James Bird talks about his Ojibwe roots, being raised living out of his mom's car, overcoming the odds and now having a home and a family of his own. James also talks about his feature films "Honeyglue" and "We Are Boats," his fantastic book "The Brave" and opens up about his own struggles with a learning disability and anxiety.
Let’s face the facts: most artistic endeavours don’t lead to fame, fortune and flashy cars. A lot of the time, when it’s your first production or first mounting of a new piece of writing you’re ahead of the game if you just make it to the finish line ( i.e. a live performance for theatre or a final cut with sound, score and a credit roll). And without that first finish line you will never get to your second, third, fourth, fifth and eventually find your success in a steady creative career that pays and maybe even create that masterpiece you dream of making which is why you got into this industry in the first place.
Taking on a production of any scale can be overwhelming, be it film or theatre, especially when you are at the beginning stages of development and fundraising. Things can feel even more daunting if you are also juggling other jobs, auditions, rehearsals, family and the demands of everyday life. I have learned a few skills to keep me from getting too anxious and help me stay focused.
In my early 20’s it was all about me or my ego. Over the years the more I dove into the creative process, it has become less about me and more about working on good projects with passionate and dedicated people. If you are like me, and nothing in the world turns you on more than ‘making something out of nothing’ then put your ego aside and just keep creating; help others create even if you are not the lead, or if they don’t have a role for you this time around. In the film and theatre world we can’t accomplish much on our own, we need to be part of a creative community where we nurture and support each other’s work.
“Great scripts are not written, they are rewritten, and rewritten and rewritten” is a statement Robert Downey Jr. made at a Q&A after a screening of Sherlock Holmes at the Director’s Guild of America a while back. He was responding to the question ‘how long in advance do you start memorizing your lines’. He emphatically retorted something to the effect of “why would I memorize lines that I’m not going to say?” and continued on about the process of rewriting a script and how for Holmes lines were still changing the morning before the scene was going to be shot.
Dana’s adventure continue in book #2 of the Year of the What? series
Year of the Bitch…coming soon!
Stay tuned with author Jennifer Lieberman’s upcoming events, performances and productions.
