The first semester I was a college teacher I began receiving treatments for films that went a little like this: Two hit men, one black and one white, in black suits travel around the city. or A man with a
Post It!
Who would have thought that the most valuable tool in building a college curriculum would be Post It Notes? In the Flashpoint office we have a wall, much like this one, full of two-foot square month by month calendars going
Drinking the Kool-Aid
On Wednesday this past week Howard Tullman, President and CEO of Flashpoint Academy, cuffed me on the back of the head. Yesterday, as we were waiting for people to arrive at a Flashpoint open house, founder and chairman Ric Landry
Sentimental Education- Part 1
School resumed this week in Chicago and the big yellow buses are a reminder of just how much I hated going to school. While I was a good student and had lots of friends and did lots of extracurricular activities
Selling Funny
For a lot of reasons- none that make any sense to me- advertising agencies are loath to sell commercials using humor. Jim and I have directed some mildly humorous spots that perhaps generate a grin or a smile, but nothing
Groucho
Thirty years ago last Saturday, the 18th, Groucho Marx died. I have been a fan of the Marx Brothers and Groucho in particular for as long as I can remember. I don’t know if there are any comic actors today
On the Road
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road turned 50 the other day. When I worked at the Museum of Broadcast Communications we had a great clip of Kerouac reading On The Road on the Steve Allen Show as Steverino made a little
My Cousin Bob
So more international filmmaking, but try to top this. My brainiac cousin Bob is an expert on glacial ice. He has spent an entire year in Greenland and two, six month stretches in Antartica. He currently lives in England where
Flight of the Conchords
International week continues. I am a huge fan of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. Not only is it funny, and often it is very funny, but I really like what they do with the form of TV. Twice
Finding the Story
Jim and I have been working on this film about teen parents on and off for 13 months. We have interviewed parents and counselors and doulas and administrators and health care professionals all to help paint the picture of these
