t have in our waking lives? I don\u2019t know, but I suspect part of it is that in our dreams we are not constricted by worry about how we will appear to others. It\u2019s a private conversation with ourselves, and if we\u2019re worried about it, this becomes part of the dream. I think if we were better able to approach our work this way the results would be different.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that true? I love that.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a great thing in having our craft, our skill. It\u2019s useful. But we can\u2019t allow it to get in the way. It mustn\u2019t complicate our fundamental humanness. It mustn\u2019t scar the wounds. It needs to be of service to what we came here to do. We have to be \u201cwilling to be naked,\u201d as Charlie Kaufman says. We have to dream aloud. To be brave enough to expose ourselves and to honor that we are each who we are. Nobody is like each of us. That\u2019s our truth. Our authenticity. And that\u2019s our legitimacy. It\u2019s the key to that secret place we\u2019ve been trying to penetrate; it\u2019s our most vulnerable self. It\u2019s right here. It\u2019s all that matters.<\/p>\n

Wherever you are in these early days of 2012\u2026 Remember that we\u2019re on this peculiar quest together \u2013 we humans, creators, storytellers \u2013 a journey that\u2019s often solitary and hopefully sometimes in good company. I thank you for sharing your stunningly wounded selves with me, for getting naked, and for providing me with outstanding company along the way\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Charlie Kaufman On Screenwriting and Other Things<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cto be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting.\u201d – e.e. cummings As 2011 became 2012 loads of \u2018end of the year\u2019 and \u2018new year\u2019 writings materialized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,72,30,29,43,18,22,37,71],"tags":[95,96,38,64,92,91,61,45,138,94,93,70],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actors","category-artistry-2","category-community","category-culture","category-filmmaking","category-healing","category-life","category-talent","category-wellbeing-2","tag-95","tag-99-actors-day","tag-actor","tag-artistry","tag-bafta","tag-charlie-kaufman","tag-community-2","tag-filmmaking-2","tag-master-class","tag-new-year","tag-screenwriting","tag-wellbeing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2379,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions\/2379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/risabg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}