SIMPLE...NOT EASY...

"'Think simple' as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles."

- Frank Lloyd Wright

I am working on an exciting and I feel very

commercial television project, a concept for a series we are calling BODY.BUILT (not sure if the "." thing may seem like a shtick by now!)...The "we," in this case, is the extraordinarily talented photographer and reportageur, Brian Moss - http://www.brianmoss.com/. I first met Brian about 8 years ago because he was looking for some help with a book he wanted to publish...he had photographed many women, and individual body parts of these women (including fingers, legs, mouths, toes, etc.) right before, during, and immediately after, orgasm. Brian went for the details, not the overt...he shot fingers, mouths, toes, hands, eyes...he captured moments in ways that I had never seen done before, with his particular POV...I actually found one major agent who took the book out to some select publishing houses, yet no one was willing to fully buy-in...I wonder if it could find a home now...in the Obama, as opposed to Bush, years...

I recently met the creatives at Original Pictures, the company behind TV series like Miami Ink, LA Ink and Storm Chasers, and learned more about their focus on creating these types of "docusoaps", how they work, what they are. A look into a "world", a lifestyle, seen through the lives of certain people who inhabit that particular world. And, with this type of programming/content, as really in all great projects that revolve around viewers/readers getting invested in story, the key to striking a chord these series is the compelling nature of the characters, more than the nature of the world itself (as an example, Original is also producing a series about competitive barbeque-ers, and the individuals are supposedly amazing). Once I understood this particular idea/project paradigm, I immediately thought of Brian's connection to bodybuilding, and his literal and figurative lenses that look within, and without, at these people who have immersed themselves in this life(style). Brian's singular and innergut connection with the world of bodybuilding is so profound, as a former bodybuilder, gym owner, collector of period "stuff" and now photographer, and one look at his work, it's clear why the idea for BODY.BUILT was a no-brainer...and why Original Pictures is extremely excited about pitching this to the networks.

Brian and I sent out a questionnaire to maybe a dozen or more bodybuilders - women and men - whom he had selected, people that would be compelling to an audience, and asked them to record on camera their answers to what we had posed. Yesterday morning I went out to Brian's incredible home/studio/gym that he created from the shell of a nondescript place in Jersey City. Words can't do justice to what he gave birth to there, all made from love and good taste. We screened the footage of the 8 people who sent him their homemade "audition" tapes, each one opening themselves, emotionally nakedly, personally, it was surprisingly easy to like each man, each woman. "Like" not in its "wishy-washy" use of the word, but in the (my) somewhat ultimate compliment I can say to someone. "I like you." It goes to the essence. I used to say to Maia as we would walk to pre-school, "Honey, I really like you." And she would respond along the lines of, "Daddy, I'm your daughter, of course you like me." And in what seemed as obvious then as it does now, I said to my dear Maia, "No, sweetie, that's why I LOVE you. I LIKE you because I like who you are, who you are inside." That's how I felt about all of every one of this community who were willing to open themselves up. I liked them, not as "bodybuilders, but as fellow dreamers...people of passion...of intention...of inspiration. I might not be able to relate to the specifics of their motivation, or what is that thang that grabs them inside, shakes them up and moves them. What they "do" isn't in my universe. Who they are, each one's heart and spirit, even on these flip cameras, or iphones, found a welcoming, receptive place inside me. As with any group of people, some more than others.

One of the last pieces we screened was made by Tim Dax, a NYC-based bodybuilder whose website makes it clear that he is an "Actor, Model, Muse." Tim's face is almost COMPLETELY tattooed, and his shaved head is COMPLETELY covered, in ink, making him appear that he is wearing a full-on mask at all times. The irony being that he is seemingly as open and kind and supportive and loving as any man out there. No mask. How could I not fall for another male muse. One who is so emotionally generous in his love for his beloved Andrea, who moved here within the last year to be with him here. Their commitment to each other, their clarity in wanting to build a family together, deep and profound. If I encountered Tim on the street, I would be hard pressed to not have some judgement flying across some part of me. Yet looking into his eyes, feeling his words, hearing his heart, he and I are without a doubt members of the same tribe. His interest in inspiring others from within, to have people look at him as a source of a spark, as another committed soul following their dream and wanting others to catch their own wave. Our shared desires to have people carve out their own lives, instead of simply making a living, Tim and I could not be more in alignment about what for me, right now, is essential. And, reasonably simple. To live a life of joy (more than simply "happiness"). To connect with those we love. To do great work with common spirits. To promote love, to share from our hearts. To be emotionally generous. Maybe it's the result of hard work inside, or simply having life wash over me and feeling what it is, so clearly, that needs to stick. I was brought back to a quote that a friend sent me from Temple Grandin, who spoke at the recent TED Conference, where she said, "When I was younger I was looking for this magic meaning of life. It's very simple now. Making the lives of others better, doing something of lasting value, that's the meaning of life, it's that simple." I read, and re-read, this many times when it first hit my inbox. It wasn't just what Temple was sharing, her particular POV, or that it held hands with mine. It was, quite viscerally, the notion of how simple "it" all really seemed (seems) to be...to me... what is "self-evident" even when I am ignoring the messages. That the simpler I can actually make it for myself, the more available I am to me, and others. That "simple" (not to be confused as a synonym for "easy") come from, allows each moment, each choice, to be infused with its own meaning, its own purpose. So Tim Dax, and Temple Grandin, and all of us who crave the simple (and deeply rich) essence, whether we are bodybuilders or are born autistic, need, as I see it, to support each other in peeling back the layers, in getting past the judgements and masks and any other walls that keep us from each other. It's just what I feel, what I believe. And what I am aligning behind. For myself and those who want to share the "simple life."