Who Are You When Nobody Is Watching?
Nobody tells you about this part of being an artist.
We talk about failure. We talk about rejection.
We talk about the difficulty of getting the movie made, selling the screenplay, booking the role, publishing the book.
But there's another part of the creative life that I think can be even more dangerous.
The silence in between.
The Day Reality Destroyed the Story I Told About Myself
I was a national champion.
Karate. Kung Fu. Two black belts.
I had been competing in martial arts since I was nine years old.
So when I walked into a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in California for the first time, I wasn't exactly lacking confidence.
I knew who I was.
Your Wounds Know What Matters to You
He wanted advice.
What should he be thinking about?
What should he concentrate on?
I gave him an answer he wasn't expecting.
"Watch The Silence of the Lambs again."
He laughed.
"Miguel, that's not really a horror movie."
Exactly.
The Identity You Choose Before the World Agrees
Looking back over my career, I can point to the exact moment I became a director.
The strange part is that nobody else would have recognized it.
No producer shook my hand.
No studio offered me a contract.
No one declared, "Congratulations. You're a director."
