In or Out
“Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, bear ‘t that the opposed may beware of thee.”
– Polonius, to his son; Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Vindication?
For at least the last decade, I’ve been obsessed with lazy eyes. First and foremost, with celebrities who have them – Paris Hilton, Keri Russell, Tina Fey.
But secondly, and perhaps more terrifyingly, with the possibility that I might have one myself. And that, even worse, like the sufferer of persistent halitosis, I’d be the last to know about it.
Obviously, that’s a ridiculous concern. Which I know because I’ve both analyzed enough of my own photos to confirm eyeball alignment, and because, every time I tell someone about my ocular neurosis, they jump in to reassure me.
But fast-forward to a month or so back, when I’m picking out a pair of sunglasses from one of Jess’ client, Jordan Silver, owner of a high-end vintage sunglass boutique. I call in to my uncle (and optometrist) Robert, and ask his office to fax over my prescription.
Diopter. Astigmatism. Prism.
Prism?, I ask.
Yes, Jordan explains. Prism. Correction for a tendency of the eyes to try and pull apart in use.
As in, a lazy eye?
Well, technically, yes. Not the kind (like strabismus) that fascinates me most. But a form of lazy eye nonetheless.
Make Nice
I’ve been saying frequently over the past six months that it’s called ‘show business’, not ‘show friend’, that I care a lot about getting films made and released and much less about making friends along the way.
But while that’s partly true, from even a purely Machiavellian, ends-justify-means perspective, it turns out it’s far, far easier to get things done when people agree with you, and with what they’re doing. So, a lot of producing, like a lot of running a company in general, is about persuading. It’s about convincing. It’s about getting people to feed you back your own ideas as though they came up with them themselves. (As they say in Washington: you can get any bill passed, as long as you’re willing to let the other side take the credit.)
So, really, producing is a lot of diplomacy. Diplomacy in a world where few questions have objectively right and wrong answers, yet millions of dollars and lifetimes of reputations nonetheless hang in the balance. Diplomacy as defined by the old saw, “the fine art of telling someone to ‘go to hell’ in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”