Tyler Gibb – Writer, Director, Editor, Filmmaker

So I heard this thing on the radio the other day about yet another attempt to predict the success of films. Over the years I’ve heard of many a snake oil salesman (successfully) pitching their “scientific” methods of determining what will be a profitable, blockbuster film to Hollywood studio execs. The latest is called neuro-cinematics.

Sixty-four sensors placed on the heads of the audience to detect their brainwaves and chart their enjoyment of a movie. The highs, the lows, the surprises, the anticipation – what a great idea! Right? I mean, if we can analyze concrete data and see precisely what people like then we’ll never have to make another bad movie again! Everyone can be number one at the box office all the time!

Do I sound sarcastic? I’m not. I truly think this is fantastic.

See as a writer – the most hated of all film business personnel – this will be wonderful. Don’t get me wrong, I love being creative, writing from the heart and all that crap but that’s neither here nor there when you really get down to it. Because when the long road toward getting all those inspired words from the page onto the screen begins it usually means having to defend your work to others. And not just any “others” – producers, most likely, who have a deep sense of intimidation and fear about accepting that your script is really as good as you think it is.

The fact is, you’re probably both wrong. The script probably isn’t as strong as you think it is, nor is it as bad as they want you to believe it is. But if this neuro-cinematics thing pans out, then hey: “To the brain scans!”

No more arguing. No more debate. Science to the rescue. “See, you illiterate producer piece of shit, John Q. Fatslob loved that twist on page 71.”

“Ah, but he hated your self-indulgent rant on page 45, you arrogant sad sack of unkempt flop sweat of a writer.”

It’s utopic, really. Here’s to neuro-cinematics. Here’s to the future.

We just had a federal election here in Canada. It was a nail biter. In the end however the Conservative party of Canada will now be reigning over the country for the next four or five years. It’s got the arts community all aflutter. The entire thing’s got me thinking a lot about popularity.

I used to be popular. Once upon a time my inbox was flooded on a daily basis with fan mail, requests, death threats; it was nice. But it’s been a long time since then. My priorities changed. And unfortunately, I have a bit of a tendency to alienate my audience with each new project. It was unlikely that fans of Boneland.com would get into Minushi and even less likely that any of those would find Refrain relatable. But so is the chemistry of my brain and who am I to tamper with it? The fact is, in my pursuit of “legitimacy” in this entertainment business – perhaps my pursuit of a more traditional road, maybe that’s a better way of putting it – I lost my connection with the people. The populace. I’ve become a business-to-business guy for some reason and frankly, it’s never been my thing.

Allow me to alienate myself further from yet another segment of society with the following:

I’m actually looking forward to the next four to five years of domination by our dark conservative overlords. Would cuts to the arts sector really be such a bad thing? Is the current system really working all that well anyway? The more I look the less I see an industry of filmmakers in this country but rather an industry of people who have gotten really good a filling out government application forms. I’ve been guilty of this myself. And I can’t say it felt great. The money was cool for a fleeting moment, I’ll give you that, but it didn’t even come close to the feeling of opening my mailbox years ago and pulling out the first payment I’d ever made after initiating the pay-per-view service at Boneland.com. A payment issued by the fans. Proof positive that my work was worth something to an audience. No jumping through hoops. Now, that meant something. You couldn’t argue with that.

I’ve been trying to sell my work to the wrong people lately. To figureheads and traditionalists. To people that I, myself, have endowed with some delusion of virtue. And why, when the people are still out there, out here, right in front of me. The democratization of entertainment is only scary if you’re greatest talent is filling out applications for government handouts.

It’s time to go back to the people. The populace. But just who shall I alienate this time…

Short one this week.

Right off the bat, I’d like to say that my phone number will be changing as of May 1st. So if you’re reading this on, like, May 2nd or something, wondering why you can’t reach me anymore… That’s why.

I’m in the process of moving. It’s a big process. A lot of things come to light. Like packing free weights. They’re literally weights. That’s what they do. And while planning the displacement of all the heavy shit that it turns out you own, you start asking yourself; why the hell do I need dumbbells at all?

I’ve also become acutely aware of all things coming into our current place; knowing that I’ll soon have to move them out. It’s gotten to a point where I’m putting off buying just about anything until after the move. We’re out of toothpaste… Can we go another week without toothpaste? Godammit, if not I’ll just have to pack and move a whole new tube of toothpaste.

As you can see, I’ve also been working on my stand up comedy routine.

On the Once and Future Projects side of things there may be a lot going on but if that’s the case, nobody’s told me about it. A couple of my projects are currently being vied for by different parties but sadly (for me) none of these contenders are yet offering up any monetary incentives so as usual I am floating around in the world of spec. On the positive side, I will be able to have a garden at the new place and thus be able to grow my own food. Because that’s what it’s coming down to, gang. Subsistence living in order to continue to pursue a career in filmmaking (or whatever it is I do now!).

However, you do have a nice new header image to contemplate while I live out of boxes for the next little while. More on that soon…

I think most people in probably any creative field, maybe any field altogether, live in fear of the tap. The fear that someone, at some point, especially when we’re experiencing some measure of success is going to tap us on the shoulder and say, “I’m sorry, sir, there’s been some mistake. You’re not supposed to be here, this spot is actually for someone else.”

The more successful, I imagine, a person becomes, the more they must live in constant fear of the tap. And I don’t know if it’s a fear of responsibility or a fear of not being able to top one’s own success. Maybe it’s the fear of not being able to explain how you’ve attained the success at all.

In that way, perhaps it’s not fear at all but guilt. Guilt that what you do is somehow beyond the abilities of others who strive for the same thing. Guilt that by whatever natural selection these skills are yours whether you have honed them or not.

I’ve had some measure of success in some of my endeavours. Less in others. I’ve been praised, rewarded and flattered and with this I’ve long lived in fear of the tap. It’s what keeps us striving isn’t it? Hereditary talent or not, it keeps us training, trying, practicing and fighting to prove ourselves.

But prove ourselves to whom? I hadn’t considered that question much. And it’s recently become quite clear:

To the only person who cares about any of this, of course.

I wound up doing a lot of writing this past week. A lot of writing, a lot of pre-writing and a lot of talking about writing, as it were.

Something that came up a lot was character. Not surprising, as I was at the point of creating some new characters for a project. It got me thinking about a meeting I’d had not so long ago with some writers where I’d gleaned a bit of clarity on something that I’d never really thought about before.

We were discussing a fellow’s project for which he was writing a number of character profiles. The characters were all male, of roughly the same age and ethnicity. The main issue he was facing was that it was difficult for the reader to keep track of which character was which.

Even though the author had given them each very different temperaments, careers and motivations, their descriptions weren’t memorable one from the next. That’s when it dawned on me that in discussing each character we were discussing them on their own, separate from the others. Once we started talking about their relationships to one another the characters started to really take form and thus, take root in our memories.

I was reminded of a memory exercise I once learned in a psychology class. Memory by association. It works like a charm; I haven’t carried a grocery list to the store since. The exercise is simple, you associate an item (say you need to buy milk, eggs and a turnip at the grocery store) with another item that you pair through rhyming to a number.

Huh?

Okay, it goes like this: Start with number 1. Rhyme the number 1 with whatever comes to mind first: “One is a bun.” Now visualize your first item in association with the rhymed item. I picture a bun being dipped in a glass of milk; and milk is the item I’m trying to remember to buy at the grocery store. Same goes for 2. “Two is a shoe.” I visualize a shoe with an egg in it. Eggs are the second item I need to get from the grocery store. “Three is a tree.” I picture a tree shaped like a turnip, and so on.

Merely by associating one thing to another – as ridiculous as the visuals may be – I remember them both by constructing a more complex memory.

To a certain extent this memorability would probably come about in the story writing process just by having the characters interacting together, thereby forming some of those associations. But in the context of my fellow writer who was just trying to define his characters early on in the form of profiles, it was a great revelation. Also a good way to start his characters off on the right foot by giving them strong ties to one another.

And that grocery list thing is pretty top notch too.