I highly recommend Lynda.com for learning Photoshop, Word and other software. Lynda.com is an online learning site with over 3,000 courses on topics like business, design, web development and multimedia skills, and software (Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and open source applications) that can help you pursue personal and professional goals. The courses are delivered […]
My Mama taught me how to mind map 20+ years ago. And now I do it all the time. For almost everything! Yesterday, I helped 19 young documentary makers generate ideas to shoot for Youthworx‘s Our Voices film project. The mind-mapping definitely sparked their creative juices and I can’t wait to see their docos later in the […]
An overdue update on my mad writing adventures. I’ve recently written pitches for my kids’ TV show, an investor in my production company and for a book publisher. Also, my MC hat’s back on again, tying together speeches at government-funded symposiums to The Moth story slams in Melbourne. Lastly, I reflect on lessons learnt since leaving […]
Our Moth StorySLAM theme was simply…Manners. Seriously, out of that whole Moth experience of discussing former in-laws on stage, having an amazing audience that responded to every beat of my story, to having my friends in the crowd cheering for me, to jumping off stage and dancing, to being with other phenomenal storytellers…the ONE thing I […]
It just sounds like a probability nightmare! Look, I completely support the heart and intent of the campaign. I used to be on Tinder, I’m currently in an interracial relationship* and I loooove using emoji^. BUT I just don’t understand how Unicode can make it easy for us to trawl through 10 000+ more possibilities […]
We recorded for an hour and it feels like we didn’t even scratch the surface! Last Sunday, I sat in a Melbourne studio with four creative storytellers to review Marvel’s Black Panther movie. Between the five of us, individually, we make films, write stories, write poems, take photos, create visual art, draw, record podcasts, perform […]
Today’s Two Words: Be Kind. “I’ve got 99 ideas and can’t pick one”. Yep, story of my life! In this episode I share how I’m kind to myself in my (creative) life. Everything from time out, napping and going out for a burger and wine. Kindness to myself is letting myself play, try, make […]
Officer Jason Dixon is human after all. *Spoiler and profanity alert for this episode.* Watching the evolving character of Jason Dixon in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri challenged how I want to write baddies for my own stories. The Martin McDonagh movie stars Sam Rockwell as Officer Dixon, Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes and Woody Harrelson […]
Katharina Keil’s a script supervisor with 20+ years’ experience. She’s read 1000+ film and TV scripts in her career, so I nervously asked her to read one of mine. We discuss everything including characters, synopses, continuity, timing, production to life on set. Everything! We also chat about using voiceovers in scripts, which can sometimes be […]
A Spontaneous Poem: Co-founder Wanted Dear Self, Who’re you kidding, thinking you can do it all alone? This stuff is getting bigger than you and it’s time to ask for help. In fact, why not just free flow into your phone what help you’re really looking for? Oh wow. That’s some truth. You know what, […]
My screenwriting mentors are so kind to me. They’re also quick to give reality checks and sometimes say things I don’t want to hear. But I love them for that – they’re helping me tell better stories every day. (Important note: I also have my loved ones on speed dial for those moments when I […]
Yay! I’m a writing + podcasts finalist in frankie magazine’s awards. Here’s my Good Stuff Awards entry…Two Words with Taku is a podcast exploring the process of writing and storytelling in five main categories: technical writing, business writing, comedy, speech writing and creative writing. I originally started it as a creative development project, to air […]