If you’re an artist or entrepreneur, you should know Jonathan Fields. Next to Seth Godin (sorry, Mr. F., nobody ranks with Seth), Jonathan’s insights–creative and commercial—are in my opinion the most original and far-ranging. He has a new book called Uncertainty, which just came out a couple of days ago. Jonathan was kind enough to sit still for a quick interrogation: SP: The subject of learning to operate effectively, despite finding oneself in a position of uncertainty is a fascinating one. What I’m curious about is why you chose it? It’s actually quite esoteric (which I love) and unexpected (which I…

Thanks to our dear friend Jeff Sexton, who sent in this clip of sci-fi superstar Harlan Ellison cutting loose with one of his tastiest rants. If you haven’t got three-and-a-half minutes, here are a few tidbits from Mr. E’s sulfuric screed: “I don’t take a piss without getting paid for it.” “I’m supposed to give a freebie to Warner Bros.?  What, is Warner Bros. out on the sidewalk with an eyepatch and a tin cup?” “It’s the amateurs who screw things up for the professionals by giving it away for free.” “Pay me! Cross my palm with silver!” “Are they…

I was at a Writers Guild meeting in Hollywood a few years ago; the members were debating whether or not to go out on strike. A microphone had been set up; one screenwriter after another stepped forward and spoke, pro or con. Each time the same Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation took place. The scribe started out low-key, logical, articulate. Within forty-five seconds the veins began popping out on his neck. His eyeballs bulged, his fists clenched. Finally, frothing at the mouth, he unleashed a rabid jeremiad. “F#@k the studios! Cut off the producers’ balls! Strike! Strike! Strike!” Writers carry around a lot…

A friend of mine said something to me a couple of years ago that, the more I think about it, the more profound it becomes. Let’s call her Jane. She’s a happily married woman with a couple of almost-grown kids and an all-around fine and healthy life; she was talking about the evening before she married her husband. “The night before I married Mark was the worst night of my life. I tossed and turned all night, crying. I was literally sobbing. Because I realized that now I was never going to marry Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. It sounds…

What we’re really talking about is learning how to say no. (Thanks to Fabian Pallares who suggested this topic in a Comment two weeks ago after our post, An Ask Too Far.) When Gates of Fire was first optioned by Universal Studios in 1998, the director Michael Mann was attached. I sent him hand-written congratulations and a signed first edition. I never heard a peep. I thought, “What a prick!” The same thing happened with Robert Redford on The Legend of Bagger Vance. Again I thought, “What a prick!” But I gotta tell you, the more I’ve thought about it…

[The blog is on vacation this week. Here’s an encore of one of our most popular posts.] “Write for a star” is one of the primal axioms of screenwriting, but it has applications across many other fields as well. What does it mean to write for a star? Writing for a star means create a role that a star wants to play. Your story may be dynamite, your structure may be sound, your theme profound and involving. But the first question a producer is going to ask is, “Who can I cast in this thing?” Moviemakers want scripts that attract…

In the past year or so I’ve become aware of the verb “ask” used as a noun. I simultaneously like it and am appalled by it. It’s honest. Probably way too honest. An “ask” is a request for an action or a favor. I was reporting the contents of a long e-mail to a friend; she interrupted: “What’s the ask?” Meaning, “What does the e-mail writer want?” “Ask” originated, I suspect, in the publicity biz. The difference between advertising and publicity is you pay for advertising but you try to get publicity for free. Hence “ask.” Schmooze schmooze schmooze ask.…