Dan Castle shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Dan, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
Every morning for over eight years I go for a walk as soon as I wake up. I haven’t missed a day since I began doing it back in 2017. It is usually at least fifteen to twenty minutes. I do this mostly to set my day up with a clean head. Seeing what the weather is like, the neighborhood, birds, the quiet has been a really good way to clean the palette for me. Once back, I make my coffee and sit down and write. In Graham Greene’s book The End of the Affair the narrator describes his approach to writing novels. Write five hundred words in the morning five days a week then do the corrections on the work in the evening. Since reading that I’ve adopted that approach. Once I have my coffee with me, I go to it. I have a few writing projects and assignments but for the five hundred words I channel all that into a loose story about two characters on a collision course with fate. More than anything it is just an exercise to get the writing muscle going. I’m a musician so I liken the process to doing scales on my instrument.
By the time I get all that done and have eaten something I’m ready to head out for the rest of the day or attend to whatever business comes up with calls, gym, etc. The five hundred words a day approach has helped keep my writer’s block at bay as I work on my other projects. I highly recommend giving it a try, just writing to write, but not necessarily in a journal type way, writing a narrative with no intention of it being anything other than a practice session, has helped immensely in terms of keeping things flowing creatively as I work on other projects.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Dan Castle, I’ve been an independent filmmaker since the late 90s. Some periods were very productive, others not. That is part of the cycle in the industry. During the quiet periods I write, paint and work on side projects. Currently I am working with the Cameron Parsons Foundation on their project, Almost Forgotten Women Artists. In May of this year we traveled to Paris to do a series of interviews on the artist, Riva Boren. The trip gave me a chance to reconnect with Paris and establish contacts going forward. I have a couple of film projects set in the South of France so I anticipate spending more time in France both for the Forgotten Women Artists project and my feature film work.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
When I was a senior at the Performing Arts School in Philadelphia my local guitar teacher suggested I start taking lessons from Dennis Sandole. I was a rock n roll kid, into KISS, Zep, AC/DC, The Stones etc so the idea of studying with a Jazz guru during my last year of high school seemed daunting. But I wanted to study music in college. I figured I better bump up to a more legitimate level as a musician, so I went to Dennis for my audition lesson. The guy taught John Coltrane, so he didn’t accept just anyone. When I say I knew nothing about Jazz, I mean really nothing. I didn’t even have a Real Book yet. As I fumbled through whatever junk I had prepared for Dennis, he must wondered what I was doing there in front of him with my silver Gibson Les Paul. He had me play a few other things and then something he threw in front of me, maybe to see if I could actually read music, which thankfully, I could. Then he invited me to come back the following week – if – I was able to practice and properly prepare the lesson he had just written out for me in my manuscript book. “You have a curious mind.” I remember him saying that to me before I left his studio. I had never practiced guitar as much as I did that week. I passed the test and started on my real education on all things creative with Dennis Sandole.
I studied with Dennis for years. All through my college years at NYU and Berklee I kept up with his four-part lesson plan. More than shaping me as a musician, Dennis was shaping me as an artist. “You have a very good mind.” He would tell me that pretty much during every lesson. No one had ever told me that. I was not an academic as a kid. The first ten years of regular school had bored me. It wasn’t until I enrolled in the Performing Arts School that I realized what learning could open up for me in terms of options. Studying with Dennis deepened my hunger for knowledge and experience. I started to dig into everything Jazz and music in general. I also studied Modern Dance while at my new high school and got inspired to read and write more. I think my parents didn’t quite know what track to put me on so they were willing to let me dictate some pretty significant choices that would shape my path towards adulthood. I started getting As instead of Cs in school, spent hours studying music and guitar and charted a course towards getting accepted to NYU. None of that was possible for me until I went to the Performing Arts School and also started studying with Dennis. He awakened a thirst for knowledge that no other teacher had up to that point.
That was nearly forty years ago, I am still studying my Sandole lessons and also compiled a study guide of the first half of my lessons. I haven’t lost my curiosity and my thirst to know more and dig deeper into music, art, film, writing, anything creative. I try to share that with others who pursue creative careers here in Los Angeles. Not always but too often, what strikes me now is how uncurious I find many in Gen Z and Millennials. Maybe it is the phone/Google phenomenon of instantly accessible information, I’m not sure, but some, more than I would have thought, when I mention something or overhear someone being told about something as yet unfamiliar to them, they shut it down or dismiss it as not relevant to them. I find it strange when I meet “comedians” who don’t know who Jackie Gleason is nor are interested in finding out, “actors” who don’t know who Peter Sellers is, “musicians” who don’t know who Bill Evans is. I met a “writer” recently who didn’t know who Tolstoy was! I mean, what happened to basic education? I understand how someone could miss things but what I struggle with is the lack of curiosity or interest once something that could help a person’s creative journey has been presented. The tradition of passing on knowledge from generation to generation seems to be getting muddled if not lost. I hope things turn around and I hope young creatives coming up find their Dennis Sandole so they too develop a hunger for the knowledge, real knowledge, not just information.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Resilience. Pursing a creative life can be daunting. Not all ideas work in the marketplace. Not everything that gets written gets read but all that comes with the territory. It is important to remain focused on the big picture and long arc of one’s pursuits. Setbacks are an opportunity to reassess, retrain, refocus and reapproach one’s goals.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
That they can be wrong. Not always, but when someone is recognized as smart they are seen as successful and have careers that put them in charge of organizations, projects, staff, etc. So they get used to being right, having to be right, assuming they are right and living in the world oriented that way. When it comes to things not lining up as they anticipated in the marketplace for their product they can be at a loss for what went wrong. When it comes to the interpersonal, family or relationship dynamics, where the playing field is more equal, they find themselves lacking when it comes to the give and take, the right and wrong of the issue(s). The muscle of compromise and listening is just not there. Being questioned at all, having their position challenged can be extremely confronting.
To be fair, I know this from my own experience, when you are in charge of something or realizing a vision like a film project you have to believe you are right. When manifesting something that aligns with the vision you hold and are bringing to life you need that core belief that you know what you are doing, and your logic and thinking are correct as it applies to that idea. But that can be dangerous loop to live in. It is important to stay open to the idea that you could be wrong. I am sure that many who know me will laugh at me for this, but I do work to integrate that into my creative process and have found being open to being wrong can be rewarding and result in better work. It also leads to healthier personal relationships. Striving to find balance, acceptance and equality can be a much healthier and more productive place to live in than the world of always being the smartest, most right person in the room. If that is the case, as the cliché goes, you are in the wrong room.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. When do you feel most at peace?
When I am drawing, painting, writing, and working on music projects time evaporates. When I was in Paris in 2010-2011, I was in a life drawing class. I remember it hit me in the middle of one of the sessions how the only thing I heard in a room of twenty people was the scratching of pencils against paper. After the intense effort and heavy lifting of making the feature film, Newcastle, in Australia, I was in this quiet room learning how to draw a person sitting in the center of the room. There was a real sense of peace in that studio. The outside world was kept at bay for those three-hour sessions. I find when I get caught up in a creative endeavor, I can capture that same feeling of peace and centered focus. No matter what the result is of my efforts, in and of that moment I am at peace. That has been the lesson of it all. No matter the result, no matter the response, it is the work itself that will set you free. It goes with the previous question about suffering, keep creating, working on oneself and doing the internal work that is required in a creative life. Success will come and go. Maintaining a consistent and disciplined approach to the creative process will keep you prepared to take advantage of them when opportunities present themselves.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: sdancastle
- Linkedin: Dan Castle
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7EqgrgA2Sx8klvKIlxY_vQ
- Other: https://dancastle1.bandcamp.com/album/cant-be-undone-soundtrack-score
Image Credits
Dan Castle
