The Big Influences of 2017

Usually, when I see old friends, they ask me what I’ve read or what I am watching.  I never know what to say.  These days, we seem to be ever-consuming, whether it be podcasts, websites, news feeds, novels, movies;  We’re always reading, watching, listening.  Too much even.

So let me try to pin down a few key influences this year.  2017 was filled with so many inspirational forces.  I am picking five–a round number for a blog post–and the criteria for my selection is that:

1. The source material had to be a watering hole I came back to several times in a year;
2. The material had a major impact on my life and specifically my creative life.

So here’s the list.  Happy 2018!

1. Alan Watts

By far, the greatest influence for me in 2018 (and probably 2017) was Alan Watts. Specifically, the universe of YouTube videos of his lectures.

Watts was a British Episcopal priest who moved to San Francisco and gave free lectures on pubic Radio in Berkeley.   He is a great interpreter of Eastern Philosophy as well as Christian theology.  Even though the lectures are quite old, Watts already seems to intuit the coming digital age.  He was a bodhisattva through and through.

Some of the videos are better than others.  Some have music that’s been added to create a sense of otherworldly drama.  I prefer the unadulterated lectures however.  Rarely do I ever watch the video.  Rather, I listen while I am running or washing dishes.  I credit Watts with giving me a framework for synthesizing my western, Christian upbringing with my 30 year old Buddhist habits.

One of my distant projects is to write a screenplay about this man. I am so glad I ordered David Stuarts 1976 biography of Watts which is next on my reading list.

2. The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation

Saul Zaentz was an award winning producer of such movies as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The English Patient, and Amadeus.  And if that wasn’t a bold enough accomplishment, Saul Zaentz bought the non-literary rights to Lord of the Rings (cue the cash register ring).

The Foundation, lead by Elliot Steinberg, has a very modest goal: to make a dent on poverty. And speaking to Elliot for ten minutes will teach you that this is exactly what the foundation aims to do.  Elliot is a no-nonsense, results driven man and criss-crosses the country “making dents.”

The Saul Zaentz foundation figured into my life in two big ways in 2017.  The first is through their Incubator, a partnership with John Hopkins University.  It is through this foundation that my screenplay When We Fall found development funding.   The second way the SZ fund influenced my life was in the initial funding for the Charles C. Baum Film and Visual Storytelling Department at BSA, of which I am a co-founder and instructor.

The Saul Zaentz Foundation is responsible for the biggest shift in my twenty years of teaching, namely the merging of my educational and artistic passions.  This foundation, which sets out to change lives, certainly changed mine.

3. The Joe Rogan Podcast

For years, I dismissed this podcast as something a bit too meatheaded for me.  I was wrong.  While Joe Rogan may have a lot of MMA guests, there is also a huge intellectual variety to his guest list.

Comedians, Scientists, Professors, Cops, Men, Women, there is something for everyone. Topics covered: Comedy, Health and Fitness, Politics, Social History, and more.   I am especially happy to when he has Dr. Christopher Ryan, Nina Teichholz, Bryan Callan, Paul Stamets, or Sebastian Junger on the show.

And by the way, though I have no real interest in MMA fighting, I do have a great respect for the training and personalities of these athletes.  The urge to fight in the octagon is about as foreign a concept as could be for me.  But this is where the warriors meet and discuss their fierce art and I find it fascinating.

Finally, some people find Rogan to be a bit conservative.  I would say he is an opened-minded moderate. Sure he’s good friends with Alex Jones.  But don’t let that stop you from digging his prolific podcast (now over a 1000 strong).

4. r/screenwriting

If you’re living only on the front page of reddit, then you are missing out on one of the most powerful digital resources around.  The key is to subscribe to the sub-reddits.  (and sort them by top) (and save the good ones).

r/screenwriting has been a huge influence on me in 2017.  I subscribed to this sub-reddit to get a different perspective on writing and storytelling than I had been getting from the world of fiction writers. But this sub-reddit became truly influential when I realized that it could be valuable to contact these writers and collaborate.

Out of this sub-reddit came a writers group and a co-writing gig.  I also learned about the Scriptnotes podcast.  I know the business and people in the business because of the digital connections I’ve made.

5. Julian

Enough said…