Hi Allison.
I am glad that your overall experience in directing has been good.
Don’t feel bad about posting here to get some kind of validation. We all need that now and again. Do you think we would be here if we didn’t desire validation from someone we admire (in this case, you)?
I think this experience directing an episode forcing you to look in the mirror and see what your fans see since several years.
Many actors do not watch their performances on television preferring to receive feedback from the director. You have adopted this way of doing things in your everyday life.
To direct your episode, you must assess and give feedback to the players. You therefore give feedback to yourself. It was a revelation.
You know now that you are able to evaluate you objectively.
A balanced life must be maked by working time, joy time and rest time.
The interpretation is a gift that you received in your youth and that you have developed wonderfully. You are the best.
I am very grateful that you have trusted us.
Takes care of you and takes your time.

Good night
Claude. xo

One of the most important skills that you have shared with us Allison, is your ability to turn on your “Performance Mode.” This skill has served you well, and gives a lot of us hope, as well as admiration. Too often our own daily ruminations and interruptions appear to get the better of us–or so it seems. Then here an artist such as yourself shares with her online community *her* personal doubts and fears, while producing an excellent product for our consumption. This lets us know that some of the limitations we experience may be tackled and conquered; eh, maybe tomorrow. : )

So no matter if you want to post, or lurk, or pop down to the theater with some friends, feel free to find a little satifaction here when you want some.

Take care,
Jade Ruby

Allison, that was an awesome post. I’m glad you such an amazing time directing!

That is very interesting what you were saying about needing people’s approval to validate your own identity. People do it all the time; I know I do. I should know who I am and not have to depend on other people’s thoughts to decide that. I never even thought that this blog was a way for you to use us as a verification of who you are. You’re so freakin’ thoughtful, Allison. I love that. You can verify that you’re a thoughtful person from that comment.

I can’t wait to see this Smallville episode of Allison Mack’s directorial debut. It’ll be great!

Allison,

Congrats on your directing adventure thus far. I’m sure it is going to be great!

We understand that you need some time away from it all to concentrate on YOU. Nobody is capable of being on the go all the time. If we don’t take time to slow down and be quiet, our well runs dry and we feel empty. Sometimes, I get so busy concentrating on everything going on around me and running around trying to please everybody that I loose track of who I am and I soon find myself devoid of imagination, creativity and initiative. The only way to combat this is to be SELFISH! Time for self-reflection (in my view) is the secret to having a healthy soul. That, and cultivating the ability to be honest with yourself without beating yourself up about your failings.

I hope, once you feel like things are making more sense, you will join us again. It must be scary sometimes being so open with strangers but, don’t ever doubt that it is also valuable and inspirational. You inspire people to be brave and open and to think about important issues. I know you are very busy and it must take commitment from you to keep this community alive but, I want you to know that we appreciate it very much. So, thank you for being so brave and open. If more people shared of themselves the way you do I think there will be a lot less confusion and hatred in the world. We all need good role models, especially young people, and I believe you have the ability to do a lot of good by being here.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and hope to see you back soon.

Regards,

Cindy

Boy, am I glad that my life is a lot less complicated than yours!

I only have to worry about what tie goes well with which shirt; even that’s more complication than I would like to deal with!

Anyway…

I’m glad that you enjoyed yourself and I hope that the rest of your experience and the series is just as much fun!

Take care all

Friday

Hi Allison

I think that’s wonderful that you that are expanding your horizons around the field of acting into directing. I think that you are an extremely beautiful, loving and intelligent woman, with a lot of innate ideas that you can bring to anything you do. I also think that seeing the love in others around you is so remarkable. Allison, I hope you continue go on doing the things that you are doing. Let your heart guide you, your beautiful if I can say that haaa,

-Jesse

I’m sorry is “your episode” not you’re. So sorry!!!

Allison, thank you so much for all you do and all you inspire in us! It’s so awesome to be a small part of this journey with you. Your such a talented, gifted and beautiful person.

vagas911,
I think the cookie event was the first step, but sure we can take the second step now.
Inspiring stories about random act of kindness is a very good idea. I start with one of my stories;
I generally don’t believe in miracles and I am not superstitious either, I believe there should be some logical explaination for every thing, having that said there are things I am not able to explain myself.

Back to my training days in army, our group was rewarded a few days off for outstanding performance. I had to travel for 15 hrs by bus and train to go home and visit my family. The problem was I was totally broke and my money would get me only half way through. But it was new year’s and I had to go back and see my family. With all my money I took a train to another city, On the train I was thinking what the hell am I doing, how am I going to get home, I looked up and I saw an older guy sitting in front of me staring and smiling at me, I looked away and thought; Okay may be when I get off the train I ask stores if they need help with any thing and I work for a few hrs for some money then I’ll buy a ticket and go home. Looked up again, the man was still staring and smiling. I continued my train of thoughts; But who am I kidding, who will give me a job for a few hrs so fast so soon. I wish they would let me pay on my way back, ya like any body would trust me on that. I look up again, this time the man gets up and walks towards me, he put something in my jacket’s pocket. I looked, the exact money I needed to buy my next ticket. I was not raised to accept help from anybody I wanted to say something but he stopped me, keeping the big smile on his face he said;”It’s Okay”. I thought okay, but I will give that money back so I opened my mouth to ask for his address or phone number but he stoped me again; “It’s okay I said”.

Arash,

You can pay me that money back now.

[That's a joke. Nice story!]

“Pay It Forward”

The world seems a little backwards to me in some ways. If you have an idea for a movie, I’ve been told that the idea can’t be accepted unless it is totally scripted … and if it is accepted once it is scripted, it will be re-scripted leaving almost nothing but the original idea. Why waste the time writing the script? Because you have to! Then I found a place that only takwe ideas … just not MY ideas. Then someone said they would get a script written for me from a treatment. I told the person I have an outline, NOT a treatment. So, I was told, write a short story that doesn’t have to be anything like the outline so that he can have a treatment written followed by a script. Then he can submit the script, get it optioned so it can be stripped back to the original concept. Just talking about it was exhausting to me. In may, I spent a couple hours scribbling down the introduction to the story that was to be nothing like the movie but would be the basis for a treatment … whatever that is. But, I didn’t spend more that a couple hours that one night. I may be able to work on it more this weekend, but I don’t know if it is worth it or will get me where I want to be with the entire thing. So I thought I’d type a few pages and see if that breathed any life into me.

This isn’t an appropriate place to post this, but what the heck. If someone else is out there and not spending a traditional holiday with other people and feel the urge, please read what follows and let me know if what I’ve typed up is interesting enough that I should keep working on it … so it can be used and tossed out on the way to the real story. Otherwise, I think I’ll just try cleaning the gutters on my house this weekend. That’s exciting work. Not as exciting as when I lived in a three story house, but the potential of a ten foot fall is still pretty thrilling.

=======

“Clarence’s Tale”
5-12-08

Hello! Warmest greetings to you all! If you read the title of this story, you probably realize that I am Clarence. I don’t use a last name anymore, so it’s simply Clarence … formerly known as SIMPLE Clarence. I never was the brightest light in the night sky, but sometimes constancy is more important than intensity. But that is beside the point of this story … and neither am I … although I was so bold as to put my name in the title. It isn’t really appropriate and I might change it tom something more apt as this little project of mine takes shape. If you would, please remind me to rethink the title if I forget to do so. Thank you for your help! We can all use help every now and again … and some of us more than others.

Pardon me? You want to know why the title doesn’t fit? Well, you see, I discovered the details of this story by exploring a great mystery surrounding my lifetimes … yes plural … LIFETIMES. As I posed the questions and the answers played themselves out in front of me, I found that I owe what I am today by the action … and inaction … of a man that made an unselfish sacrifice so the world can be as it is today and I can happily be in the place where I am. What? Not thrilled with the world as it is? Well, part of the reason for that is that you don’t know the way it almost was. Actually, it WAS that way. It was worse and had the potential due to a ripple effect of being much, much worse. But that all changed in a single day … in a single encounter between worlds physical and spiritual.

I’m sorry this is so confusing. Hopefully I will find words to make this clear. This is all new to me. I used to be an avid reader … but was never inclined to do much in the way of putting quill to paper. Now I feel compelled to write this particular story so that all can know the power that small acts can have over a lifetime – both positive and negative. I thought that my writing would, as is normal in such cases, remain something for my own amusement in my own realm … but the powers that be for some reason have taken an interest and informed me that my words will be allowed to filter down to people such as yourself. I am so honored that such an unusual exception should be made for one such as myself. Having been given the opportunity, I will try to undertake it enthusiastically! That being said, I’d better get on with it.

William Constantine … what can I say about such a man? He is the one that gave me the wonderful gift I want to tell you about, but he was also the person that who had previously pushed me beyond all my limits … and NOT in a good way. I almost lost all that I am … FOREVER! That may not seem like much to you, but I am all that I have. I really did what I could to be true to myself. I fought the good fight, but my opponent was too strong. I let him lead me to despair and beyond. In the end, I gave up and, in giving up, allowed him to destroy the last vestige of who I was. But strangely enough, that NEVER happened! At least it didn’t happen in the sense that you call “reality.” But beyond reality, it DID happen … then UN-happened. The man that cost me everything made a choice that gave me back … ME! He gave me back my soul! Despite all he had done to me, I did the UNTHINKABLE to him in a thoughtless, impulsive moment. The me I am today can not even imagine doing what I did no matter what excuses I might like to make. And William Constantine was NOT a man know to be kind, tolerant or forgiving. Far from it! Yet, he made a choice that went against everything he had been and everything he had believed in and adhered to … and that choice gave me the chance to be what I am!

I know this is difficult for you to understand. In your position, I know I could never possibly comprehend what I am telling you. I was more than somewhat … dense … when I walked the Earth. Not that I’m brilliant now … except compared to you … not that any of that is your fault. It’s just the nature of things. I’m sure you’ll be much smarter than I am when you’re dead like I am. There you go! “DEAD!” That’s a perfect example. I had to use that word so you can understand where I’m coming from, yet the word as you’ll interpret it is SO very, VERY WRONG! The way it seems to me, you are the one that’s dead … or at least severely limited – stuck in that heavy body of yours with only a few senses with which to experience creation. What a JOY it was for me to finally wake up! Excuse me. Again, there is a problem with the words. When I left my body behind, it was like experiencing everything in the universe for the first time. The spectrum that is available to my senses is so vast … but it is as indescribable to you as …. Again, I just can’t say in a way that will make reality comprehendible to you. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but I feel so sorry for you. I don’t know how I tolerated my time that way as well as I did … and even managed to love the experience while I was there. But going back? No … expect for a short visit to make me appreciate what I have now. No thank you.

Now, don’t get me wrong! What you do is VERY important in the scheme of things! I couldn’t be here if I hadn’t been there and done what I did. And if you weren’t doing what you are doing during your journey on Earth the consequences would be …. OH MY! This is so DIFFICULT! I guess this is why direct communication with un-transfigured souls is discouraged. I could explain it to you, but first I’d have to kill you. And, NO, I’m not making that mistake again! So, this awkward form of communication will have to do. Please bear with me, because I am certainly no Charles Dickens … although I have talked with him at length about what I intend to say here and he has been generous enough to share a few pointers with me … that, hopefully, weren’t lost on one such as I.

…. To be continued … or NOT?

It seems interesting David, and I’d like to see where you go with it, but like you say, probably not the best place for it. Have you thought of just posting it on Daybow.com or the creative writing forum and maybe just posting a link here? Wouldn’t take up so much space on the comments board and anyone who wants to read it can do so easily enough.

David,
The first step before writing is to know for certain who your audience is.
Whom are you writing for?
And that is why usually the script get changed later. One to target a different group of people and two because your writing may not communicate well enough with those who have to make it into a movie.
Sometimes it might help to think backwards, think of it as a movie and think about with what kind of feeling you would like to leave the theatre if you see it for the first time.

Ross,

You are right. It’s been an exhausting week despite only being 3 days long and I’m too tired to think clearly right now. I should have just posted a link to the story and left it buried on my FTP site. I haven’t learned how to add comments yet to Daybow, but that site isn’t being (outwardly) updated these days. Daybow won’t have any new material directly available on it unless I decide for sure what won’t be publishing anything … in which case I’ll post my last series there and possibly some “historic” photos targetted at an Northeast Ohio audience.

Arash,

I know the movie and the audience, just not the dialog. It’s the story that begets the treatment that begets the script that reveals the idea that seems like a waste to write to me.

And Thanks Darwin,

you know and I know and a handful of others know … I just wish someone else would do the unfolding of the story while I go clean the gutters.

To Allison and all her fans have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Sme thing happened to me while I was nuking my oatmeal and mucking out the gutters.

Shhh, my bird turned out GREAT!
Keep it under your hat.

Take care,
Jade Ruby

You guys in U.S harvest way too late, but happy thanksgiving anyways.

The thoughts that go through our brains as human beings are so amazing that we crave to share them with others because of just how exciting we feel about things. Its like saying “Wow look at that!” and if there is no one there to see it with you, you might feel like what happened didn’t matter. I know sometimes when I can’t share I feel like why should I care? Put makeup on for who? I guess for myself to feel pretty for the day. Sometimes when you do something good and no one notices you feel like why did I bother? But you feel pride inside. Or if you do something you feel guilty about and think well, only I know about what I did wrong so it doesn’t matter. But it does, because you know what you did wrong. You have to feel good inside to be happy with yourself. Even when there is no one around to share amazing things with. You have been given a gift to see things by yourself. Like being your own best friend. You have your own special moment. Like when you see a shooting star and your like Wow cool.

Allison, Thanks for wonderful blogs and inspiration. So proud of you in taking further creative steps directing. You are so talented and articulate and that is conveyed in all of your work. Happy Holidays and keep up the great work, you impress me every week.

Blessings
JEN

Throughout my quarter life existence, I have come to see that one of the signs of a healthy life is balance. I truly believe that the meaning of this existence is to impact others in a positive way. This can be done through one’s actions, words, art, finances, etc.
I believe that in all of us, there is a natural longing for validation. We want to be thanked, loved, appreciated, and approved of. However, if we let it, it can consume us. I firmly believe that if we focus our attitudes on giving of ourselves, then we will be fullfilling that need in someone else, which in the end, satisfies them and ourselves. Humanity was meant to form a beautiful chain of healing hearts, being held by one another.
I don’t know everything. Heck, I don’t feel like I know much at all. By I truly believe that we were put on this earth for the purpose of giving ourselves for the sake of others.
Wow…that was long.

anytime I need motivation , i’m reading these blogs.

“Look into the mirror see yourself and how you are sparkling from deep inside – this is what makes people beautiful and you are beautiful, Allison Mack, absolutely beautiful!”

Wow. That’s… beautiful. Very nice of you to say that.

Allison, I wish to learn about the experience of being on a real film set. I’m not sure what I want to do but I know I want to be on a film crew. I want to participate in the creation of something beautiful – a fantastic movie or show.
I have so many questions about your experiences on the set. Especially directing and working with composition, lighting, editing, the visual effects crew, and others. I just wish I could talk to you. It would guide me.

Take care

Dearest Allison,

Bravo! Bravo! So, they gave you one heavily laden with special effects, and a kissing/love scene. How nice that they threw you in the deep end, and hollered out “Start kicking!” Well, how else are you going to find out?
I had my film study hat on and watched to see how you were going to do certain things (pan, pivot, focal length, and of course, special effects). So, from that point of view, I would say A+! There are two scenes that really stood out for me.
1. Where Lana bursts from the tank. The whole sequence is slomo with effects laid over that! But the eye exchange between Clark and Lana is what I was watching. Alot of other things have to happen smoothly for THAT to happen. Well done…:)
2.Then there is the kissing scene at the end. This type of scene is very difficult to shoot (as I am sure many people have told you). The actors may be “in the moment” and “conveying the emotion”, but is the director capturing that on film? Frankly, there are some rather big name directors who cannot do this. You however, really captured the emotion required to make that scene work. I know alot of factors were at work, but you should celebrate the idea that those factors did work, and you got the shot! (a very important part of film making)
So, I’m left with two questions:
Does Allison have a hidden talent, being able to shoot a kissing scene? OR, was the faithful apprentice stepping up? I guess we’ll have to wait and see…:)

Your friend in storytelling,
scott123