Tag: Storytelling
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Jurassic Park Was Right
Science fiction has a specific job: to take something real, push it past its logical limits, and show you what breaks. Jurassic Park (1993) does that job better than almost any film I can think of. Thirty years later, it feels less like a dinosaur movie and more like a memo someone should have read…
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Creative Practice #6: Who Are You Making This For?
In my professional life, I am obsessed with audiences. I think about them before a campaign brief is written. I think about what they need, what they believe, what they’re afraid of. I’ve spent eight years at Kaiser Permanente helping translate complex healthcare concepts into messages that actually reach people. Audience awareness isn’t a skill…
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What Horror Is Actually Afraid Of
Most horror films give you a monster and ask you to be scared of it. Shadow of the Vampire gives you a monster and asks you to be scared of the person who hired it. The 2000 film, starring Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich, is built around a premise that sounds like a late-night comedy…
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The Discipline of Paying Attention
Creative Practice: Studying Creativity and Leadership · Week 2 Last week, I wrote that I never thought I was creative. That belief began to shift when I redefined what creativity actually is. In The Creative Act: A Way of Being, a book on creativity by prolific music producer Rick Rubin, he suggests that creativity isn’t…
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Romance, Without the Rescue
Valentine’s Day tends to bring out the grand gestures. The sweeping declarations. The airport chases. The perfectly timed kiss. I’ve always enjoyed those moments. But the older I get (and the more I study genre), the more I find myself drawn to quieter versions of romance – the kind that feel less like conquest and…
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Watching the Super Bowl From the Wrong Seat
While watching yesterday’s Super Bowl halftime show with Bad Bunny commanding the stage and cameras sweeping and spinning with precision, I couldn’t help but think back to another Super Bowl entirely. Ten years ago, I was at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara for Super Bowl 50. Same venue. Different version of me. I honestly don’t…
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Why Thrillers Keep Us Leaning Forward
One thread I plan to return to here is genre: how it works, why it endures, and what it reveals about us. Thrillers, in particular, have always held a strange pull for me. Not because of spectacle or shock, but because of the way they make you feel slightly off-balance. It’s the sense that something…