Tag: opinion

Your Opinion of Me is None of My Business

Your opinion of me is none of my business.

That was one of my biggest lessons and pains in the last two years.  What other people think of me doesn’t matter.  It’s hard to get people to change their opinions or what they think they “know”.  At the end of the day, what you think of you matters, because that’s the springboard of change.  Only you can change you.  No one’s opinion is going to change you.

copy of copy of copy of copy of copy of copy of copy of body positivityToo often, we’re weighed down emotionally by other’s opinions.  And most people’s opinions are only partially informed at best, and too often, projections of their own insecurity at worst.

Most of of my life has been an act of translation.  I’m left handed, so I learned early how to adapt.  I know what to use my left hand for and what to use my right hand for.  Even in my adulthood though, I’m flexible enough to experiment.  Last week I learned that eating with my right hand slows me down and that helps me to take more time to enjoy what I’m eating.

People’s opinions still matter to me, but they matter less.  What used to mortify me now just annoys me.  People’s attempts to shame stick less.  Opinions are like assholes–everyone has one.  That doesn’t mean you have to show it to everyone.  After a lot of opinions from a lot of assholes, you realize that no one has a unique opinion.  Opinions and biases are shared, for better and worse.

It’s a long road to get out of the approval trap, to seek fulfillment in lieu of validation.  You may not always do everything “right”.

nature red forest leaves
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Everything may not be the “way it’s supposed to be” or ideal.  Ideals aren’t real.  The reality of you is so much important that the ideas you want others to have of you.

Try to be kind to yourself and be flexible.  Adapt to your needs, not someone else’s projection of what you could or should be.

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“Headlines & Hot Topics with Kristin West” Heads to UpLive

up live

Besides being my birthday, which is always a special day, I have a BIG announcement today.  My new show, “Headlines & Hot Topics with Kristin West” will debut on the live streaming app, UpLive, next week, airing Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4 PM PT.  This show will be edu-tainment at its best, so please join me on UpLive!

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Not Just a Hollywood Problem

I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of women in the world.   Hollywood was reeling over the avalanche of harassment and sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein.  The #MeToo hashtag is near-constant in my various feeds.  I am saddened.  I keep asking myself, “How do I take action?”  And more importantly, how to take action that reverbs beyond just Hollywood?

I see Saudi women claiming their right to drive and wanting more of the rights that we in the USA take for granted.  There’s been significant action to stop child-marriage in India.   Men are expressing remorse, sympathy and solidarity for the women brave enough to tell world their “Me Too”.   There IS progress.

I had a conversation with Nada Nasserdeen of Rise Up For You this morning.   It will be up soon.  We discussed so many things and one of the things that came up was the pay gap.  What Harvey Weinstein did was horrible, and once the headlines fade on this, we still have to keep pushing for economic equality.  Abuse of power is intimately tied to money. Having money does not give you the right to abuse other people.  One of the things that stands out about the Harvey Weinstein debacle was how  he was perceived as  a “golden goose” to quote Scott Rosenberg, a long-time associate.  If you haven’t read Rosenberg’s comments, read it.  Weinstein’s ability to make box office money left him unchecked. Considering how little progress has been made to include more women in the decision-making process of commercial film and television, it’s no wonder that he would-be-Harvey-s would feel invincible.

How do we move forward beyond this week?

  • Reach out to a woman in entertainment and let her know you support her.  Let her know that you care.
  • Go to a play or movie directed or produced by a woman.  Support women in the arts.  There’s an old maxim that “You’re only as good as your last picture.”  Let’s support women making art.
  • Do not tolerate bad behavior, “locker room talk” or any action that demeans a woman or girl at home, work or school.
  • Support women globally, especially to empower them economically.  A threat to women’s freedoms anywhere compromises women’s freedom everywhere.  One of my favorite ways to do this is by funding a micro-loan on Kiva.

This is about more than the transgressions of one man.  There are more Harvey-s in every industry, every country.  This is not just a Hollywood problem.  It’s a power imbalance that manifests everywhere from gilded Hollywood to the most humble villages on earth.  As long as the pay gap is tolerable to the majority, women will still be a minority, even if women outnumber men.

 

 

by Categories: Art & Life, Entertainment News, In My Humble Opinion #IMHO, Take ActionTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Penny Wise Pound Foolish

Peruse this article from the Austin Business Journal on the debate on film incentives in the state of Texas.

If you’ve ever done a professional film budget, the often invisible costs of making a movie are massive:  permits, feeding  people, putting cast and crew up in hotels, renting vehicles, supplies, location fees.  A film of any scale involves a massive infrastructure, often localized, to support it.  The last budget I prepped, I had to price out renting a local herd of goats, feeding said goats and the cost of a local wrangler and stable fees.  It’s this detail and minutiae that really make the cost of film what it is–and profitable for locals that can cash in on it.

I really want to film in Texas.  Why?  It’s my home state.  It’s where many of my stories are.  It’s what I know.  I probably won’t.  Texas’ neighbors have better incentives.  I want to do something for my community and filming could bring massive influxes of money to a very economically vulnerable area.

When I was asked at the San Antonio Film Festival why I hadn’t spent more time filming in my home state, I said at the time that, “It was not where my opportunities were, where my education led me.”  I keep returning to that question.  Here’s another reason why, one I couldn’t quite articulate in the moment:

The state doesn’t commit to its film community.  

Why should I commit to spend potentially millions of dollars in the state?

Movies aren’t made overnight.  They are long-haul projects.  It may take a screenwriter a year to get a camera-ready draft.  It may take us a year or more to get funded.  It may take us several months of pre-production, which will likely involve traveling back and forth.  We try to hire locally qualified people for the crew.  We will be in your state 30-60 days just filming, 12 hour days and paying for food and hotels and ancillary services, like dry cleaning, local assistants, etc.  We may be in your state several months after that if there’s a great post-house.  We may spend money on a Texas premiere if it’s a Texas subject.

The stability of state’s commitment to arts funding matters.  It’s a risk management consideration.  If you’re always threatening to pull a plug on your incentives, it’s not enticing.

 The counter-argument is that film jobs are temporary jobs and that is true to a point, but if you invest in creating a community, the jobs will keep coming.  Just ask Atlanta.  It seems there are some in government that would much rather have its denizens chained to an overabundance of low-paying retail jobs than branching out into a more highly skilled, better paid, film position.

I think it’s very shortsighted of the Texas legislature to nix film funding.  You could film almost anything in Texas, such is the geological and architectural diversity.  This is a whole state issue, not just an Austin or Dallas concern, where much of the film making takes place.  There are many areas that could benefit from more filming.  And frankly, it’s unnerving when New Mexico is standing in as Texas on film.  It’s happening more and more often.

 There’s a poster on the wall at the UTLA Center, an older poster, red, of all the great films made in Texas, which was a promo poster done by the Texas Film Commission a few years ago.  I hope they have to update that poster soon, with new, great films being made in Texas, but  the legislature must seize the opportunity.

by Categories: In My Humble Opinion #IMHO, UncategorizedTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment