I hop off the bus, throw open the hatch, dig out my backpack and... Phew. My trusty Flip cam in there. We hop another train and it's onto Ostuni. The train is smaller and traveling south along the coast. There no conductor and as we reach the time when I was suppposed to arrive in Ostuni, 5 hours from Rome, I am worried I missed my stop.
A few weeks earlier to conserve money for this trip I switched to Boost Mobile's basic $50 per month service. I find myself kicking myself for not sticking with my Blackberry Verizon phone as I have no way to know where I am and can't call the resort to know if the delay with crazy bus detour is going to mean I am going to be stranded if I am in fact on the way to Ostuni. Finally I tell myself to shut the hell up and that it will all work out somehow. Enjoy the Italian countryside, bitch.
Amazing little cities pass by the train window and we are now 45 minutes late. I figure if we keep going south the end of the line I can always backtrack and make my way to Ostuni again if I missed it. We pass an amazing town I want to visit on another trip. Beautiful architecture that looks like giant layered tiramasu in a town called Monopoli.
It looks like a paradise. A paradise I've never heard of before where life goes on every day without ever a thought about we people working like slaves to a dream that died a while ago.
Then Monopoli is gone and I wonder why I was ever worrying about making it to Ostuni.
Sorry I have been away. Far away in both body and spirit. For years I've read, written and watched science fiction voraciously. Today I am living science fiction.
I've been filming social media for YouTube for Bradley Quick, which led to my meeting an amazing new client for my fledgling business BuzzBroz. The cleint is Connie Miller, founder of an group therapy workshop she holds all over the world called Souldrama. Souldrama teaches you how to lead a more soulful existence.
Now, I am a regular Joe from the Midwest, always will be, Hollywood can't take that out of me. So when Connie insisted that in addtion to making her YouTube videos that I take the class in Puglia Italy at the amazing private resort she booked to our exclusive use for Souldrama, well, I almost didn't go. I kept making excuses not to go, not enough money, it was a barter deal after all and I did not want to do group therapy. I'd not done any therapy on myself for a good 8 years.
But Connie and Bradley would not give up on me. So eventually I was set on going to Italy. The last time I went to Italy, 20 years ago, I was a mega real estate developer building Oprah's TV studios and 38 story $162 million skyscrapper. Now, post divorce and post financial disaster I was a struggling artist, signing for his supper making YouTube videos.
20 years ago I was rich in money but poor in spirit and now I was poor in both departments. I lost my faith on the way to Italy reading THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES by the great Joseph Campbell, who opened my eyes to the fact all religions share common mythologies.
Now, in 2010, Italy was calling me back for a new kind of spirituality, one that infused my belief in a great universe we all share as spiritual beings having a human existance, to borrow from Wayne Dyer.
As the time to go to Italy approached I worked intensely to make the trip. No $162 million dollar project to pick our marbles for the lobby to back me up this time, I had to make many little YouTube videos, do Twitter work and Facebook assignements to earn my way; the fees in the hundreds of dollars this time instead of the hundreds of thousands like back in 1990.
I did social media for an amazing client I met through Bradley named Filippo Voltaggio. A larger than life American Italian, Filippo hosts a New Age show called Life Changes. And after doing a lot of work on spec for a percentage of YouTube ads I was forced to start charging him as Google ads I've learned, unless you have videos consistently getting millions of views, are not going to make you much money.
But I love the subject matter Filippo covers along with his producer and Reiki teacher Dorothy Donahue, an amazing woman in her 60's. A motherly figure who watches carefully over her New Age flock.
One day Filippo called me that he had filmed an interview with famed ET expert Sheldan Nidle about his views on the coming "Shift", all centering around 2012. Filippo needed the video edited and posted to YouTube. I agreed because I wanted to learn more about "The Shift". As you'll see in this video from the 6 part series on YouTube, I learned more than I bargained for.
Please watch the video before reading further.
See what I meant earlier in this post about living science fiction?
Sheldan's calm description of the collapse of banks, nations, mountains falling and rising, tectonic plate shifts, aliens reprogramming our DNA left me shaken. His great certainty about it all was unnerving. But I worked some long hours and got the videos loaded but they were hard for me to watch even though I'd help make them.
The last few days before Italy were spent in Las Vegas covering social media for Bradley Quick and his Quick Fix talk show. Bradley is the single worst driver I have ever met. And as we left Hollywood for the 5 hour drive to Vegas I wondered if my trip to Italy would be cut short as Bradley zig zagged through traffic with our assitant for the trip screaming at him to slow down and drive with his hands on the wheel. Bradley is a notorious text and drive guy.
But somehow we made it into town and despite trouble with the assistant, an Italian/Iranian woman with attitude like I've never witnessed -- who we had to let go, and who's parting crack was that I was Bradley's wife -- we managed to make a beautiful collection of videos and I had money for Italy just in the nick of time.
The flight seemed easier compared to 20 years ago. Perhaps because I was imagining travel to be tougher post 9/11. But it was a breeze. My passport sailed me along.
I staggered onto a train to Rome from the Rome airport and the first thing that struck me was the amount of graffiti lining the train's path. The city was not the same. The pristine Rome of 20 years ago was not to be found. Of course I was in a far richer hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps in 1990. Now the Lira was no more, replaced by the Euro and the exchange rate was terrible. I had to Western Union home to friends and my brother to be able to afford my way to Puglia.
I had little money to spend during my 2 days in Rome. So I tried to get some social media gigs, but the language barrier prevented any of that from happening. I made the best of my meager budget and saw some of the sites and even managed to buy a lightweight tripod for my trusty flip camera.
It was to be a relaxing 5 hour train ride from Rome to Ostuni, on the heel of the boot of Italy, where the Santa Maria Del Sole staff would pick me up. But the train ride proved confusing as hell. Half way to Ostuni the train stopped and emptied out.
I was still drowsy from the flight and grabbed my bags and followed the passengers to a cluster of buses. The bus driver could not speak English, or I should say I could not speak his Italian. But he checked my ticket, and told me to get on board. There was one seat left and I squirmed in.
As the bus pulled onto the highway I felt my pockets for my trusty Flip camera and it was missing. I thought about the beautiful train shots and kicked myself now for taking out the camera.
How was I going to cover Souldrama without a camera?!
I made it. 7 years I've survived in Hollywood making scripts, movies, commercials and YouTube videos. Survived is the word. I certainly have not thrived. But one day when I'm on that death bed ready to move onto the next life I won't be saying, "Wish I'd have tried making it in Hollywood."
My only mistake was doing it too late in life to make it big. But then I'd have missed out on my life back in Chicago as the guy who leased 3 skyscrapers, built Oprah's studios and had two amazing kids.
So I have no regrets Hollywood has not paid off like I wish it had. And I wouldn't trade the Hollywood I've experienced for the glamor one of say a Kevin Spacey's, a guy about my age who I admire.
I'm enjoying covering Hollywood as a social media guru. You can see that I really am having fun in this new BuzzBroz video.
Ya either love 'e, or hate 'em. That's the old saying but for me it's somewhere in between. Especially when I get up in the middle of the night and the bathroom I share with cats at the amazing Mr. Quick's studio are hogging their turf and that turf happens to be the sink and toilet.
Real-life Scarcity Inspires SCARCITY the Short Film
As my followers know, it's been a rough past year for me. I was evicted last fall from an apartment I loved nestled in Agoura Hills. I led an ideal creative life in Agoura writing a dozen screenplays, making three feature length docs and over 100 short films. So losing all that was rough on me.
But I've slowly been rebuilding my life via a new SMM venture called BuzzBroz, with a lot of help from some amazing pepople talked about in this blog at great length. As part of that SMM work I started a group of projects I call "Let's Watch Radio." that you can read about on my BuzzBroz blog.
But since last fall I've been so busy with cleaning up the mess in my life that I've not done any fictional work in over a year. So it is with great pleasure I present to you my newest political satire SCARCITY.
SCARCITY is set in a dark near term future where China has called in America's loans, decimating our economy and the very fabric of our society. The scary thing is SCARCITY is not a huge stretch of the imagiantion. It stars two amazing young actors Ramon Govea Gomez and Brett Collier. And also an amazing old actor Tom Katsis.
The idea for SCARCITY is somethig I've been working out since today's crazy jobless recovery cost me a home I loved and my beautiful little dog Sophia, who I found a wonderful home for.
When I moved to North Hollywood, renting a small studio / bedroom to cut down costs, after being used to a mansion of an apartment, I began wandering the area and came across an amazing find. A grocery store going under in the bad economy. It closes this week and looks like something out of the Great Depression.
A ready made set! After challenging a bunch of writers to give me a story about SCARCITY and coming up dry I began to wrack my brains for a story I'd write myself. One day at the store I learned there was only 10 days left until the amazing Great Depression set would be gone. As I shopped the sad store I came across a lone can of olives perched on a entirely empty shelf and the script idea for two competing shoppers came to me.
SCARCITY was born. As I'm fighting to scratch out a living, as is everyone in my cast, we worked fast and cheap. I shot with my trusty Flip, did the ADR in Tom's Saab in the parking lot and edited the whole film together in less than 24 hours.
Through Bradley Quick I've been meeting some very cool people. Musician producer David Longoria, radio star and producer Robert Eibach, the author of THE FOUR AGREEMENTS; Don Miguel Ruiz and his beautiful kids and niece Karla (pictured below), famous hypnotherapist Tom Silver and radio star, singer Filippo Voltaggio.
Fillippo's the guy with great hair in the photo above. Heck, at this stage of baldness I'd settle for bad hair, hence the hat.
Life is full again. I'm making great videos, like this meditation series I just did for Bradley's channel. And I think his ELIMINATE FEAR AND ANXIETY message in this video is working.
I've let go of worrying about money and I am healing from a lot of wounds. I've even gotten so over fear that I've started roller blading again after stopping 10 years ago after breaking a wrist.
A big person responsible for the Quick Fix of Mr. Sheetz is Dorothy Donahue. Dorothy Gale as I nicknamed her for the girl who flew over the rainbow is a Reiki master, renonwed and sought after by people all over the planet.
I'm bartering with her, doing some BuzzBroz SMM work in return for Reiki therapy and training. Stay tuned for future blogs where we'll go behind the scenes to an actual Reiki class. Meantime enjoy a bit of unconditional PURE LOVE from Dorothy Donahue.
For the past month, since my abrupt departure from Kim and Gilley's lives, -- a departure I hope is only temporary as I love them both for their parts on my 7 Years in Hollywood journey -- I've been doing social media marketing via my new baby BuzzBroz as part of my rent with Bradley Quick (pictured left) who runs a foundation called The Cool Change Foundation that helps families devastated by drug and alcohol abuse.
Bradley's a great man and I have enjoyed these past 30 days, filming his life and getting the word out for him into the world via BuzzBroz.
Bradley had a horrific childhood that led to early substance abuse. He ended up a skid row junkie before a family intervention turned his life around. 23 sober and clean years later Bradley is a famed author for The Quick Fix and the radio by the same name which he hosts. He's also an awesome motivational speaker as you can see in this video I made for him that's already buzzed up 10,000 views!
DAILY KARAOKE WITH BRADLEY QUICK
Try being depressed with a motivational speaker to inspire you every day! Impossible for me with Bradley around. Bradley's office is up the hall from mine and he bursts into boisterous song at random moments all day long. Here's his favorite of course because it inspired the name of his Cool Change Foundation.
I enjoy Bradely's "karaoke without the machine" style so much that I built him a Blip FM radio station. Check it out. You can hear some of the tunes that he sings in his rough booming radio voice that are guaranteed to brighten your day!
BRADLEY'S AA MEETINGS INSPIRE ME
An amazing experience for me in filming Bradley's amazing life is attending some of his AA meetings, as a filmmaker without his camera. These sessions are private affairs. Sitting in a auditorium filled with guys who keep each other on the wagon is nearly overwhelming for me.
An AA man somberly shares his story about how all his friends who used to drink with him are all dead now. Reality is far more powerful than my daydreams.
As I sit there beside Bradley, feeling way out of place as a sober man except for some rare party moments, I'm touched by how thsi very macho bunch "Share" tender stories of the way booze and drugs have ravaged their lives and how AA saves them each day. And I begin to sadly feel at home.
Why? Because in all their stories I hear echoes of how my being a workaholoic has stolen so much life from me. I think about missing most of the 20s of my two great kids, and not hangin' with my brother Fred, a heavy smoker and who I worry I'll lose to cancer one day. All missed while I've been out here in heartless Hollywood working my ass off for 7 hard years, chasing a what seems an impossible, and sometimes meaningless, dream of being a Hollywood director.
I think about how I use work to hide from feelings, my family... myself.
The leader of the AA meeting snaps me out of my self-reflection when he announced the chapter is running dangerously low on funds. So, despite not having much money, with 3 BuzzBroz clients behind on paying me and not likely to soon while the bailed out bank keep our capital frozen here in the Great Depression 2, I dig deep and toss $20 into the donation basket.
STEPS & THE 12 STEPS
Twenty bucks is small price for inspiration from all the stories these men shared. 7 years ago a screenplay I wanted to bring the silver screen called STEPS had brought me here. It's a multi-protagonist tale about three divorce ravaged families, told like CRASH, with the various plots all meeting at the end.
At Bradley's AA meeting I learned what one of the stories in STEPS should really be about: How the 12 Steps can save lives and families. STEPS has always been about how divorce tears families apart and what tears more families apart than booze and drugs?
The 2002 STEPS trailer you can watch here, shot in glorious 35MM, stars Jennifer Estilin, a great Chicago SAG pro and non-professional actor, and Dave Curry. Dave's my friend and BuzzBroz client for his amazing re-invention of the shoe for PodiWear.
These casting choices were made before I learned the hard way that you must use known stars to get distribution or have a completed film that becomes a festival hit. But I think Dave turns in a solid performance for a first-timer and Jenifier is flat out amazing.
BRADLEY INTERVIEWS DON MIGUEL RUIZ
Two weeks ago, following Bradley around as his videographer, I was so proud to film Bradley's masterful interview with famed author Don Miguel Ruiz whose best-seller THE FOUR AGREEMENTS sold over 4.4 million copies that has been translated into 36 languages.
Don Miguel's new book THE FIFTH AGREEMENT, authored with his son Don Jose, is already in the top ten on the New York Times best-seller list!
What was cool was Don Miguel beautiful niece, Karla Ruiz, also had a Flip camera. So I devised a strategy to film a two Flip camera interview.
I was the only camera operator, however, so it was a bear in post. But the final result, a 45 minute playlist you can watch here. It already has buzzed up over 7,000 views and YouTube.
BRADLEY IS INTERVIEWED ON "LIFE CHANGES WITH FILIPPO"
In filming Bradley's getting interviewed for a switch on a cool radio show about modern spirituality called LIFE CHANGES WITH FILIPPO I met the host Filippo and his co-producer Dorothy Lee Donahue.
Here's the playlist for that radio interview, which I also had the honor to film. It gives you a complete overview of the man, the legend, Bradley Quick.
COMING BLOG ATTRACTIONS & TRANSFORMATIONS
You'll be learning more of my adventures in meeting the amazing Filippo and Dorothy, a Reiki Master, who became BuzzBroz clients and great new friends thanks to the glowing recommendations of Bradley.
And so another amazing chapter in my spiritual journey 7 Years in Hollywood opens. Perhaps the real reason I am here.
