The other day, I posted about what’s been brewing in me recently, particularly a shift into more writing, more being a part of filmmaking teams. It hasn’t come out of nowhere, obviously, but this renewed sense of urgency has caught me a bit by surprise. It’s as if it was always there, hanging out by the jukebox, waiting patiently while I danced with other boys.
Egging me on in my goofy artistic pursuit are women who I’m sure don’t even know they’ve made an impression on me, some because I’ve never told them, but most because I don’t even know them. There’s a lot of buzz around women writing and directing and generally getting their voice heard in an all-too-male driven industry. All of it has me in this euphoric “Why not me?” kinda attitude. Which is easy to maintain now, because I haven’t actually started writing. Just a lot of reading about writing so far… Ask me in a month; I bet the euphoria will have been replaced by something…less enjoyable.
But I digress. Just getting to the point of I have something worthwile to say is huge, and there’ve been many people, posts and films that have contributed to my finally admitting it, and will be, I’m sure, many more as I trudge my way through figuring out exactly what it is I want to say.
Women like Kathryn Bigelow (first woman to win a Best Director Academy Award…in 2011) and Emma Thompson (as much a writer as she is an actress) and Sofia Coppola (an interpretation of the Lost In Translation poster is hanging on my wall); Hannah Fidell, Olivia Silver and Anna Mastro, directors I’m incredibly proud to know, whose work is turning heads in the indie film world.
Even Lake Bell and Jerusha Hess (haven’t seen In A World… or Austenland yet, but I like ’em already!)
Reading articles like this. And this. And this.
I’ve been reading scripts – Smashed and Celeste & Jesse Forever and (500) Days of Summer and When Harry Met Sally and The Kids Are Alright and so many more in my queue. Not all by women, to be sure, but all with significant female characters, archetypes that are both complex and approachable.
All of it contributes to my inexplicable belief that I can do it, too. Which is in turned fueled by my own brand of optimism and stubborn will, insisting that I’ll never do it if I don’t do it. So, I’ll keep these inspirations (and so many more) close and start putting fingers to keyboard.
