(PICTURE: Tom Ivy on a filming site survey at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel)

Why Am I Blogging?

WHY AM I BLOGGING?

I'd much prefer to be standing beside a camera calling "Action" or in the director's booth of a giant arena, watching the stage manager call the cues to a big show I've designed... But when I'm NOT doing those things, I'm sometimes privileged to be asked to share some of what I know -- and what I'm still learning -- about this craft, about working with people in the entertainment business, and, more fundamentally about life in general... It's full of surprises, some of them delightful, some of them devastating, all of them capable of making me a better professional, a better friend, a better husband and father. So from time to time I'll share some of these 'lessons from life' with the particular slant of a guy who loves what he does and has learned some lessons (too many of them the hard way) about writing, producing, directing, and about this often-confusing journey called life. I welcome your comments and viewpoints in this conversation...

Tom Ivy

Friday, June 2, 2017

"Having Fun, Making Money!"

No...that's not my life philosophy...but it IS the intriguing sub-title to a new book I recently completed writing with a man whose life story we are telling, Jerry Zeitman, one of Hollywood's behind the scenes legends - the youngest talent agent in the history of television (started at 17!) - friend and confident to a ton of people, all of whom you will know, including his close friend and client of more than four decades, George Burns.  Liz Taylor, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Hugh Hefner, Lou Wasserman, the list is endless!  The book is titled  "HOLLYWOOD WONDERKID: The JERRY ZEITMAN Story."   The manuscript is ready for the publishers - a film version may be in the future. 

We've completed writing all of the exhibits and shows for a large new museum in Jerusalem devoted to the history of Christian Zionism, the Friends of Zion World Heritage Center.  Four floors of galleries, working with a cool company called Diskin Pro, Israel's leading exhibit and museum design firm.  Great people who've become terrific friends in the process.   The museum is now open and getting tons of good reviews.  There's a virtual tour on the museum's website.  We'll post more about it on our website:  www.theivycompany.com. as soon as we can stop working at what we do long enough to do it...does that make sense, sort of?

So we've been busy - but this blog is not forgotten - and there's some posts I'm anxious get down in writing....  Look for "The Dangerous Joy of Running".  I'm going to tell the story of some of the places I've run / jogged around the world - like Victoria Falls and around the Roman Colosseum and Vatican City and the Great Wall of China.  I need to confess how I risked getting shot to run up to the President's palace in New Delhi...and tempted fate on the streets of the old city in Jerusalem during Shabbat...  Running through the Forbidden City in Beijing just before dawn when there was NOBODY there - just after seeing "The Last Emperor" - now THAT was cool.  So...I'll get back here soon and see if I can't amuse you, hopefully encourage you, maybe even challenge you with more of my escapades through life as a director and a guy who really does enjoy life!

For now...forgive the absence of this blogger for so long between posts....  Over and out for now...  - Tom
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