adivice for screenwriters

When I first moved to LA, I had all these dreams and aspirations of making big movies and winning an Oscar. But winning an Oscar is not a goal. I don't have control over it.

When I look back, I see just how much of what I thought were goals were just dreams and in some ways they really became pipe dreams because they weren't clear enough for me to make specific marked progress along that.

It took me way too long to figure out that I needed to be making smart goals. And that as author Maria Nimeth says, “The biggest obstacle to hitting our goals is that we're not as married to the goal as we are married to the plan of how we're going to get there.”

So what is a SMART goal? Listen in as we discuss Planning: the third step in the 9 P’s of Powerful and Effective Creating.

Here are the worksheets for making SMART goals and mapping your Weekly Milestones

Link to video: https://youtu.be/-FOrRueK610

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee
Sponsored by WeStrive

Purpose is that wellspring from which we can derive energy when things get challenging. Therefore finding your purpose for creating is essentially the first thing you should do in your creative journey.

In this episode, as we launch the 9 P’s of Powerful and Effective Creating, I’ll share what I’ve observed as the most common pitfalls when it comes to creatives finding their purpose and how this element is iterative as the creative process pans out.

Here is a worksheet to guide you with finding your purpose - getting clear on your “why”.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/D6d0gspqW7A

Our guest for this week, Geoffrey Calhoun, used to work as an MRI technician. What turned him to professional screenwriting?  What did he take to make that pivot?

In this episode we discuss several topics from his book, The Guide for Every Screen Writer: ranging from his writing process, writing exercises that have helped us both, and why there is nothing wrong with having a day job as a screenwriter.

Calhoun is a screenwriter, author and creative coach.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee
Sponsored by WeStrive

Why do true crime series appeal to us? Not the click bait titles actually, but literary works about actual crimes.

According to our guest today, Kim Daly, it’s because of the powers that victim focused stories have. From the power to heal, building community, to informing the readers on what precautions to take in order to limit the chances of falling victim to these crimes.

Kim Daly is an author and editor. Her latest book, The True Crime Files is now available here.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee
Sponsored by WeStrive

Must poetry be inaccessible? Can you be a full time poet? What is more exposing -publishing your own poetry or editing an anthology of other poets' works?

I had so many questions for this week's guest, the poet and writing coach James Crews, and he was gracious enough to share his insight. Apart from talking about how he started out as a poet, and how to build a community as artists,  he also read from his upcoming collection 'Path to Kindness' .

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

"Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started." I totally agree with David Allen on this. Not just from the funk I'm in right now but also looking back at how stress and fatigue affected my creative work in the past.

How did I manage to stay creative in spite of the stress and exhaustion? Listen in:

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Are you afraid of failure? Do you question your ability even after years of mastering your craft? What if we're to tell you that failure is a necessity to any creative's process?

This week, I host Taylor Lewis -of the filmmaking trio Lewis Brothers.  From setting each other on fire in their parents' backyard,  they started their production company before graduating high school. They have grown an impressive client list (Amazon, Microsoft, DJI) that has them shooting projects all around the globe.

Check out their filmmaking course here.

You can also book a 1:1 coaching session with me here.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

We all have creative wounds. As we all carry shrapnel from bombing a performance or from our expectations blowing up on our faces. How do we heal from the rejection, negative criticism or utter indifference of the world to our work so that we can continue to create? I posed this question and others to our guest this week, Brooke Adams Law.

Brooke is a writer and creative coach. She uses writing as a tool to help women step into sovereignty, reclaim their voices and remake their stories. You can buy her latest novel, Catchlight, here.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Do you feel stuck in your creative work? What is holding you back from creating your dream project? Is it having limited resources? Or interruptions in life? Or lack of time?

According to our guest this week, Austin Kleon, all these can work in your favor. Creativity becomes a matter of subtraction and routine. As Stephen King says, it can overwhelm you to write a 365 pages long book, but what if you wrote a page a day?

Austin is an Austin based 'writer who draws'. His books, mostly about creativity, have been on the New York Times bestseller lists for years, translated into tens of languages and sold over a million copies. He recently released a 10th year edition of his classic, 'Steal like an Artist'. Gift yourself or someone else a copy here.

You can also book a free 1-on-1 coaching session with me here.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Mostly, we define ourselves by what we do for ourselves or for who we want to be perceived as. In essence, we identify ourselves with our egos, these tiny fractions of who we really are. What if though, we pursued what makes us one with others in our lives? What if we served others wholly?

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Where does creativity and fatherhood meet? Isn't a father far different from a creative?

Our guest for this week had a epiphany that the road to being a good father is akin to the hero's/ creative's journey. We talk about that and other things like, how his background of being raised by a single mum affected him, and how he makes time to write even while being present for his son.

Kendall Smith is an author and dedicated father. His latest book 'Rookie Father' is a playbook offering pragmatic advice to men experiencing fatherhood for the first time.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

How does it feel to have an award winning best seller at 22? What does it take to do it again SEVEN more times in different genres?

Our guest for this week has answers to this and many other questions I had about her creative process, how to overcome writers' block and more so all about her latest novel, Secrets of Our House.

Rea Frey is an author, podcast host and CEO of Rightway which she founded to assist aspiring writers become published authors.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Justin Nchini is a Cameroonian filmmaker. His debut feature, Hidden Dreams, is Cameroon's entry for Best International Feature at this year's Oscar Awards. You can watch the trailer here.

On this episode we talk about how he made the feature from a short film I guided him to do at Cinemadamare Africa back in 2019. And the role of mentors in his journey as a creative.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

The assumptions, or hypothesis, that we approach any project with affect the outcomes. Mostly negatively. It's our willingness to alter these perceptions and relationships we have with the subject of our efforts that determines whether or not we'll meet our objectives.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

How can the greatest psychologists living now help us achieve creative success? This week, lets briefly discuss Victor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning' and Marshall Rosenberg's 'Nonviolent Communication'.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Pivoting is usually a term used in business to mean abandoning an original business plan or product, and taking up another and moving in a new direction. But what exactly is 'Pivot' in creative work?

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

When you create something, even fiction, pieces of you must go into it. Others get to experience you which can result in them being inspired (if they're open to relating) or them being triggered to crap on you.

On this episode we talk about showing up honestly as creators, handling the challenge of vulnerability and the negative feedback that may arise.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee

Do you feel more creative in some places and less creative in different set ups? What's the connection between the literal situation you find yourself in and the flow you feel while writing or painting?

On this episode, I share insights about my own creative process that I've gained from writing while on the road.

Written and Produced by Matthew C. Temple
Edited by Tyen Musa
Original Theme Music by Adrian Lee