The Opportunity It's a normal afternoon in 2022. I'm eating lunch with Laura when my phone lights up. I haven't exactly been expecting this call, but I was hoping for it (a part of me anyway). My heart starts to race as I pick it up. "Hey man!" I say to my friend (and frequent stunt coordinator boss) "What's going on?" "Hey buddy, So I got that call for Ballerina like we were hoping, and I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to be my Fight Coordinator for it." My heart starts beating a...
2 months ago • 3 min read
We've All Been Trapped Society has been designed to get you to fit into its neat little paradigm. Go to school, learn a bunch of mostly useless things (past grade school anyway). go to college where you accumulate debt, start a career to pay off that debt, work your ass off til you're too old to pursue anything else, retire and live frugally til you die. No thanks. But what absolutely blows my mind is that 90 percent of people out there, are going to do this exact thing. They have this idea...
3 months ago • 4 min read
I wanted to pop by your inbox to let you know that I just dropped a cinematic travel video on my youtube channel. I don't usually promote these things through the email channel since I try to use this for newsletters, tips, product promotions, and other news, but this may just be one of the most cinematic things I've ever made, so I thought you'd dig it! Check it out here, and subscribe to the channel! I'll see you this weekend for the regular newsletter. talk soon, and as always, thanks for...
3 months ago • 1 min read
The Odyssey The Never Was In May, I was supposed to go out and work on the new Christopher Nolan movie The Odyssey. I had been so stoked, and I wanted to do it right this time. I had full intentions of taking a tiny little Field Notes book and jotting down every nugget of wisdom that came out of Nolan’s mouth. And trust me, there’s a lot. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to work out in the desert on his movie Tenet for a month, and while I definitely have a couple great stories, having...
3 months ago • 3 min read
I feel like I spent the first year or more making things online for my girlfriend and my mom. Same process every time: I’d spend entire days hammering away at my desk, trying to craft the most compelling script possible. Write. Rewrite. Rewrite again. After a few marathon sessions putting fingers to keyboard, I’d finally land on something I thought was worth sharing. I’d shoot it, hit post, and wait for the world to tell me whether or not I was good enough for them to tune in..And nothing. No...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Lately I've had this creeping fear that AI might just replace everything I love doing. And It's hard not to feel like AI isn't going to replace everything we can do to live a free creative life, centered around our passions. And if we can't do that, how do we find meaning? I've certainly embraced AI in my own day to day workflow and recognized it for what it is: A tool capable of unlocking our true potential. That said, I still have had that gnawing fear that as AI improves at lighting speed...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Ahoy! Before we get into this week’s newsletter, I wanted to let you know about a few exciting things. First, I’ve started going live on YouTube (twitch soon to follow) and it’s been a really fun time. It’s basically a smorgasbord covering everything from cinematic content creation, personal branding, and stories from the industry… to a whole lot of goofing off. Think of it like a giant Q&A—ask me anything, and we’ll hang. Secondly, I had a great response to a recent post about storytelling...
3 months ago • 3 min read
It's a few years back (maybe more than a few), and I'm living in a tiny little town called Abita Springs just outside New Orleans, Louisiana. It's one of those summer nights where the air just feels thick. The humidity here is no joke. I pull into the Johnny's Pizza parking lot with my buddy Tyler and turn off the car. Besides us, the parking lot is deserted. Tyler gets out but I just sit there, silent. The Neon Johnnys sign buzzes as it pulses on and off splashing red light across the lot...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Because I did gymnastics and all kinds of sports growing up, I’ve always maintained a level of athleticism. Gymnastics alone set the foundation of making me strong and nimble, which gave me a decent head start when I started pursuing stunts. But when I started training Jiu-Jitsu? I got smashed. Every. Single. Roll. For what felt like an eternity, I’d show up, take class, roll. And get absolutely annihilated. And this went on for months. My competitive nature (and the fact that I tend to get a...
4 months ago • 2 min read