Posts Tagged ‘Scott W. Smith’

Just over a month ago, my good friend writer/director/producer Scott W. Smith put up his 1,000th post on his Emmy-winning blog Screenwriting From Iowa. For the last several years, Scott has posted Every Single Day. Stop and think about that: even the bad stuff we do, we don’t manage to work it into every day, right?  Much less so, the good stuff.  Amazing accomplishment.

But more than just being prolific, Scott is insightful.  A true student of screenwriting, he has ingested every school of thought and book on screenwriting out there.  The suggestions and inspiration he offers on his blog come from these teachers, from writing his own scripts, and from his experiences in traveling the country and world.

Now, Scott has taken the best of his Screenwriting From Iowa writings and put it into a book form.  He’s using Kickstarter to get the initial funding together to get this thing off the ground.  As of this writing, there are 7 days left in the campaign with about $3,000 in backing to go.  If you love films like me, please consider getting involved. Great movies come from great scripts and Scott’s book will, without a doubt, inspire screenwriters in “Iowa… And Other Unlikely Places.”

Screenwriting From Iowa… And Other Unlikely Places Book on Kickstarter

Scott W. Smith on the book

- Matthew Porter

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Yesterday, we started talking about goals. I posited that no goal, no matter how well thought-out, can be accomplished until the goalmaker is first truly and irrevocably committed. This act of going all-in is what allows us to lose our big ‘buts’.

Around this time last year, three friends of mine each set out to accomplish goals of their own. Each goal was unique; each goal was daunting.

Here’s the rundown:

Scott W. Smith

Scott W. Smith

Scott is an award-winning director / producer and screenwriter. In 2007, he started an inspiring blog called ‘Screenwriting From Iowa’, focusing on Hollywood success stories that had roots in ‘flyover country’, in Iowa and beyond. The blog netted him an Emmy. Based on this success, he committed himself to a formidable goal: to post a blog entry every single day of 2009. As of last Thursday, Scott completed his goal. Now, before you just blow past this accomplishment, think about this: the bad stuff we do is nearly always easier and more fun than the good stuff, but we don’t even do the bad stuff every day. Scott could have said, ‘but I’m constantly traveling all over the country.’ Instead, Scott lost his big ‘but’.

Carl Creasman

Carl Creasman

As a full-time professor, full-time pastor, and full-time father of three, Carl didn’t need to add another title to this list to feel accomplished. Yet, his passion for speaking and challenging young people to live a life of success inspired him to write and launch an additional career as a motivational speaker. Throughout 2009, Carl continued to invest himself in this venture, increasing his number of speaking engagements by 40%. Today, he has written and/or contributed to three books and become an in-demand speaker, addressing thousands all over the country. Carl could have said ‘but I’ve already accomplished a lot.’ Instead, Carl lost his big ‘but’.

Erik Guzman

Erik Guzman

As executive producer for a nationally syndicated radio show and father of three, Erik had plenty on his plate, metaphorically speaking. But Erik also decided he had too much on his plate, literally. So Erik– my dear fun-loving friend who never met a scotch he didn’t like– set his phaser to ‘radical’. He stopped drinking and smoking cold turkey, became a vegetarian (he’s still meat-curious), started working out 5-6 times a week, and dropped 50 pounds. Erik could have said ‘but I’m too busy.’ Instead, Erik lost his big ‘but’.

Losing our big ‘buts’ means that we’ve decided no matter what happens, no matter how differently 2010 turns out than we’d imagined, we will accomplish our goals. This is a pretty stringent litmus test, but that’s the idea, to sift out the honest-to-God must-do goals from the resolution / wishes. The latter are fine and have their place, but when our lives get upended, they quickly become expendable ballast.

So, what’s your primary goal for 2010?

What’s your big ‘but’?

What’s your plan for losing your big ‘but’?

I’ll be sharing some of my goals and big ‘buts’ in the coming days. In the meantime, please share yours in the Comments section.

- Matthew Porter

PS: See you here first thing next week for the launch of Great Quote Monday!

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