Lately my task list has felt like a weight around my shoulders. Waking up and looking at “what I have to do” for the day. Do you ever feel like this? Don’t get me wrong, many times there’s some fun stuff on the list I get excited to dig into. But then there’s the days where it just feels like a slog.

I went off-roading for the first time yesterday. Kinda weird to think I’m 40 and somehow managed to live without finding myself strapped to an engine in the dirt for so long. My neighbor has a Kawasaki Side-X-Side and invited me to get a better idea of what desert living is all about. As I strapped into this thing, all I could think was “this is what I wish golf carts were like.”

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve prided myself on the “Everyone Loves Marshall” identity I built for myself. Whether or not that’s been true (which, btw, I guarantee is NOT true) I have lived most of my life in an effort to be well-liked by as many people as possible.

I recently ran across a remarkable man, and it happened in the strangest of ways. A close friend forwarded me an email… it was for a Zoom call run by someone I’d never heard of featuring a guest speaker—another person I’d never heard of. But something caught my eye. This mystery speaker had been dubbed “The Real Life Wizard of Oz” by Fortune magazine. As “The Tin Man,” I had no choice but to investigate.

“What do you wanna be when you grow up?” That question feels like a distant memory. I think the most related question anyone’s asked me in recent years is, “What are you doing with your life?” The former elicits hopeful imagination. The latter elicits defensive rationalization.

When I graduated law school, I started work at a mid-size firm that specialized in the type of law I wanted to practice—technology. The career path was clear if you stayed on track. Eight years later, you’d be up for partner. From a monetary perspective, that meant in eight years I had a decent chance of quadrupling my salary assuming I busted my ass and did great work. If you were to chart out that career path, it would be fairly linear. Predictable.

Little did I know how constricting this knowledge would be on the rest of my life..

As some of you know, my primary creative focus has been screenwriting for a while. However, I’ve never shared a script before. My latest installation is a new short film script called “Painless.” The story focuses on an MMA fighter with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain disorder (CIP) who is haunted by a tragic past. This is something I hope to refine and shoot over the next year, and I’d love your thoughts on it.

A couple years ago I had the unique opportunity of watching an interview with Ed Sheeran in a room of only fifty people. Whether you like his music or not, you have to wonder how anyone gets to the point of selling out 30,000 seat venues with only their voice, a guitar, and a loop pedal.

It’s been a while since I’ve been interviewed on a podcast, so I jumped at the chance to chat with The Neighbors Upstairs when they reached out.

The neighbors did a great job of weaving a fluid narrative with their questions, and we cover everything from leaving a corporate job to UFOs! I think you’ll really enjoy this chat.

Specificity stands out. It cuts through the noise. While sitting outside a cafe in Malibu with Hilary, I heard a distinct rumble grow closer. I looked over and saw this 1965 Shelby Cobra pull up and park. Malibu has no shortage of exotic cars, but this stood out. More than any of the Ferraris or Lambos cruising the PCH.

Sometimes Sundays role around and I think, “Crap, I haven’t written a blog yet.” So, I peak at my list of blog ideas and see what calls to me. Today the one that jumped out was NOT what I was hoping for.

My note simply said, “Count to 1,000.”

I have never been an early riser. I’ve historically considered myself a “night owl” and felt creative inspiration in the wee hours of the night. In fact, I’ve tried countless times in the past to wake up earlier to no avail. I was particularly optimistic after reading Hal Elrod’s book “Miracle Morning,” but it didn’t stick. So I just chalked it up to having a different circadian rhythm.

I have a confession to make. I'm a control freak. Can I get an amen?

If you know me personally, this is likely not coming as a shock to you. In my perfect world, I'd have control over my outcomes, timing, and other people. It's no wonder I love writing screenplays where I essentially get to play God for the poor characters in my stories who are just trying to make it to the happy ending.

Stores are opening. Restaurants are opening. It seems life as we once knew it is slowly opening again. I also believe minds are opening and hearts are opening. We humans are funny creatures. On one hand, we spend the majority of our time and energy trying to maintain equilibrium. On the other hand, life outside our equilibrium is what has enabled our species to progress this far.

To the naked eye (as well as my own), it can appear like my career experiences are a haphazard mix of art and commerce. A tug-of-war between passion and necessity. Truth be told, for a lot of my life that’s exactly how it felt…

“Empty Spaces,” the title track off Eliot Bronson’s new record, describes life post-breakup when you’re just getting back on your feet again. It reminded me of when I broke off my engagement almost a decade ago. We were living together in a quaint Craftsman bungalow that was half her, half me. The weekend of our split I stayed with a friend so she could move out. When I walked back into the house it was half empty. It stayed that way for nearly six months as I began to put my life back together.

I was tempted to skip my blog this week because of the current state of our world and the country I call home. It’s hard for me to comprehend everything that’s going on right now, and I feel ill-equipped to speak out. It feels like I’m watching our society get swallowed whole by fear on all sides. When we let fear take us over, our bodies go into fight-or-flight mode, which is the same programming as kill-or-be-killed. It’s an ugly state that leads to rash decisions made with a sole goal—survival.

So instead of letting fear keep me from posting, I releasing a song I wrote a year and half ago about a tricky thing we call “honesty.”

Shortly upon arriving in Vegas and settling into our cute little cookie-cutter suburban house, I bought a grill. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but my living arrangements have never allowed for a traditional grill and after watching an episode of “Chef’s Table” with Francis Mallmann, I was itching to cook over an open fire…

A few months ago, I was chatting with a friend of mine about all the exciting new developments in my life when he interrupted me and asked, “are you having a midlife crisis?” His question stopped me in my tracks.

Seven years ago I got to fulfill a dream of mine by speaking on the TEDxPeachtree (now TEDxAtlanta) stage. The premise of my talk was that limits create unlimited creativity. There’s nothing more daunting than a blank page, so it becomes easier to create when you’re presented with constraints(full talk HERE).

In the film world, no one does this better than the 48-Hour Film Project. Every year, thousands of filmmakers all over the country get together over a single weekend to start and finish a short film from scratch. That feat, in and of itself, is incredible. But to make things more interesting (and to ensure no one cheats) they reveal creative limitations an hour before it begins that everyone must abide by. Those include a prop, a line of dialogue, and a character every film must use. On top of that, each team draws two genres out of a hat. It’s up to the team whether they use just one or both of the genres.

Pling! That was the sound a dime made when hitting the bottom of an old tin can labeled “Family.” Growing up, my parents gave me a weekly allowance of $1.00. This wasn’t free money I could just blow on strippers and booze, I had to allocate it into a series of tin cans. A dime went to “Family” to save for holiday gifts, another dime went into a can marked “God” as my 10% tithe, and a quarter went into “Savings.” The rest I could spend how I saw fit. Sadly, $0.55 doesn’t get you very far, even in 1987. 

Self-worth is a tricky thing. Life doesn’t come with a built-in grading scale, so we either create our own or adopt someone else’s. The only thing you can’t do is escape it. We spend decades trying to achieve worth based upon the scale we choose, not realizing worth exists outside the scale.

Once there was a girl who loved painting horses. Every day she would gather up her paints, brushes and a new canvas then hike down to the stables next door. She was always sure to bring carrots with her to entice the horses in coming closer so she could paint the beautiful, subtle details in their faces and manes…

I’ve been through many iterations of life philosophy. First was pushing. Got a goal? Well it ain’t gonna happen for ya. You have make it happen. Plan out how you’re gonna get there and execute. Obstacles will come. Don’t let that keep you down. Press on. Push…

I’ve always been a hopeful romantic. I remember coming home from school in the 2nd grade lamenting the fact that the girl I had a crush on in my class didn’t share my sentiment. Girls never had cooties as far as I was concerned, and I spent countless hours during my childhood fantasizing about all the romantic gestures I’d make to woo a woman when one finally liked me.

I went horseback riding for the first time the other day. At least I think it was my first time. I have one other memory of riding a horse, but it’s from so long ago there’s an 80% chance it was just a vivid dream. So, for simplicity sake, we’ll call this my maiden voyage…

I’m pretty well-versed in walking, jogging and running. Thanks to my Great Pyrenees Lambert’s love of the outdoors, I spend at least an hour a day walking. It’s a wonderful excuse to take a break from whatever’s consuming me…

Two years ago, out of frustration over a TV idea I had not getting off the ground, I buried myself in YouTube videos, bought a camera and some lights, and decided I was going to shoot it myself. Little did I know what kind of impact that decision would have on my life…

I wrote this song a couple years ago after having been single for quite a while. A dear friend of mine had gotten married, and I was holding onto this napkin with their names embossed in gold. It was love at first sight for them, and I was jealous…

I remember as a kid getting excited every time our family road trip would take us over the state line. Growing up on a steady diet of Disney movies and storybooks, it always felt like we were entering some magical land…