NYC-based filmmaker Amy DePaola asked me to be a guest on her fantastic new podcast Pink Among Men. We spoke for an hour about Creating Feminist Media, my recent documentary, religion, mentorship, motherhood, and more. If you want to know more about me and what motivates my work, give it a listen below. I also recommend subscribing to Amy's podcast. It's great.

Pink Among Men Episode 103:
​Mentors, Religion, and Creating Feminist Media
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I am honored to share that The Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters is an official selection of Yoni Fest 2017 in Los Angeles.
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In 1997, James Cameron's Titanic was the obsession of every preteen girl. I was no exception at thirteen, so I decided to remake the film using Barbie and Ken. Instant classic!
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Creative ideas are both novel and valuable. But they are often rejected when the creative innovator stands up to vested interests and defies the crowd. The crowd does not maliciously or willfully reject creative notions. Rather, it does not realize, and often does not want to realize, that the proposed idea represents a valid and advanced way of thinking. Society often perceives opposition to the status quo as annoying, offensive, and reason enough to ignore innovative ideas.

Robert Sternberg

For the love of all that is good and holy, see The Book of Life on the big screen. 

Writing narrative fiction is totally new for a documentary person like me, and I'm SHIT at it. I know this. I accept this (for now). I have always been good at the technical aspects of writing, and I recently found out that I'm fairly good at adaptation. But when it comes to pulling a story out of my (bum), I find my ideas completely lackluster. 

Considering my first script is due in less than a week, I was thrilled to stumble upon these...

PIXAR'S 22 RULES OF STORYTELLING

1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about until you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
8. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognise it before you can use it.
11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
13. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
16. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
17. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

Source: http://pixar-animation.weebly.com/pixars-rules.html

I’m doing my very best to put all my energy into it, for I long so much to make beautiful things. But beautiful things require effort—and disappointment and perseverance.

(He gets me.)

I have recently been called upon to plan all sorts of random church events. And what do random church events require? Random church flyers (oh, the never-ending charms of lay ministry). As such, I have had to use Photoshop A LOT. It seems I have a natural eye for design and layout but BOY HOWDY am I lacking in technical skill. As a teenager, I taught myself Photoshop so I could resize photos and add text (with shadows!) and... well... that's about it. Brian has taught me a bit more, but DUDE. It takes me ninety years to create the simplest thing. Here are a few of my creations.