Magic & Desire
It can be cathartic to write about the struggles of filmmaking…
But what I’m most excited about these days is the magic of it all.
There’s a chapter in our new movie ABOVE THE TREES called Magic & Desire — which has become a sort of catch-phrase for me. Two words that sound great together, like a mantra or a new philosophy.
Above the Trees: Joma Films: Magic & Desire with Coral Quinn (Danielle Kelly)
When we hit a low point in our lives, we are often gifted desire — pure, emotional and meaningful energy that helps us get back to our feet and change our situation. Like magic, it can appear almost fully formed.
And at our lowest? If we’re really lucky, we receive a great desire. Something palpable enough to help an addict quit — and sometimes strong enough so this conviction actually sticks.
This is profound, because we can’t conjure up something this powerful on our own.
We do have a survival instinct — a biological response. And there are mental and spiritual components at work. But, we also need a little magic. A beautiful word that implies there’s a kind of destiny involved.
The will to meet the challenge and change course shouldn’t arrive with such clarity — not at our lowest. At our lowest, we’re most likely filled with self-doubt and confusion. At our lowest? Our energy is actually tapped out and our convictions are fading.
So how does this miracle of desire show up and where does it come from?
Is it our human condition and DNA? Our fight or flight instinct? Perhaps all of it.
And maybe when this life-saving desire kicks in, it’s also enabled by a force outside of us — not just from the inside.
There is something meaningful and powerful at work out there in the natural world. A life-force that we recognize in migrating sea birds or grass and flowers growing up through cracked cement.
With our antennas up and spirits willing — we sometimes access it and receive new desires and ideas. Tools that help us rebound and redirect with a brand new capacity to change and make new choices.
THE 2ND ACT CURTAIN
Filmmakers and screenwriters often talk about a 2nd Act Curtain, when our protagonist is at their lowest point — flat on their back and failing to achieve their objective.
What we love to see in cinema and crave most as an audience, is to watch our hero — somehow — crawl back to their feet and face their demons one last time. And with little margin for error, they manage to achieve their objective.
We love to see it, because we also want to overcome and change course. And somehow the best movies avoid deus ex machina and resolve the story in a satisfying and believable way.
Our hero may not make it through the way we expected, and perhaps they just survive. Or maybe they come out the other side even better than they ever imagined.
This is all magic, and it’s born from desire.
THE ART LIFE
As artists, we are also on a hero’s journey.
We get up each morning and create. We show up with our paints, our sketchbooks — our computers and cameras — and we search our waking dreams. We paint. We write. We build. We make. We invent.
And there are real forces trying to stop us.
Internal forces — i.e. the voices in our heads: I’m not good enough. I’m not smart enough. I don’t have the discipline to follow through and finish. I will fail.
External forces — rejections, reality. I don’t have enough time and resources. This is an impossible task. The industry is not fair. The art life is unsustainable.
As artists, we often find ourselves stuck or blocked. Or worse yet? Flat on our backs and ready to quit. I’ve been there before.
But then? Like magic, we are gifted desire. And it comes to us fully formed. The desire to keep going and creating.
And some days, we put on our wet suits and paddle out into the surf. We wait and tread water — sometimes for awhile.
The small waves breaking along the shore are too small for our surf boards.
But the water feels nice. Pelicans fly by. The sun breaks through the clouds, making its light glisten on the water. A gift and our heart rate slows… and suddenly we’re not pressing and we feel at peace in the present moment.
We wait in the water, mind and spirit warming and stirring. We might not even realize our desire is growing.
And then out on the horizon, something rises and appears in view — a character, an image, an idea — and it moves towards us.
It’s building out there and it swells. And when it arrives, we catch it and the momentum’s thrilling. Suddenly we’re moving without trying as outside forces conspire with us to create. Magic.
