My Dad 
Once Told Me

"it's only a black box
until you look inside"

that idea unlocked
everything

I've always been fascinated
by filmmaking

whenever I watch 
a movie I love
I can't leave it alone

I need to know
how it was made

why that shot
why that edit
why that line
why that performance

the decisions
behind the decisions

you'd think
the magic 
would disappear

but the more 
I understood it
the more impressed
I became

I see curiosity
as a strength

if I could understand
what made a two-hour 
film great

could I apply
the same principles

to a :10 ad?
a social post?
a meme?

Different format.
Same machinery.

The same goes
for writing.

I've spent years studying
how great writers think.

Character.
Tension.
Subtext.
Point of view.

the things that make people
keep turning pages

or scrolling
a website

I'm probably the only
social marketer in the world
who applies

George Saunders'
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

to making memes
on Instagram

but I've never seen
a contradiction

a short story
a film
a social post

they're all trying
to solve the same problem

how do you hold
someone's attention

and reward them
for giving it to you?

different medium
same machinery