It is my one week anniversary of being at STORY! In honor of this important milestone, I thought I would share some final moments from the conference.
Sarah Lewis
(Served on President Obama’s Arts Policy Committee and has been selected for Oprah’s Power List)
“Laws do not make poets but poets make laws.”
“Martin Luther King received C’s in his oratory class in seminary.”
“There needs to be time for experimental work. You need to reserve space for wonder and a place to ask the outlandish questions. There needs to be a safe space to see the world differently.”
“Failure is a step on the way to mastery.”
“The embryonic stage is very important. There needs to be a step where you realize that this product is not yet ready to be unveiled to the public. There is a stake to the creative process.”
Josh Boone
(Director of “The Fault in Our Stars”)
Besides Jonah Lehrer, Josh was easily my favorite speaker. He was super quick, funny, and obsessive about his craft. He spoke so quickly. It was like he could not wait to talk about filmmaking. And it was not like he was rambling or repeating himself. Every word he said was important and interesting. I was so captivated by his talk that I did not take a lot of notes which I am totally kicking myself for now! Ugh. He totally embodied the stereotypical nerdy, creative genius.
Little background- Josh spent 10 years in Hollywood writing scripts and doing whatever he could to try and break into the business. He finally got his big break after these ten long years. Much of his talk focused on loving what you are doing enough to out last everyone else who gets discouraged and drops off.
Things I did write down….
He gives his actors character mix tapes to get the feel of the character that they will be playing.
He spoke about how his tunnel vision and naivety helped him keep going. He said that he needed to play “severe mind tricks” to get it done.
Barton Damer
(Motion Designer for Nike, Facebook, etc.)
“Pursue your passion in the evenings and make sure that you are having some success before quitting your day job and launching off on your own.”
Tony Hale
(Emmy Winning Actor on Arrested Development)
Cue- Complete hilarity and Liza Minelli stories (one of which included bringing Liza to church). He was just naturally hilarious. He could not help himself.
“Fame has a way of actually being very isolating and hindering the process of being truly known. It is better to be known by God and deeply known by people that love you.”
Speaking about how actors always live in the next step, if this happens then they will be ___, “You have to understand that you have value now. Right where you are. Enjoy this moment and do not live in the future. Contentment requires being present.”
Jon Guerra
(Musician)
Go check out Jon Guerra. He was completely amazing. By far the best performance there. Totally gave me chills. I could not quite get on board with Andrew Belle who was also wonderful. Andrew was really talented but I felt more like I was convincing myself I should love something when I just did not. (That is never a good sign.) Then, Jon and his beautiful wife got on stage and brought the house down. No need for convincing there.
