Hopscotch with Inspiration...

Okay, so I headed to downtown Hollywood not too long ago and did something I rarely do: the tourist thing. I walked along the boulevard in search of all my favorites. Why? Because I had never done it before, and I had time to kill. Well, here is number one.

Alfred Hitchcock.

As a filmmaker, I value the pre-production process that Hitchcock went through. It was often said that his films were shot before they even started production and to me it only reinforces my own belief in the notion of spending as much time in pre-production as possible. Hitchcock is also to have once compared the pre-production process to a composer writing his score for musicians to play. It makes perfect sense.

And I think this is a concept that can carry over into any part of one's life or profession. Vision to me means everything, because just as the old proverb suggests, without vision a people perish.

Why would a film be any different? Right?

In two weeks I'll be heading to San Francisco for a 5-day walkabout with camera in hand and guess where I'm staying? The Hotel Vertigo-this is where Hitchcock usually stayed when he visited and where many of the cast and crew stayed during filming of Vertigo. Hopefully, I won't find myself hanging from any tall buildings.