So, with just one more location to be shot and post production nearly complete on the other portions of episode one, I am hopeful I can get this puppy online shortly. A new poster has been created and I quite like it. Interested in the wallpaper version? Use this link and enjoy!

More to come soon!

K.

From New York City to Las Vegas and the deserts of Nevada. From Washington DC to the offices, boardrooms, lecture halls and streets where pundits, personalities and politicians live and breathe – Left, Right & You takes aim at our two party dichotomy and the compromises that duality forces our citizens to live with every day.

Stay tuned for more including excerpts and updates on the progress of the picture as it comes to life.

It used to be, not so long ago, each of us had our little ‘pocket podium’. In the midst of a gathering of people and conversation, the discussion would spark something in one of the participants and he would climb atop his box. Then, with bravado and passion, the speaker would proclaim his feelings and beliefs. In an extremely outspoken crowd, several speakers might climb on their towers and debate would ensue.
 
There exists an inherent problem with soapboxes that has never been solved. If the speaker, full of conviction, stacks his boxes too high, he might find himself fairly high in the air. If in the middle of his address, he begins to tilt and lose his balance, he could topple over with the whole mess falling about him. As a result I don’t see too many soapbox speakers these days. Fear of heights, I suppose.

Stand on your own damned box.

Oh, there are a few speakers still out there. But, today it seems, most of them are standing on another person’s box. And, they aren’t too high, either. These new and improved boxes are just high enough to place the speaker a head higher than everyone else, but not elevated enough to gain a commanding or accurate view of any one topic. You see, we don’t want to fall. Oh, no! And, worse today, we can’t be seen on our soapbox. We don’t want to risk calling attention to the fact that we feel strongly about anything. We could be ruled fanatical, or right, or left, or centrist, or religious, or extremist, or . . . no! Not the worst of all labels! Unpatriotic. No, better to keep the boxes low to the ground. Much easier to step down in retraction in the event of opposition.
 
Many years ago, a storyteller named Hans Christian Anderson wrote a story called “The Emperors New Clothes.” For those unfamiliar with Anderson’s tale:
 
There existed an emperor who was extremely fond of clothes. One day, there came into his kingdom two men who claimed to be tailors of the most beautiful clothes in the land. As the story goes, the King paid the pair an enormous sum of money to weave and sew an elaborate outfit for him. The two ‘tailors’ pocketed all of the fine materials supplied by the King and pretended to weave a luxurious suit. The clothes, according to the two men, would not be visible to anyone unfit for their post or position ot to any person who was a dull fool.
 
Upon supposedly donning the outfit amidst the praise and complments of his court, the King kept secret the fact that he could not see any fabric – not a thread of the suit. Little did he know, that those around him were feigning amazement for clothes they could not see. It took a young child, unconcerned with the opinions and scorn of others, to proclaim that the King was wearing nothing.
 
Where is that child today?
 
Where are those who will climb atop their boxes and proclaim the truth or their passionate beliefs? And, how many of us have beliefs that are genuinely ours – that is, not cribbed from what Bill O’Reilly or Oprah told us to think? One thing is for sure – we live in a world full of rogue tailors who walk among us and steal the things we hold dear while we continue to pretend to see the sense in our actions, the destination in our direction, the method to our madness. We are all content to imagine clothes on our foolish naked bodies. No one wants to be the one to take a stand – to admit that we are wall walking around nude – unfit for our positions, but all the while holding fast to our insistence and justifications.
 
I guess no one wants to climb that high.
 
How are our perspectives shaped today? Focus groups? Polls? I have been there. It’s hard to see above the smoke and mirrors. I have sat at the conference room tables and listen the Orwellian double speak and shaken my head and marveled. Like a gaggle of geese all squawking and parading, the people in those rooms are often the source of much activity and little progress. So often no one really does anything.
 
In the movie industry, billions of dollars of revenue and countless hours of craftsmanship are hinged on the almighty test audience.

Picture this:
 
You are a story teller/filmmaker/director and you have poured your heart and soul into a piece of work behind which there is a message. A theme. It has something to say. Now, I am not a believer in Samuel Goldwyn’s edict about movies with messages and the preferred method of transmission being Western Union. As a teller of stories, if you aren’t aware of what you are trying to say, why bother? Even if you’re making Rush Hour 3, you’re saying something. Maybe it isn’t high art or world-changing political commentary, but it is saying something. It is foolish to ignore or deny that. So, back to the test audience.
 
Okay, so, I’ve made my movie and I invite 500 people to sit in a theater and watch my new picture and then fill out comment cards as they filter out of the room. My studio buddies and I pour over the cards and score them. Score them! We rate the ending, the lead actors, the best laughs, the best cries, the middle, the love scene.

Gag.

So, when we’re done, we go back to the team of filmmakers and we say “Ok, the test results are in and the ending is only getting a 44% with women 20-30 years old. Now, Mr. Director, you know that demo is one of our targets with this picture. We think we should be closer to 55% with that group so . . . let’s recut the ending and let the girl live.”
 
Huh?!
 
Did you know Leonardo DiVinci had a test audience for the Mona Lisa? Yep. He called 113 peasants into his studio and asked them to fill out cards related to the color of her hair, the angle of her smile, the way her hands were folded, if she was being too coquettish or flirty. Then, once he had scored the cards, he changed the painting and she went from a blonde, big-breasted, white-toothed, sultry vixen, to the woman we know today. Powerful stuff.
 
Yeah, right.
 
Can you imagine Hemingway giving out copies of his manuscript for The Sun Also Rises to a battery of raters? How about Mozart asking a high school orchestra to rework Symphony No. 40 and make it a little more ‘hip’ and appealing to the 18-24 demographic?
 
Now, I am not saying writers don’t need editors, or musicians producers, or directors a studio…well, maybe not directors and studios. Seriously, we all need to test our ideas and must have help refining our messages in our work. But homogenization should not be the goal. A suit made of nothing is still nothing.
 
And, politics? Don’t even yank my chain on that one. Talk about a collection of tailors who weave together nothing right before our eyes, call it beautiful and then describe the colors with words straight out of the mouths of handlers who take their cues from opinion research firms. What happened to leadership? What happened to listening to the people that matter – the citizens one represents?
 
I am a big William Goldman fan. He finds his way into my thoughts around writing, Hollywood and many other topics. He’s often quoted from his comment about Tinsletown that ‘nobody knows anything’. Meaning, all of the testing, marketing and advertising in the world don’t guarantee a hit. Some movies will score and some will not. Often there will be exceptions to our logic around which will be which. So, since no one can prove that test audiences and focus groups have made a movie more successful – ever – why are they still employed? Well, the movie making business is part art and part commerce. I get that. I understand it. I accept it. But, it seems to me that we should more often be ready to stand on our box, make a product that says what we want it to say and let it stand for itself. Some will like it. Some will not. This Western business/political ideal of being all things to all people is faulty. One can’t hop from box to box and proclaim a ‘this and oh, yeah, that too’ platform to the populace. Stand tall. Stand firm. Stand on your own damned box.
 
Why don’t we challenge the tailors who come to town? Why do we give them our dollar? Maybe we need to find our own soapboxes. Maybe we haven’t recognized our nakedness yet. Maybe we would rather stand on the ground and let the small men on short boxes make the rules and tell us what’s going to happen. Perhaps we want to let them decide what’s right and wrong and we’re going to agree and continue to praise their outfits that we can’t even see.
 
Oh. Sorry. I’ll climb down now . . . wow, I was pretty high. There’s a whole new perspective from up there. And I didn’t even fall.
 
 
Get dressed,
 
Kimball
 

I guess what I am asking is this: What are you prepared to do?

Alfred Hitchcock knew about want. He was a genius around want from a storyteller’s perspective. He even made up a concept around it that stood at the heart of his pictures. The MacGuffin. No, it’s not a breakfast sandwich at a chain fast food place. The MacGuffin, Hitchcock said, was that thing that everyone in a movie wanted. The goal. The central object around which everything in the story revolved. The item each person was chasing and would stop at nothing to get. Often the stories we read and watch are not even framed around the specifics of what the MacGuffin is but it serves, instead, as a plot-driving device. That’s the beauty – we can all have our own MacGuffin – the interesting part is what are you going to do in order to get it?
 
Hmm….let’s go back to that phrase, ’stop at nothing to get.’ What does that mean? Well, kids, let’s find out.
 
Observe…in my right hand I have want. It’s warm, sort of pulsates and glows between my fingers. It feels good, radiates an energy, casts a light that could indicate to me a direction, a purpose. Want, I have decided while holding it here in my hand, is good.
 
In my left hand…I am holding need. Need is hot. Need doesn’t glow, it shines. It gleams. The energy coming off of need hums with such intensity, I know I could tie myself to this thing and it could carry me skyward, such is its power. When I was a kid, I built these small, one-stage rockets that would spit out a little spark before shooting into the big blue sky. When I was ten I thought they were about the fastest and highest-flying thing I could imagine. If want is those rockets, need is the space shuttle.
 
So, we have want and need. How do we define the two and, even more pointedly, differentiate between them? Why should we? Well, speaking for me, I think it is of vital importance that we spend time doing just that. Failing to do so would be like taking a risk on following a malfunctioning compass. It’s going to take us SOMEWHERE, just maybe not where we hoped. Why? Well, I can speak from experience that many a journey aimed at a noble need has been diverted by a disposable want. Sometimes our wants are junk food. Our needs are our green vegetables – maybe they aren’t as fun going down but in the long run we are more sustained.
 
The singer/songwriter Sinead O’Connor titled one of her albums ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got.’ Wow, what a title. I have always liked that title. But I can’t say I share the sentiment. It sounds great, sure. Sort of Buddhist and elevated and enlightened. And maybe for some, stasis is good. Maybe some believe that a life lived in finding out where you stand now and who you are today is purposeful. Me, I’m a futurist. My eyes look toward tomorrow, my head is tipped forward and my toes are aimed at the farthest point on the distant horizon.
 
I think desire drives us. Passion. Thirst. Hunger. Sure, there are basics we all need. Food, clothing, shelter. We learn about those in our high school sociology studies. As a society there are things we need too. Order. Infrastructure. Leadership. We could go on about any one of these. But, I am speaking about the individual. The person who wakes up one morning and says ‘I have a dream and I am going to go after it.’ Peter Gabriel sings the lyric ‘…all of the buildings and all of the cars were once just a dream in somebody’s head.’ Indeed. What did it take for that person who had the dream to make it a reality? Well, a hell of a lot of work and, we dreamers find, convincing others to get on board the dream.
 
That’s hard.
 
It’s not easy to get others who justifiably have their own agendas, to do lists, busy calendars and maybe their own dreams, to get behind making elements of ours come into being. But we must in order to make them real. Few dreams can become reality without the help of others.
 
Okay, but what else? What other elements must the dreamer take into account in order to bring their goals to life? They have to need that dream to be real. Want isn’t enough. Want gets you to the front gates of Olympic Stadium, a ticket in your hand to watch the events. Need puts you on the medal platform wearing gold.
 
So why do so many dreamers with want fail to turn their desire into a need-driven crusade and as a result never achieve it? Well, my friends, I hate to sound dire or crass, but the sad fact is, everyone wants to come to the party but no one wants to clean up afterward.
 
We have all heard or read the stories of someone who is faced with the possibility of achieving all they dream of and then they are presented with what they must do in order to get what they desire. What’s the response? ‘Oh, I didn’t know I was going to have to do that!’ And, that’s all she wrote, folks. The vital signs on the dream begin to fade and we can start our doomsday clock. T-minus X on the life of that dream.
 
Or maybe it’s something simple. Lose weight. Quit smoking. Stop sniffing glue.
 
‘Here you are, Mr. Glue Sniffer, the list of actions you will have to take in order to stop shoving the Elmers spout into your nostril.’ Pregnant pause as Gluey takes a look at the list of arduous tasks required to change his behavior. ‘Nah,’ he says, tossing the list in the trash. And then his hand goes for the Crazy Glue.
 
So, what does all of this mean? What is he saying, you ask?
 
I guess what I am asking is this: What are you prepared to do? Do you want what you haven’t got or do you need it? Are you willing to change yourself? Change your habits, alter your behavior, apply your concentration and passion and commitment and drive and energy and every ounce of your being toward creating what you envision? Be careful before you answer. It’s not easy, we just forget that sometimes.
 
If you’ve read this far and you say to yourself, ‘I’m that passionate, driven person who has worked for years for what they want and need and I am willing to overcome all the barriers in my way on the way to getting it,’ well, count yourself rare. Bully for you. If you know that you have wanted a bit more than you would like to admit and have some aligning to do with how much of yourself you are willing to apply to get it – hey, we’ve all been there. There’s hope.
 
A smile comes across my face as I imagine what our world will be like when we are all honest enough with ourselves and each other to pursue with every fiber of our make up that which we ardently desire to bring into reality. I know we can do it. We’ll learn not everything in our fast food, ready-made, quick-thaw, rapid-fire society comes easy or quick. It’s not fun, but damn, it’s satisfying. Remember, it might not matter what the MacGuffin is – it’s the actions you take to get there that drive the story.
 
Be needy,
 
Kimball

‘There is nothing new under the sun’, someone once said. I wonder if he worried someone had said it before him. Artists, writers and creators of all kinds are all striving to birth meaningful, dare we say, fresh work. I include myself in that group and I must admit, I have to be careful not to be so intent on doing work about life that I forget to live life. It’s the living and experiencing that serves as the basis for good writing. So they tell me.

It is the simple moments. The universal moments.

How does a motion picture writer, or for that matter, any fiction writer take care not to create representations of life that are frail and flimsy? Most writers of movies want to create that compelling character or true situation that, when performed and filmed, will be so lifelike, so multi-dimensional in their presentation that we, the audience, say ‘Wow…I can feel that!’ As audiences we don’t realize how much we are presented the cloned version of life up on the screen rather than an honest and unflinching mirroring of what life really is. And, like Dotty the sheep, while the DNA may be duplicated, the cloned version of the life form is never quite the original life form itself. So, we are trying to create something new – and something representative of reality.

As you think about the movies and books or even songs that resonate for you, I will make a bet with you. I will bet that it isn’t the big budget hijinks in a blockbuster movie or the high concept plot device of a book or the 64 track mix down of a new pop song that gets to a place deep inside you.

It is the simple moments. The universal moments. The ones we all know and recognize as common, true and lasting. How many love songs play on the radio everyday? I mean, Great Gatsby! Maybe in a typical car commute you might hear 20 or more? Love me, love you, I lost my love, my love doesn’t love me anymore, I can’t find love….love, love, love. Why? They have all certainly been done before. Elton John doesn’t reject the latest lyric Bernie Taupin writes for him just because the subject matter is love. Sting hasn’t stopped coming back to love as a theme – he gets good mileage from it album after album. So, why do we keep writing and listening and buying songs about it? How many movies are there about a man or woman who must come from nothing to find themselves and be what they dream of being? Count the plots that revolve around a group people – a high school class, or a town, or a team – learning lessons about tolerance and growth and becoming stronger through it. There are a boat load of ‘em. These topics are universal. They resonate.

Georges Polti wrote about the 36 dramatic situations in the 19th century. He noted that there are no stories in existence that don’t pertain in some way to one of these frameworks. 36. That’s a lot of repetition when one considers how many movies, television shows, songs, stories and novels are flooded out into the public domain every year. Remember your English class, folks? C’mon, think hard. What are the three types of conflict….ready?

Go!

Man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself. That’s it. Three. That’s what we have to work with as writers, story tellers and movie makers. Lots of room for overlap and recycling. So, why then, every year are there more good stories out there with which we experience and connect and cry and laugh and live life through vicariously? Because, something doesn’t have to be new to be good. More importantly, these stories are good because of a simple truth: We are more alike than we are different. Period. Skin color, background, financial standing, social structure, level of education, favorite baseball team. These are all lyrics to a love song that at it’s core has commonalities and threads to which each of us holds a connection. There will be more powerful movies that will make us cheer and cry. More books that change the way we think. More songs that make us smile. There is nothing new under the sun and that is just fine. It is in the sameness that we each find each other and understand each other. It is these pieces of art and media that enlighten us to see those ways in which we are the same.

So, when you are next driving down the interstate and that love song comes on the radio with the verse that brings a tear to your eye every time and you find yourself cautiously reaching up to your cheek to wipe it away… look to the car in the next lane. I will be the one rubbing my eyes right next to you.

Keep connecting.

Because, after all, no one should be denied good entertainment.