Good morning, fellow artists! Welcome to another exciting edition of my weekly Hollywood blog. In the final days leading up to Richard Lawson presenting “The Third Act” script at the prestigious Largo.ai pitch competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film, I took a break during work on Mother’s Day and sat outside on the balcony. I wanted to have a moment of quiet. To sit still and connect with the fresh air and sunshine. As I sat there with my eyes closed, I realized that this day was also the eve of a new week. And not just any new week. The week of the Cannes pitch. I felt something powerful come over me, and I couldn’t quite articulate what it was. There was a calm electricity in the air. An almost eerie silence settled into my surroundings. I felt like I was the only person there, and everything else just vanished. Keep reading below 🙂
Later, I was able to articulate what I was feeling on that balcony. It was “the calm before the storm.” Eureka! Woo hoo! I found it! The calm before the storm! But wait? A “storm?” Could that be right? I looked up various definitions of this phrase, and they all leaned towards the negative. Hmmm, this Cannes pitch is not a storm. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing! I revised the phrase and came up with, “the calm before the incredible, artistic, career breakthrough.” Much better. More positive. Definitely closer to describing what I was feeling. Keep reading below 🙂
The following day, my career administration partner and I met for our weekly meeting. I shared what I had experienced the day before and how I changed the phrase from “the calm before the storm” to “the calm before the incredible, artistic, career breakthrough.” He liked it and also offered another viewpoint regarding storms. He said that “not every storm is an F5 tornado. Some are just heavy showers that wash away dirt and dead leaves, leaving water for new life and new plants to grow.” They wash away things and create space for other things to come in. It was definitely a refreshing and positive way to look at storms. I did another online search and continued discovering that not all storms are bad. These “good” storms help combat drought conditions, provide much-needed water to crops, fight extreme heat waves, and restore ecological balance, amongst other benefits. Keep reading below 🙂
In this context, the Cannes pitch is a good storm. I went back to the definitions of “calm before the storm” and found positive ones this time. Dictionary.com describes the calm before the storm as “a lull or temporary period of quiet before a tumultuous event, such as a storm or an episode of excitement, activity…” Merriam-Webster similarly describes this phrase as “a period of quiet that comes before a time of activity, excitement…” The Cambridge Dictionary also describes this phrase as “a quiet or peaceful period before a period during which there is great activity.” The calm before the storm now becomes a glass-half-full type of metaphor. The Cannes pitch will produce excitement, great activity, and positive inflow that we will experience and manage together. Keep reading below 🙂
See you next week!
Chasing The George 