Hi Film Folk,

I’ve been fortunate this year to spend time in many cities in England and Scotland and to visit Prague, Berlin, Munich and now New York…

I spoke a little about New York in last week’s blog, this was my first visit since 1999.

As a writer and filmmaker, I think it’s really important to experience life. To go out there into the world and absorb different cultures and try new things. Inspiration comes from doing things outside of your daily routine. If you don’t experience new aspects of life and challenge yourself, where is your inspiration going to come from?

This doesn’t mean that you need to fly around the world! New experiences can be much, much closer to home. Sample some new food, try your hand at a new hobby or even just walk a different direction to the shops!

You are unlikely to come up with lots of phenomenal new ideas while doing dull, boring routines. You need to spark and feed your creativity!

As for New York, there was inspiration to be found everywhere I turned. From a tour at the Statue of Liberty, watching my first baseball game to a boat tour around Manhattan, but equally just riding the subway and eating pizza at Times Square.

I often speak about taking opportunities when they present themselves. Well, being in New York gave me the opportunity to do a few pieces to camera about “Hollywood Hates This Book” and to discuss the project with some influential colleagues. I’m excited to be back in England now, extremely close to launching both the book and our filmmaking network site.

There’ll be exciting news on both in the coming weeks!

Thanks for reading,

P.S. As a film geek, I also got to check out the Ghostbusters fire station… Big geek points for that. 🙂