Tag Archives: Personal Guidance System

As a Filmmaker, what I’ve learned watching The Ashes ~

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For those of you who follow this blog and don’t know what The Ashes is – it’s a series of five games of cricket played between Australia and England. Each game can last five days. At its fullest, that’s 25 days of cricket with each day beginning at 10:30am or thereabouts, and finishing at 6pm or thereabouts. For cricket-tragics such as Jennifer and myself, we try not to miss one minute, one ball, one run.

The Ashes dates back to 182. That’s 143 years. Australia has won The Ashes 34 times, England 32 times – with 7 drawn matches. To say that the rivalry is fierce is like saying the South Pole is chilly.

We’re talking Colonialists versus Convicts.
Need I say more?

I’ll keep this summary of The Ashes, and indeed cricket itself, at this superficial level because cricket is an inordinately complex game. It has its own language, its own arcane protocols, even the naming of field positions defies rationale or logic.

Cow Corner?
Silly Mid Off?

The Ashes are played every two years, or thereabouts – alternating countries. This series is being played in Australia. Prior to this series starting on November 21st, the English press and the team itself declared that finally they had a group of players that could win The Ashes on Australian soil – a feat rarely done.

They derided the Australian team as being old and passed it, sub-par, they called our cricketers Dad’s Army.

The English were bringing to the series a form of cricket that’s become known as Bazball, a highly aggressive form of the game drawn from the shorter, showier form known as T20. In other words, they were attempting to modernise Test cricket, and in the process write their names into the history books.

It didn’t work.
They lost the first three games 3-0 and Australia retained The Ashes.

The 4th game, played in Melbourne last week, they won using, at times, Bazball tactics. But it was too late. Australia had won The Ashes.

I watch a lot of sport because it tells me a lot about the human condition, about courage and timidity, about how to win and how to accept failure, about hubris and grace.

The final chapter is yet to be played in Sydney starting next week, and even though technically it’s a dead rubber, there’s still a lot to play for – reputations, future places in the respective teams, jobs on the line. And history. With each Ashes game history can be made, or rewritten.

I’ve learned a lot as a filmmaker from these first four games already.

  • Preparation. Pundits say England lost the first three games because of a lack of preparation. This, I believe, came down to hubris. They believed they had a winning formula in Bazball. They believed their team was stronger. They thought they didn’t need to prepare. Dare I say it, they were arrogant.
  • Lesson. Making a movie is all about preparation. As a director, by the time cameras roll on the first day of principal photography, 95% of your work should have already been done. You can’t skimp on preparation. And you certainly can’t be arrogant. Arrogance will cold-cock you every time.
  • Patience. Interestingly, listening to the commentaries as I have, and the analysts on various podcasts, the word patience has come up time and time again. Bazball eschews patience. It’s a form of the game that requires a batter to pretty much take a swipe at anything. Test cricket requires, at times, immense patience. And that patience more often than not is rewarded with a long innings and a big score. Conversely, a lack of patience often brings a batter, and bowler, undone very quickly.
  • Lesson. Making a feature film also requires immense patience. I have stood out in a field for more than an hour many times during my working life, with a full crew on alert, waiting for the right light to get a shot. I have waited a mind-numbing length of time on more occasions than I care to remember for ambient sounds to clear so that we can record a perfectly clean dialogue scene. You need to have the patience of a zen monk to be a film director. That’s why I’d be dreadful doing television. Television doesn’t allow for patience.
  • Quite. I’ve noticed that that English coach and captain have used the word quite quite a bit in interviews. We didn’t quite get it right, they would say, Or We didn’t quite get enough runs today. This word quite, used as they’ve used it, provides an insight into their mindset. It speaks to me of delusion and entitlement. Didn’t quite get it right? Mate, we blasted you off the field. Didn’t quite get enough runs? Buddy, we beat you in two days. Their use of the word quite tells me they aren’t facing up to reality. And they really do believe they’re entitled to win.
  • Lesson. As a film director, you need to be grounded at all times. It’s so important, especially early in your career if you’ve had success. It’s so easy to get a distorted view of your own capabilities. You start believing your own publicity. When you’re making a movie, it’s critical that you remain humble and aware that at any stage, you could make a career-ending decision. Of those directors who get to make a first film, only 36% get to make a second film, only 8% make five or more films, and only 0.1% make 20 or more films. I’ve directed 17 feature films which puts me at 1%. That makes me quite humble…
  • Expectation vs Process. The English arrived on our shores with big expectations. They were going to crush us. We had a weaker team – the worst since 2010, said Stuart Broad – and they said that they were going to climb the Mt Everest of cricket. They were going to go home with The Ashes. The Aussies (other than Glenn McGrath, who traditionally predicts an Australian whitewash of the Poms) remained quietly confident in their process. They didn’t think ahead. They trusted in process.
  • Lesson. I know from forty years of making movies that on those occasions when I’ve thought I’d made a winner, I’ve always been disappointed. And also, when I’ve deliberately set out to make a commercially successful film, invariably I’ve failed. Yet the times when I’ve made a movie simply from a) the desperate need to tell that particular story, b) a desperate desire to have fun with the mechanics of cinema, or c) a deep sense of knowing that this was a movie that I would enjoy watching – on the relatively few occasions when that aligned, then surprisingly the films did (quite) well. In other words, I’ve learned to distrust expectations, and to go into a movie merely for the pure joy of making that movie, trusting that the outcome will be what it will be..

These are just some of the lessons I’ve learned. And many more as well – too many to elucidate here. Elite sport for me provides useful lessons in human psychology. I just wish I had the wisdom to interpret those lessons at times.

Thanks to ChatGPT for the image below.

Audit of 2025 & plans for 2026

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As readers of this blog know, each year around this time I do an “audit” of what I achieved this year pegged against what I hoped to achieve this time last year. And I outline what I hope to achieve in the coming year.

This year was all about the international theatrical rollout of The Way, My Way.

After a successful cinema run throughout Australia and New Zealand in 2024, the film that some reviewers called “the surprise hit of the year” – with a cinema Box Office of close to $2.5m, and a run of 20 weeks in some cinemas – it was time to take the film overseas.

Jennifer and I left Australia on January 28th, and for the next 4 months we toured the film throughout the US, Canada, Germany, with sold out screenings as well in the UK and Italy.

In the US and Canada we did 48 Q&A screenings in 44 different cities and towns in 19 states over a 51 day period. During this time Jennifer and I:

  • took 12 internal flights
  • took 52 Ubers
  • I drove 7,000 kms in five rental cars

Johnnie Walker, Camino legend, joined us for a couple of weeks and he was treated by the Q&A crowds as the rock star that he is. Marc Wooldridge, head of Maslow Entertainment, helped coordinate our trip from Australia, with the aid of our US co-distributor, Outsider Pictures.

We arrived back home on May 28th – we were away exactly four months. Was it exhausting? Strangely, no. Jennifer and I were sensible. We slept well and we ate sparingly. And we traveled super light. That was key, with being on the move constantly.

During the last couple of weeks of the tour, in amongst all the travel and screenings, I began writing a new novel – an Outback thriller I’d been developing over the past ten years or so. It’s called Lady Fix – No Man’s Land. When I got home I continued writing for the next seven months, and this occupied my time for pretty much the rest of the year.

Publishers Penguin Random House had previously published my YA supernatural thriller trilogy, Palace of Fires –

https://www.penguin.com.au/brand/palace-of-fires

PRH were tracking the progress of Lady Fix and I submitted it to them last month. They came back with notes, which was expected, and I’m currently working through those notes. I also signed with a top flight literary agent and she will guide me through this process.

I got a delightful surprise last month as well – I was awarded the Malaspinsa Award from the Spanish Ambassador in Canberra for strengthening cultural ties between Australia and Spain for my Camino memoir and film, The Way, My Way.,

So, how did I go with my laundry list of things I wanted to achieve this year? Here’s what I hoped to achieve this time last year, and in bold, what I actually did or did not achieve.

  • Release The Way, My Way in US and Canada – and support that release with a Q&A tour, from the beginning of February to the end of March.
  • Done.
  • Release The Way, My Way in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and support that release with a Q&A tour in April.
  • Done.
  • Screen The Way, My Way to an annual gathering of North American pilgrims in Vancouver in mid May.
  • Done.
  • Screen The Way, My Way to a convention of Camino leaders in Malta at the end of May.
  • Done.
  • Walk the Portuguese Camino (for the 3rd time!) in preparation for the shoot of The Way, Her Way.
  • Didn’t do this. No time.
  • Release The Way, My Way later in the year in Italy, and support that release.
  • Done.
  • Shoot The Way, Her Way on the Portuguese Camino in September / October.
  • Didn’t do this. Not sufficient time to properly prepare with the international touring of The Way, My Way.
  • Work on the post production of The Way, Her Way.
  • Didn’t do this. See above.
  • Write the first draft screenplay of the next movie in my Camino series – called The Way, His Way. (I aim to become the Taylor Sheridan of the Camino! haha)
  • Didn’t do this.
  • Complete the writing of my metaphysical thriller, Dead Image.
  • Didn’t do this. Instead wrote Lady Fix.
  • Complete the writing of my non fiction book, If I can Change, You can Too.
  • Didn’t do this. My time was spent writing Lady Fix.
  • Write a treatment of my dysfunctional pensioner crime-caper screenplay.
  • Didn’t do this.
  • Shoot more material for the Hope film.
  • Didn’t do this.

As you can see, I didn’t do a lot of what I’d hoped to do. I think in retrospect I was way too ambitious in my expectations. I didn’t realise how all-consuming the international Q&A tour would be, and how writing a new novel – Lady Fix – would suck up all my remaining time and headspace.

Writing a novel is hard.
Damn hard.

So what do I hope to achieve in 2026?
I only have two things I wish to achieve:

  • Get The Way, Her Way made.
  • Get Lady Fix published.

If I can achieve those two things then I’ll regard 2026 a successful year.

Here’s the website for The Way, Her Way:
https://thewayherwaymovie.com

On the health front, I end the year in my eighth year since diagnosis of my Parkinson’s disease. This year, I’ve taken a bit of a hit, what with the four months of intensive travelling. But even so, I thank my lucky stars that I’m as good as I am.

Jennifer is my rock,

Day #4 – 6 Day Fast

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I stared at the egg.
I stared at the egg a long time.
It was a boiled egg.
It threatened me, that egg.
It threaded to derail my fast.

All I had to do was crack open its smug shiny shell, peel the shell off and – yummy.

But I resisted.
I walked away.
The integrity of my fast remained intact.

It’s interesting, the games your mind plays when you fast. Anyone who does an extended fast – and I call anything more than two days an extended fast – knows that the temptation to break the fast comes not through hunger, as such. It comes through desire.

Desire is different to hunger.
Hunger is a physical primitive function.
Designed to keep you, and the species, alive.
Desire is illusory.
Desire is sly imagination.
Desire is a femme fatale.

I didn’t hunger for that egg.
I desired it.
It was my femme fatale.
But I walked away.

Today is Father’s Day here in Australia. My wife and eldest son want to take me to lunch, or cook me a Father’s Day dinner.

Should I break my six day fast to take them up on their kindness?
I’ll let you know what I decide!

Day #3 – 6 Day Sept Fast

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Day #3 I struggled a bit, I have to admit.

Maybe because I didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Holding your resolve to fast is harder when you’ve had insufficient sleep.

.But I toughed it through.

I distracted myself yesterday by going out to EB Games and trading in my Switch for a Switch 2. Larger screen, better resolution and frame rate. What prompted this was a piece in the Washington Post declaring Hollow Knight a masterpiece. I learned that the follow up game – Silksong – had just been released, enhanced for the Switch 2.

Just by the by, Hollow Knight was made by an Australian mob called Team Cherry. They’re Adelaide based. Hollow Knight has sold more than 15 million copies since its release 8 years ago, making it one of the most successful independent video games of all time.

As I grow older I find it’s crucially important that I constantly work to reverse engineer my age. To become younger. And by that, I mean to think younger.

Video games are a great way of doing this. They’re an extraordinary form of storytelling – both visual and aural. Zelda – Breath of the Wild opened up another part of my brain. As did Journey, which I found to be as spiritual an experience as I’ve ever had. Seriously.

I love the puzzle games. Figuring out Limbo and Inside for me has been very challenging. Man o man do they test your cognitive abilities. Best way to keep dementia at bay, me thinks.

Of all those that play video games, only 6-7% are 65 years and older. I believe if more older people played video games, there would be less dementia. And less depression.

Also for me with Parknson’s, playing video games tests my dexterity. Subtle finger movements. That’s one reason I got the Switch 2 – the buttons and joysticks were larger. Makes it a bit easier.

Anyway – that’s how I distracted myself from a gnawing hunger yesterday.

My Stats:
Weight: 82.7kg
BP: 129/75
Resting Pulse: 55 bpm

As I expected, my weight loss levelled off a bit, otherwise everything else was pretty much the same. Now, excuse me while I go play Silksong…

Day #2 – 6 Day Sept Fast

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On day 2 I jettisoned hunger. In previous fasts it took longer.
This time it was just one day of strong hunger pangs.

Maybe because I’m relatively sedentary at the moment, writing my new novel. I did have a vigorous half hour session on my indoor stationary bike. Then another half hour of weights and exercises. Sitting down as much as I am at the moment, I need to find time each day to shake myself out a bit.

Interestingly, my stats are coming back into line:

My Stats:
Weight: 83.4kg
BP: 129/70
Resting Pulse: 53 bpm

So in 2 days I’ve dropped 3.3 kgs. I know this will level out somewhat over the next four days – that this initial weight loss is largely water – but even so I feel much lighter and I have more energy than I did before I started this fast.

A random photo today –

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Day #1 – 6 day Sept Fast (recap)

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Here’s how I start my day – with a double espresso.
Even when I fast.
No sugar. No milk. Just two shots of pure espresso.

Usually by day 4 of a fast my body decides that it doesn’t need caffeine anymore, and I can’t bring myself to drink it. I shift across to either Green Tea or First Flush Darjeeling.

Day #1 of my fast wasn’t so bad. I felt hungry but not hugely so. I weighed myself this morning and in just one day I’ve lost 2.1kgs. This is largely water and in subsequent days this loss will come down to about 1kg per day, sometimes less.

The hardest thing about fasting for any period, whether it’s 1 day or 6 days or 14 days, which is the longest fast I’ve done, is to fully commit to it. If you waver in your commitment, even in the slightest, you won’t last the fast!

It’s a little bit like walking a Camino, or making a movie, or writing a book, or entering into a relationship. You have to approach it with full commitment.

My Stats:
Weight: 84.6kg
BP: 148/78
Resting Pulse: 65 bpm

My blood pressure is a bit high. I should be in the 125-129/ 68-75 range. My resting pulse is a bit high too – it should be under 60bpm. It’ll be interesting to see how these shift over the length of the fast.

6 Day September Fast – Day1

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I posted this morning that tomorrow I would start a six day fast.

Well, I got to 3pm after not having eaten anything all day, and I thought –
why not start today?

So today has officially been my first day of fasting, after not having eaten since 6:30pm yesterday, Tuesday 2nd Sept.

I’ll check my stats later, but to let you know how I feel: I’m starting to feel hungry. I know the first day of a fast is always the hardest. Second day is tough too. Once I get to day three I’ve pretty much lost my hunger pangs altogether.

So what do I mean by a fast?
It’s really simple.
For the six days I will only drink water, or tea.
No sugar, no milk,
I’ll take some vitamin pills – that’s all.

This evening I came downstairs to the kitchen and Jennifer was cooking up some fruit compote for dessert tonight.

It tested my resolve, let me tell you!

We’re back!

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After 4 months on the road traveling with our movie The Way, My Way, we’re finally back at home in Mudgee – and my goodness, it’s great to be sleeping in our own bed again.

It was an extraordinary trip –

  • 8 weeks in the US and Canada doing Q&A screenings,
  • Three weeks in Germany supporting the film’s theatrical release.
  • A side trip to Hungary for a special screening in Budapest with our dear friends Balazs and Laszlo – both feature in the film.
  • Three weeks or so in England, Scotland and Wales.
  • Then back to Canada and Vancouver to attend the annual North American Gathering of Camino pilgrims with a special screening.
  • Then back to Europe and Malta to attend the European Assembly of Camino pilgrims, with screenings for the Spanish Ambassador, the Australian High Commissioner, and other dignitaries.
  • Then from Malta back to London then back home!

Overnight I slept for nine hours straight.
I never sleep nine hours straight!

I have emails long overdue need replying to, finances to sort, social media needs attending to, plus I started writing a new novel while I was away and I have a deadline in two weeks to deliver the first 25k words to Penguin Random House. Then there’s the sequel to The Way, My Way that Jennifer and I are starting to ramp up – not to mention kick starting my exercise routine once again, getting my eating regime back on track, and so on and so forth!

I never want to travel again.

Until August, when I have to go back to California for more stem cell treatment for my Parkinson’s.

I tell you what though, I love Australia.
I’m proud to be an Australian.
We’re not without our faults and problems, as with any country –
But I’d prefer to live here than anywhere else in the world.
And in Mudgee in particular.
With Jennifer.

Now, back to work!

Germany, Hungary & Beyond ~

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Our mammoth global tour of The Way, My Way, continues.

We’ve been in Germany now more than three weeks. We’ve driven the length and breadth of the country in a rented (and brand new) Audi A5 that has a warning badge on the dashboard that says I’m not allowed to drive it faster than 220 km/hr.

Damn.
And I was wanting to hit 250!

The autobahns here allow drivers to go however fast they want. Some must be hitting 260km/hr easy. They flash past in their Mercedes and BMWs and Porches (and yes, Audis too) You see them as a speck in the rearview then they’re there and then they’re not there.

It’s a wonder there aren’t more horrific accidents.

But unlike speedsters in Texas or Florida, the Germans are incredibly safe and disciplined drivers. It’s actually more dangerous driving on Australian highways where the speed limit is a mind-numbingly slow 100 km/hr. At least on German highways you have to stay fully focused the whole time.

Enough of German driving conditions!

So far I’ve driven about 2,500 kms up and down and around the country so that Jennifer and I can attend the various Q&A screenings set up for us by the film’s German distributor, Happy Entertainment, led by Thomas Steger.

(too much headroom!)

Thomas and his team have done a terrific job preparing the film for its general release on 80+ screens across the country, and Austria, on April 24th/25th. He’s geared the film’s campaign specifically for a German audience – and I have to say the audiences have responded to the film differently to Australian or American audiences.

Australian audiences were a little shy and tentative and dare I say it, initially suspicious that an Australian film could be any good. But the film ended up having a 20 week run. In America and Canada, the audiences were enthusiastic and exuberant right from the getgo.

The German audiences are a little more restrained – and this could be cultural or it could be a function of the dubbing and translation – however they have been no less impacted by the subtle power of the film, as have audiences elsewhere, and the Q&As have been largely fully attended and the questions have indicated a deep engagement with the material.

During our time here we’ve been able to hang out with our dear friend Rudi Wiesmeier, who lives in a beautiful village south of Munich and whose support of the movie brought it into creation.

(perfect headroom!)

His two friends, brothers Jonas and Julian Bachmann, featured in the film as the musicians in the Hontanas party scene, then later in the snail scene. (“Mein Gott! Ist er tot?”) They saw the film in Munich and loved it.

(forgivable headroom)

Tomorrow we drive 400km+ to Leipzig, for a screening there – then to Berlin for a screening there – then we fly to Budapest in Hungary for a special screening hosted by our Camino buddies Balazs and Laszlo – stars of the film. That’s on Sunday 27th April.

From there we go to the UK for about ten days, then we fly back to Canada for a screening at a big annual Camino Gathering in Vancouver, then we fly to Malta for a similar screening with European Camino leaders – then… we fly back home.

We’ll have been away four months.
I wonder what the lawn’s like?

(unforgivable headroom!)

You don’t need New Year’s Day Resolutions ~

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In Australia it’s New Year’s Day.
A time when a lot of people make New Year’s Day resolutions.

You don’t need to!
Most New Year’s Day resolutions fall by the wayside within weeks.

I’ve discovered you can change your life any day of the year.
It doesn’t have to be the day that starts a new year –
It can be any day.

You just have to set the intention.

In November of last year, 2024, I set myself a November Challenge.
That’s what I called it.
My November challenge consisted of:

– a walk of 45mins or more each day, every day of the month.
– No added salt to my food.
– No processed sugar, in particular chocolate.

I would do this just for a month, that’s all – and after the month I could go back to my salty/chocolatey/lazy ways again, if I wished to.

Just a month.

I stuck to the challenge and got through November.

In December I found that I had no desire to go back to my salty/chocolatey/lazy ways, so I modified it a bit –
– 45 mins walk or indoor bike 6 days a week.
– processed sugar was okay if it was in a home made dish made with love.

The interesting thing is, with that November challenge I broke two entrenched habits and established a new one.

I broke the habit of pouring salt onto anything I ate, regardless of whether the food needed salt or not. And I haven’t had any chocolate since the start of the challenge. And I’ve kept the pledge to myself of doing a minimum of 45mins walk/indoor bike 6 days a week.

I think the trick to it was to set myself a finite goal – one month. And I told myself I could revert to my old ways after a month. But I discovered I didn’t want to. Then I modified my lifestyle choices according to the long term sustainability of it all.

Anyway, I just thought I’d put that out there.
You can change your life any day of the year!

Wishing you all everything good and wonderful and joyful this year –