Find your spark at the movies.

Welcome!

Come find inspiration at the movies with me!

For the film enthusiasts:

Every Friday I post about movies, movies and movies - movies I like, movies I hate, movies that remind me of something, that time I saw that movie and something crazy happened, that one movie that I refuse to see out of spite, movies that made me sad, mad, glad…. movies that INSPIRE ME because I AM INSPIRED BY MOVIES - even the terrible ones (sometimes, especially the terrible ones).

For the screenwriters:

Every Wednesday I post about screenwriting - tips, classes and career insights I’ve gained as a professional feature screenwriter throughout my years in this crazy business we call the film industry. These are exclusive to Paid Subscribers.

Right now I’m currently doing a weekly series taking readers through my process of going from an idea to a first draft of a script - check it out! Even better… join me! I’ve got it laid out for others to follow along.

Last, if you’re curious to learn why I started writing here in the first place, continue reading below.

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As a screenwriter who struggles with anxiety and depression, when I try to write something new I often find myself at war with… myself. I get ideas for stories all the time. I’m excited to write them. But then when I start to type my big old disordered brain pops up like an ad for virus software and no matter how many times I click on the X, it doesn’t go away.

The problem with this is no one wants to read a story written by my anxiety. The ones written by my depression are even worse, frankly.

I’d go to write and wonder, “Is this me? Or is this my anxiety? How can I tell?” And then spiral into a neurotic puddle. If I wasn’t anxious before, I sure was anxious now! I knew I needed to find a way to handle this. It’s not that I’m not in therapy or anything, I am, but I still needed a way to tell those parts of myself to take a hike when it was time for me to be creative. So I started my quest.

I explored, and continue to explore, all sorts of things to help me get out of my head: mindfulness, routines, journalling, movement, etc.

What I found was, once I was able to turn down the noise, I was finally left with the one thing that mattered. The one thing I had needed to make my stories come alive:

Inspiration.

Honest to God inspiration, I have goosebumps, I feel like I just drank four espressos, my mind has separated from my body, kind of inspiration.

Boys and girls and theys and thems, don’t leave home without it. Or, at least, don’t write without it. Mine had been drowned out for so long I wanted to throw it a big ol’ party once I found it again.

I LOVE MOVIES. They inspire me to no end. If I could dive into a big pile of Blurays and just roll around… that would be heaven.

Wait… you too?

Well then, welcome to my substack: Inspired. I think you’ll like it here.