Tyson Smile

First Draft

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The deadline for our feature screenplay is this Sunday night. Spending hours alone writing is a funny, weird, beautiful thing. You have to feel what you want the audience to feel, which means siting in an empty room trying to make yourself laugh, make yourself cry, and make sure that you love and understand your characters. Next week I’m sending it out for feedback and then I will really get to work as the rewrite is where the magic and sometimes the core story actually reveals itself. Now to get back to writing the thing I’m actually meant to be writing :).
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Sweatlife

Speaking at the Sweat Life Festival

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I’m still on my #sweatlifefestival buzz. Having previously done other talks and ADHD style monologues, this was my first panel and I loved it. @esmee_ldn with moderation that makes you want to run a marathon and also have whiskey and laugh for days matched with @billy_riley who has the charm and organisational skills worthy of any superspy casting. Thank you to everyone who turned up, asked questions and was patient when I got excited. It happens. I can not thank the @lululemonuk family enough. How do you manage to get a team where everyone smiles with their eyes? It’s contagious. I love it. Connecting with my heroes and making new connections. Dear life, more of these moments please.

Screenshot 2019-03-14 at 11.20.31 AM

Our North Star Foundation

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So what is the ‘North Star Foundation’? A film fund producing impact storytelling projects based on hope and optimism.

Our film fund will produce stories and fund storytellers who want to make stories to uplift and inspire. Stories to remind you that someone else has been through whatever you’re presently going through. Stories to remind you that you’re not alone.

For 17 years, I have been holding onto this dream. I have been close multiple times and have watched it fall away in ways ranging from annoyance to deep embarrassment. Over the last three years, I have been meeting with this guy, who has revealed himself to be a mentor, philosopher, mathematician, investor and now a good friend. He’s always encouraging, always challenging and always ready to ask me the questions I might want to hide from. Patiently he watched me grow my love affair that is Stories Like Us into its current shape: from family films, events films, corporate films to TV and film development. At which point, in the most movie-like moment, he invited me into his office and had me pitch the ‘big’ dream to a bunch of welcoming but unknown faces. I would later discover I had pitched some of the most influential and successful investors, lawyers and entertainment giants in London. The outcome of which was a date, 27th of Feb, set for our gala dinner. At that event, he and I would present to a room of investors, connectors and change makers. The dream would become a reality and over the remainder of this year I will move to producing commercial content designed to share unapologetic Hope in a time where we have a culture of hate and hatred of culture.

I feel happy and tired and might now have to shut down for some spiritual maintenance. It’s been 17 years of self pep talks, a lot of close calls, heartbreak, and a lot of dreaming with no evidence it would ever happen. Now, I need to gear up for the actual work. The fund will be working with a new media company based on the idea that we are only ever one ‘chance’ away from the breakthrough we are dreaming of. So until the next story time, keep believing, keep growing, keep chasing, keep loving. You’re closer than you know. Let’s get it.

Paramount Studios

This is 2019

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Twenty-four hours ago, I was standing here, looking up at this sign, dreaming hard, about to have the ultimate dream and chase tour through Randall’s house in ‘This Is Us’.

As is still the case, 90% of my dreams feel bigger than my resources, environment and current skill level. But hope and hustle, or as the Madre would say “pray, then move your feet”, has put me in more dream spaces then I would have believed possible over the last couple of years.

I went out to LA this time praying for clarity and courage. I learned last year that perfectionism and procrastination are twins. Don’t wait to have it perfect to move forwards – just start. Letting go of the lie of the perfect start and embracing the playful sketchbook idea is my goal for 2019. I wish for all of us chasing a dream the clarity to just begin and the courage to keep going. Let’s get it.

PBP-03AUG-81

Preparing for the New Year

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Focus. It’s the final few weeks of 2018 and, for me, this means I get to practice some of the new habits and focus techniques I want to rely on in 2019, which means making tons of mistakes and having the permission to get it all wrong. Too often, I’ve set a million new goals at the start of the year and lost momentum by confusing the learning stage with an evaluation stage. So for now it’s time to mess up all my goals, fall down, set unrealistic expectations, learn from them and give myself a chance to start 2019 chasing dreams with some insights and practice already with me. For anyone who feels like new year, new me has been a let down, give yourself the opportunity to practice your goal and mess up now so you can take the ninja insightful version of you into the New Year. Practice what you want to become and fail forward. Let’s get it.
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Thanks to Our Angels

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These two. Since I was about 13-years-old I have imagined a future version of a BAFTA/Oscar speech. Over the years, different people have entered and left that list. Jo and Kate will be on that list till the day I die. . .

A lot of us have dreams or goals, bigger than our environment, resources or backgrounds. The time you spend in the gap between where you want to go and where you are can birth all kinds of shit. My impatience with that gap has at times led me into quiet, potent bouts of depression. If you’re lucky, life will send you people (angels) who will see the future version of you in your current state and if you’re really lucky their conviction can outweigh your doubt.

Almost five years ago, I was sketching the dream of Stories Like Us out of the cafe owned and run by Jo and Kate, Canal Deli. Over the years of (occasional) free coffees, lunches and ’holy shit you didn’t!’ stories, I got my faith topped up and my dreams restored. Yesterday I pitched three TV shows at the BBC and got three follow up meetings. I’m still in the gap, but now there is a studio in Camden, a small team, batmobiles, potential studio spaces in LA, trips to TV sets and I’m getting ready to pitch to two of my dream companies next year. In ways that Jo and Kate will never understand, I take them with me into every big meeting I walk into. . . Here’s to those who support our dreams with whatever they have to give.

Tyson and Porche

Back from LA LA Land

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Back from LA LA Land. Waking up at stupid o’clock hungry to chase these dreams. We did more film work with Nolan Bushnell — who founded Atari, was Steve Jobs’ only ever boss, invented Chuck E. Cheese and who, in his late 70’s makes me feel all kinds of lazy. He’s building a new computer games studio with an ex-head VFX guy from Marvel Studios called Zai, who might be (is) the most effortlessly chill person I have ever met. Zai designed the Jarvis interface — you know that POV of Iron Man inside the suit, he casually made that.

Both guys talked about fear and passion. Fear, not as something to destroy but as an ally, something useful. Something to let them know to move forwards and to ask better questions along the path. Obviously, I loved listening to this. A month ahead of building the Stories Like Us / dream chasing roadmap and sorting through all of this content to make useful Dream Chaser content. Driving the Batmobile in the sun, having conversations I never want to end, taking my first-ever hike and sharing movie producer dreams with my oldest friend — LA I’m sold. Can we make it official? Dreams to chase.

LA Beach

Last Minute LA

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It’s two days before and budget hasn’t been agreed, shooting schedule isn’t locked, a patient but understandably frustrated LA-based crew are waiting for confirmation. However, I’m on the plane, Batmobile is booked, Airbnb sorted, meetings booked and 20 hours to figure out the rest. Welcome to the dream chase. Build your wings on the way down. Hope and hustle. Stories Like Us LA edition continues. Let’s get it.

Tyson on Tour

Life Lessons from a Taxi Driver in Israel

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Life lessons from our cab driver. I could talk for days about the contrasting experience of Israel, but I feel like this man embodied it perfectly. Dotan, an orthodox Jewish man, philosopher, father, entrepreneur and a light chuckle in a human form. Dotan decided to recommit to an orthodox following of his faith after hearing what he believed to be the voice of God. On hearing this voice, he followed its instruction and in doing so he was able to take actions that saved his father’s life.

On meeting him, you instantly smile. It’s truly as if life compressed a chuckle and put it in a human form and then named it Dotan. On the first cab ride with him, I notice he turned off the meter 4 minutes before we arrived. No announcements, no speeches, he just turned it off. He wantsed us to save money.

Dotan had stories and facts about Israel all shared with wonder, fascination and love. We agree that we will hire him for two days and he took us on the best history trip ever. I watch him with waiters and people in the street and saw how he greets everyone like they are the most fascinating person in his world, along with his signature light chuckle. This man embodied wisdom, intelligence, hope, playfulness and kindness without seeking a pay off. Here’s to the Dotan’s of the world. Soul goals right here.

Tyson and Emma

California Dreamin’

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That’s a wrap. California, we need to make this a permanent thing. Encountering new ideas and entrepreneurs way out of my league. Filming self-made billionaires, scientists and philosophers. Racing a batmobile. Feeling grateful and wiped out.

The first episode for the Dream Chaser podcast to come. We’ll be talking bitcoin, becoming a billionaire and the city of San Francisco with one of the owners of the Golden State Warriors. The highlight of the trip was hearing Firecracker aka Helen Moyes laugh after I almost drove the batmobile through the front of their house. Here’s to hope and hustle. Dreams to chase. Let’s get it.

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