Is Creativity and Suffering Inherently Linked?

Why is it that when you embark on any creative endeavor (writing, painting, music, acting, etc.), other people fear for your mental health? Should anyone be afraid of the work they feel they were put on this earth to do?

Watch author Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) answer these questions and more in her talk on nurturing creativity she gave at the TED conference earlier this year.

Watch Another Sneak Peek from Episode 4

Here's another sneak peek at a scene from the upcoming Episode 4 "Send Money".

Watch a Sneak Peek from Episode 4

Here's a sneak peek at a scene from the upcoming Episode 4 - "Send Money". The entire episode should be posted soon.



And here are some production stills from Episode 4:

Snake Oil and Totebags Don't Mix

Robert Burton's recent article PBS's latest infomercial at Salon.com sparked some very interesting comments from readers weighing in on PBS pledge drive practices. Although the article centered around the the airing of Dr. Mark Hyman's Ultimind Solution pledge program and its role in the erosion of PBS's credibility, the reader comments spoke to the general distaste for the pledge process as a whole. Whether you feel that the pledge drive has passed its sell by date as a way for PBS stations to raise funds or it remains a viable source of revenue, definitely check out what others are saying.

Episode 4 Script Done

I've finished writing the script for Episode 4 (working title: "Send Money") and am feverishly working on voice overs and animation. This episode touches on a time-honored tradition of public television: the pledge drive. Look for it soon.

Confessions of a Pixel Pusher

I was doing my taxes recently and the tax software I use initially takes you through a series of questions, the answers of which help to determine how your tax return will be filled out. One of the first things the software asks is whether or not you've experienced one or more life changing events in the past year. It's the same type of question an insurance or financial expert would ask you to determine what your next move should be.

Marriage, birth of a child, loss of employment, and death of a spouse. They want to know if you’ve experienced the very things in life that change your life, your place in the world. Things that give you reason for pause or dictate your next step, whether you like it or not, and alter your reality. These are things of magnitude and importance.

And for the life of me, I cannot think of one thing, let alone four, in the online world that even comes close to the life-altering magnitude of marriage, starting a family, loss of livelihood or death. Those things can shake you to your core. The web might make me click a little harder but it just doesn’t move me like that.

For all the hype, promise, money, time, talk, aggravation, elation, and connectivity we put on the Internet & technology today, it just doesn’t seem to measure up to the offline world, the world of flesh and bone, when it comes to the real stuff. The messy stuff. The good stuff.

I say this not as a rant against technology. I make a pretty decent living pushing pixels around a screen so I can keep a roof over my head and food in the fridge (at least for now). And yes, the online solutions I provide help people to work and stimulate the economy and keep the planet from falling off its axis and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I get it. And every once in a while I can still be surprised and entertained by something I make or see on the web.

But, more often than not, the things of the online world merely prompt a shrug or shiver. The web is cool, and I mean that in all the various definitions of the word cool. But there’s nothing there that approaches the magnitude of a birth of a child or death of a spouse. Those are big things. Cool seems so small in comparison.

I'm leery of the culture we've built around technology and the web these days. Our love affair with tiny circuits sheathed in molded plastic, widgets, apps, and big, beautiful Photoshop-enhanced imagery. The kind of love that blinds us to its obvious and real flaws in favor of immediacy and convenience. Or worse, steals our attention away from what is still flawed in our world or ourselves. The kind of love where we accept good enough in place of, well, good. I know. Nothing is perfect in this world. Least of all love.

Erin McKean is Redefining the Dictionary

As one of the youngest editors of a "Big Five" American dictionary, Erin McKean is at the forefront of a new guard of lexicographers reshaping not just dictionaries, but our language itself. She's on a mission to debunk common misconceptions and elevate the use - and cool factor - of dictionaries. Watch this video of Erin speaking at the PopTech! Conference. She's able to make a talk on dictionaries and language interesting and engaging because she's passionate about words.


Also, check out this video of Erin speaking at the TED(Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference in Monterey, CA. Erin loves words and, as she says, "love makes things real".

Tell Me, What Would You Do?

My television viewing habits mirror my reading habits. At any given time, I'm reading two or three non-fiction books(Blink, World on Fire, Life After the 30-Second Spot) as well as two or three fiction books(Starting Out in the Evening, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, The Eight).

Similarly, I enjoy watching documentary-style programs(Cities of the Underworld, The Deadliest Catch, Spain - On The Road Again) as well as fictional scripted shows on TV(CSI: Miami, Heroes, Mad Men).

A good documentary-style show feeds your head. It gives you information about the world. A well-told, fictional scripted show gives you information about yourself. It feeds your soul, your heart. Both types of shows can be highly entertaining.

Take the Poll
If you were a high-level television exec and, the economy being what it is, you could only greenlight one new series this year, would it be a documentary-style series or a fictional scripted show?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Reveal: the poll results will sway a plot point in an upcoming episode of The Puppet Diaries.

Great Stop-motion Animation from Across the Pond

Apt Studio made this incredible stop-motion film using over a thousand books, which was shot over two weeks in a makeshift studio in North London. Twenty animators worked in shifts to get it made, often sleeping under the set itself. The short film celebrates the books from 25 years of 4th Estate publishing. You can also check out production stills and time-lapse video from the making of the film.

Episode 3 - "Relationships" Featured Video of the Week on indieProducer.net

Episode 3 - "Relationships" is this week's featured video on indieProducer.net (on the Home page). IP is a networking site for the film and television industry providing resources for actors, producers, writers, editors, and everything in between. Founded and run by working film and TV producers, IP is supported by some of the highest-level professionals in the entertainment industry.