Explicit Bias

May 29, 2018: The day Starbucks closed its stores for implicit racial bias training; Roseanne Barr made a racist tweet; ABC, in reaction, canceled her show; CNN held a live feed of a […]

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Labor and Creativity

Originally published in Cultural Weekly on August 30, 2017 My first job in any creative pursuit was in IATSE Local 44. IATSE is the labor union that governs below-the-line people who work […]

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TOLDJA! Diversity Pays

Originally published in Cultural Weekly on April 13, 2016  Last month, I wrote about the make-believe economics of the movie industry that people use to convince themselves to cast actors who […]

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Connect Like Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer is a performance artist, dramatist, singer and songwriter who has built a remarkably loyal following. They love her punk-cabaret music as performed solo, with the Dresden Dolls, and in various […]

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The Novelization of Corporate Strategy

“Why Companies Need Novelists” is a fascinating piece by Michael Grothaus about an unusual title appearing in select corporations–that of CSO, or Chief Storytelling Officer. The poster boy chosen for this curiosity […]

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Filmmaking In Action

I never went to film school. Instead, my career, like all careers, followed a path that seems coherent only in retrospect. Early on, when I found myself supervising movies as […]

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Lego’s Rejection of Ai Weiwei

Here’s a Sunroof Proposal When Lego rejects Ai Weiwei, something is amiss. The iconic Danish company has rejected the dissident Chinese artist’s request to purchase a bulk order of Legos, and […]

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Why I Joined CreativeFuture

The Creativity Paradox: the creative work that brings us together is made by people who are often isolated and lonely. Movies, TV shows, theatre, dance, visual art, music, books, news […]

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Gaming the College System

Benefiting From a Behavior-Driving Application What if playing around can lead to positive behaviors that can reduce environmental risks, such as reducing the drop out rate for first generation college […]

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My TIFF List

Originally published in Cultural Weekly on September 2, 2015. TIFF (the Toronto International Film Festival) is my very favorite of all film festivals. The studios use TIFF as a launch-pad […]

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Power of Ailey

Originally published in Cultural Weekly on April 15, 2015. The opening night program of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion showcased four pieces from the repertory, […]

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Momentum Building

Success Isn’t Accidental A movie has an extraordinary value proposition: If you give us 30 seconds of your attention, which is the average length of a television commercial, we will […]

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