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As the backbone of Black World Studios, Sam David created a spirited, offbeat blog (below) that passes along some personal transparency, bits of professional know-how, common-sense wisdom, fascinating university research studies about actors, writers, TV personalities (and other creatives) -- along with engaging do's & don'ts for nurturing and elevating exceptional talent in film, TV, radio, stage, and literary.
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 - by Sam David
No matter what you've been told, strategy is everything. Without a high-level plan, you are walking in the dark -- literally. Everyone has a pipe dream at one time or another. For most, there is that pie in the sky, the unattainable fantasy of fantasies. For writers, it's the initial publication of their first manuscript; for TV scriptwriters, the nervous airing of their eight-episodic dramedy; for screenwriters, the red-carpet premier of their 121-page motion picture script. For some, the wheels slowly squeak and turn; for others, the rubber falls flat in a flash. When writers e-mail me to look at their work (in consideration of representation), I always initially ask for three particular items: -- The project's title (because titles are important); they can make or break a sale; -- The project's tagline, because the tagline (let's call it "The Teaser") will set a spin to the story; -- And the last requisite: the project's logline, the definitive one-sentence descriptive blueprint that wraps up words on paper, spinning them down to the story's most essential elements. A solid logline is the nitty-gritty guts to storytelling. More times than not, without it, there's an awfully good chance that you didn't capture a crystal clear vision of the beginning, middle and end of your own work product. Some wordsmiths write their way forward, starting from scratch with the mixing and matching of meaningful nouns and vivid verbs to build and frame a logline; others will sometimes work their way backwards, staging together that key sentence -- the logline -- at the tail end of their finished creation. A well-crafted logline is the foundation to opening the floodgates of interest. Loglines suck up the story/series in a nutshell. Consider this over-exaggerated phrase, off the top of my head, that capsulizes one of the most influential and beloved American television sitcom series ever to air on a major network: A naïve and ambitious redhead yearns to become a star along with her up-and-coming Cuban singer/rumba bandleader husband and gets herself (and her neighbors) caught up in the strangest of silly situations. Just as a puppy needs to be adequately fed, provided clean water, walked, exercised, diciplined and loved, so too, does your writing. Your logline is your starting point upon which to build the body of your written undertaking. It is the glue, actually, that binds the intricate details together and makes them whole. The logline is your compass, steering you forward in the right direction. Without it, you'll be driven off course. Regard it as a compression mechanism, a tool that tightly trims your words (even 372 pages worth) down to one simple sentence that shares the whole story -- and sums it up -- without giving away the ending. The logline should leave the reader lusting for more. The supermarket bestseller, TV Guide, has always been at the genesis of television loglines, drawing the viewer in with a brief synopsis (logline) of almost every show that has ever aired. A fascinating fact: TV Guide's inaugural cover featured a photograph of Lucille Ball's newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr. And yet, in spite of all the national publicity, that television show got off to a very rocky start before it was ever produced. Because even with its captivating premise, there were still a hundred different contingencies that needed to be ironed out. You've got to know when to hold 'em Know when to fold 'em Know when to walk away Know when to run  - by Sam David Last evening I received an angry e-mail from a client/friend, telling me he was ready to throw in the towel. I could have fired back a scathing response -- telling him to toughen up -- but I chose to walk on higher ground, pointing out that no one ever said life was meant to be easy. Everyone lives his/her life with some misgivings, self-disgust, and discontent; sometimes we fail to speak from the heart, and all too often we'll leave things that need to be aired locked up in a vacuum. To build and create a truly meaningful and purposeful life involves both personal and professional commitment and growth. You cannot move forward without the other. Commitment requires discipline -- while growth is not without its own unique missteps. For it’s in the tussle with life’s day-to-day trials and errors that a person carves out the blueprint for how s/he will live life (and how successfully s/he does -- or does not -- overcome the stumbling blocks down that path). Anyone can quit. Quitting is easy. But for actors and writers, self doubts and lingering frustrations stem not so much from responsible professional management and handling, but from the fact that talent frequently resent when they do not receive the proper accolades and recognition from the TV and film industry -- an industry, quite frankly, to whom they tend to devote most of their time and talent. It is not unusual for a Hollywood or New York creative to have a swollen ego (which naturally comes with the territory as individuals overrate their own productive value and financial worth). The trouble kicks in when they begin to compare themselves to those in higher visibility with whom they perceive to be in competition, causing sparks to soar. Bitter and resentful, somewhere down the road they trap themselves into the false belief that their life legacies are totally dependent on the applause from the faceless and the approval of their acting and writing associates. Of course, in reality, that is 360-degrees from the truth. Most show-biz personalities misjudge their own self esteem; running on a lucky streak, they underestimate what they actually bring to the table, failing to realize that they are so much more than a dusty Golden Globe or Oscar statue sitting on a shelf in their family room. The truly great actors from the past that we love to reminisce about -- the legendary larger-than-life Hollywood heavyweights whom we treasure, i.e., Brando, Bogart, or Cary Grant for instance -- are soldered to our souls more because of what they mean to us than the actual character roles in which they were cast. The long-term vision for most any client -- at least from where I sit -- is to build a highly diversified foundation for them -- as an actor, as a writer, as a director, as a producer. I have never strayed from that course. Life is all about passion, patience, persistence, perseverance, and internal fortitude -- at times against seemingly insurmountable odds. Considering my own tumultuous childhood of abandonment, my destiny has mapped itself in the way that it has, simply because I am not a quitter. The heavy hits, the verbal punches and the put downs that I have taken over the years have only helped to better direct my focus towards greater empathy, understanding and emotional awareness. What speaks to me the most is not that clients fly off the handle and give up without a fight due to fear, but that I should understand such self-destructive behavior in order to rise above it and redirect it towards positive contemplation. As I have often pointed out, clients and managers are joined at the hip -- knee-deep in an exceedingly narcissistic and hugely competitive dog-eat-dog Botox-filled world of heart-felt dreams. And for that reason alone, talent needs to be cushioned with the know-how to harden their outer shells to better equip themselves to weather those harrowing all-too-often times when pink slips and rejection letters are tossed their way. Because viciously lashing out, oral dart-throwing, and impetuously walking away from what they truly love is a clear indication that they are too hypersensitive to withstand the harsh reality storms of this precarious business, along with being oblivious to their own human frailties. |
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