The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Alison Duke’

These are some of the people I interviewed this year to act as your mentors. In case you missed any of the interviews, when you get the opportunity, take a moment to read them. While you are reading the interviews, think of what you have in common with the interviewees, and ask yourself, what can I learn from them that I can use in my work and life? You can also find these interviews and more on the Mentors page of the blog

1. Mind your Qs please! She was the first female CEO of a steel company in Canada (Part I) (Part II)
2. She left a successful search consulting business to become a human excellence coach (Part I), (Part II)
3. The life coach who is also an artist (Part I), (Part II)
4. Someone who knows what leadership is about (Part I), (Part II)
5. The “hip accountant” (Part I), (Part II)
6. The entrepreneur’s friend (Part I), (Part II)
7. Head of PR for a technology firm, a writer, and very witty (Part I), (Part II)
8. The social justice film producer (Part I), (Part II)
9. A mentor directed her path to success (Part I), (Part II)
10. Someone who is a career and employment counsellor and a LinkedIn Heavyweight (Part I), (Part II)
11. A leadership and career coach, and a very straight shooter (Part I), (Part II)
12. An internet marketer and social media trainer (Part I), (Part II)
13. Someone who is a relationship builder (Part I), (Part II)
14. An IT executive who sang at her own wedding (Part I), (Part II)
15. Someone who is into food safety (Part I), (Part II)
16. She is an Assistant Deputy Minister (Part I), (Part II)
17. As a youngster he read biographies (children’s) of “great people” which taught him the importance of reading and learning from the experiences of others (Part I), (Part II)
18. The founder of Athena International (Part I), (Part II)
19. A successful business owner who attended 17 schools in three countries while growing up (Part I), (Part II)
20. Founder of Connected Women (Part I), (Part II)
21. Someone who was a former editor of Chatelaine Magazine (Part I), (Part II)
22. She started in the library and ended up in the executive suite (Part I), (Part II)
23. She launched the International Women’s Festival, and also operated a very successful business which she sold (Part I), (Part II)
24. Someone who died for four minutes (Part I), (Part II)
25. Someone who used to hide under the table from bill collectors, now she is a success story (Part I), (Part II)
26. When she first became a leader, she was referred to as Godzilla, but a mentor helped to smooth off the rough edges, now she is a remarkable leader (Part I), (Part II)
27. His best friend was embezzling so he gave him the opportunity to do the right thing (Part I), (Part II)
28. A busy senior level banking executive who escapes from it all through fiction (Part I), (Part II)
29. Someone who is a CFO of a restaurant chain (Part I), (Part II)
30. Someone who is a marketing and communications consultant (Part I), (Part II)
31. Someone knows what it means to fall down seven times get up eight (Part I), (Part II)
32. Someone who is an entertainer and comic artist (Part I), (Part II)
33. Someone who is a goldsmith and jewelry designer (Part I), (Part II)
34. An entrepreneur who blends health and technology (Part I), (Part II)
35. The medical doctor (Part I), (Part II)
36. The serial entrepreneur with mild superpowers (Part I), (Part II)
37. Serial entrepreneur and expert interviewer (Part I), (Part II) (Part III), (Part IV)
38. Founder of First Fridays (Part I), (Part II)
39. Someone who does cross-culture consulting (Part I), (Part II)
40. This senior executive made a tough decision that no parent should ever have to make (Part I), (Part II)
41. The reinvention guy (Part I), (Part II)

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Cover of The Picture of Dorian Gray

This is what we talked about on The Invisible Mentor Blog this week: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, Henry Ford, American Automobile Pioneer and Industrialist and Alison Duke, Film Producer, Goldelox Productions.

Mondays at the Salon
Career Coach Peggy McKee from Career Confidential presented at the webinar, “How to Find a Job in any Economy.” McKee shared a few tips on the new way to job search.
6 Job Search Tips fro Career Coach Peggy McKee

Booked on Tuesdays
The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde’s only novel, and was first published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazinein 1890. It appeared in book form the following year, and six additional chapters were added. The book is beautifully written, and filled with a lot of wit, but the more I read through the literary classics on my adventure in learning, the more depressed they are making me feel.
Review – The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Wisdom Wednesdays
Henry Ford did not invent the automobile but he made it possible for the masses to afford one, creating the “car culture.” Ford did this because he had a vision and he found a way to realize his vision. He streamlined the manufacturing process and introduced the continuously moving assembly line. Ford installed the first conveyor belt-based assembly line in his car factory in his Highland Park, Michigan plant.
Henry Ford, American Automobile Pioneer and Industrialist

Perspective Thursdays and Workshop Fridays

This week we featured Alison Duke, Film Producer, Goldelox Productions. Duke shared many nuggets of wisdom with us. She emphasized the importance of continuous learning and to keep up with the technology in your field so that you become the competition. Here are Part One and Part Two of Alison Duke’s interview.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Book link is affiliate link

Interviewee Name: Alison Duke

Company Name: Goldelox Productions

Website: http://www.alisonduke.com/ 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Alison Duke: I was born in Canada after my parents moved from Guyana. I was the only girl in the family of four boys. I am a proud Canadian who makes films about social justice.

Avil Beckford: How do you integrate your personal and professional life?

Alison Duke: I tend to keep those two things separately, although I tend to work with people who I enjoy being around. I feel like I have to be a businessperson so I tend to set boundaries and separate things. I had to work a lot around boundaries in my life so I try to keep business and the personal life separate. 

Avil Beckford: When you have some down time, how do you spend it? 

Alison Duke: I like to spend my down time outdoors. That includes being outside in my yard. We just renovated our backyard so I’ll be spending more time out there. I also love traveling to different places. I think being outside and traveling really reconnects my spirit and my soul with the universe, with the world. So I love to spend as much time as I can outdoors. Most of my work is indoors so getting outside is very important to me.

Avil Beckford: What are five life lessons that you have learned so far?

Alison Duke:

1. Try and enjoy the moment, whatever it is, whether it’s a challenge, or a success because sometimes you miss out on an important life lesson because you’re moving too quickly when something happens. You move too quickly trying to get to the next phase, when something good happens, or you try to fix something when there is a challenge or a disappointment. I think you really need most of the time to stop and listen to what life is saying to you.
2. Take as many risks as you can, especially when you are learning something new. By taking the risk you’ll discover what you really like to do and why. Some people in the film industry wait a long time before making a film and I often tell people, “As soon as you learn a skill test it out, try to make a film, and see what you like about it.” You might start out thinking that you want to be a director or producer, but then you realize that you’d like to be a camera person, you’d like to be the art director or you’d like to do everything. It’s only through risk-taking that you’ll learn that.
3. Don’t sweat the small stuff. I think this is really true about a lot of things. You really have to pick your battles because if you are always flying off complaining about somebody, people won’t take you seriously after a while. That kind of anxiety leads to illness, and it’s just not good, so pick your battles.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Working too hard or burning the candle at both ends will cause your work to suffer. You have to not be afraid to ask for help when you need it. And that could be asking around for a mentor, it could be saying, “You know I don’t know this aspect of my job.” Do some information interviews with people who are doing that job. It could be taking courses online, or it could be reading books that will help you learn what you need to learn. If you do not know how to do something, maybe a friend or a colleague knows how to do it, learn when and how to collaborate because collaboration is also good for creativity, and for getting things done.
5. Try to be as organized as possible when it comes to business. I find that when I’m organized I can get a lot of my business done before 11 am and that leaves the rest of my day to be creative, and I can be a little bit more loose with my schedule because that helps me with my creativity. So I tend to be as organized as possible, do all my emails and phone calls before 11 am.

Avil Beckford: What process do you use to generate great ideas?

Alison Duke: I do many things. I read a lot of newspapers. I read a lot of journals and I read anything about current events. I also go through historical documents. I peruse the web, but nothing beats watching people and eavesdropping on conversations, not to be nosy but to get a sense of how people talk, what are they talking about, what’s important to people? I love watching people – it could be on the subway, standing on my friend’s porch. Sometimes it’s a look people have, or the way they do what they are doing. A lot of those situations when I’m watching people inspire a shot or a dialogue or how I construct a narration or something. It’s always funny to me when I might listen to something on the streetcar, and then all of sudden I realize that’s the way people are saying this kind of thing and I’d incorporate it into my work.

Avil Beckford: What’s your favourite quotation and why?

Alison Duke: It’s a Nelson Mandela quotation, “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Avil Beckford: How do you define success? And in your opinion what’s the formula for success?

Alison Duke: The way I define success is being able to call your own shots in life, not being a slave to anyone or any system, being free to set your own schedule. The formula for success is taking risks, investing in yourself, and when I say investing I don’t mean going out and spending a lot of money on different things but it could be through taking the time to invest in your education, about whatever you want to do. It could be about being an entrepreneur that’s selling baked goods. You need to learn everything you need to know about running a business and baking.

In terms of taking risks, don’t play it safe, take the time to try things that may fail because it’s through the failing that you learn the most. Through failing I’ve had a steep learning curve. I remember when I didn’t know how to use a camera and I had to film something and none of my cameramen were available. I went and shot it myself, and was it the best it could be? No! It wasn’t technically sound, but when I was editing that piece it became a very powerful part of the film. And even when I was showing it to people who are experienced, like cinematographers, and I said my lighting wasn’t good, they said, “You know what, that was a very powerful part, leave it in the film.” And I’ve learned so much about how to film better through that process. And now I film more of my content as well.

Avil Beckford: What are the steps you took to succeed in your field?

Alison Duke: The steps I took were investing in myself, taking the courses because I didn’t go to film school, so I had to backtrack and take courses. So when I was starting off, every year, I would go to all the film industry events, the film festivals and buy an industry pass and go to all the workshops. I would take workshops outside of that, for every single part of my profession and learn all about it, even if it came down to learn how to write production grants. I took so many of them and I would retake them to the point where I’d say to myself, “Stop taking that, start doing it.” And then I’d start doing it. But even to this day, I take two to three workshops a year.

Avil Beckford: What advice do you have for someone just starting out in your field?

Alison Duke: Take risks. As soon as you learn something, take the risk of applying that practically. So if you’re going to learn directing, go out and direct something. If you are going to learn to be a cameraperson go out and try to film something. Take that risk and learn from it. But on top of that, as you are learning, invest in yourself and go and take those workshops so you can become better at it. Learn different skills and learn how to hone your skills better. There is a lot to learn all the time, so you can’t just sit on your hands and think that you are always going to get work, and believe you’re always going to be a part of the industry. You have to grow with the industry and stay relevant.

Avil Beckford: If trusted friends could introduce you to five people that you’ve always wanted to meet, who would you choose? And what would you say to them?

Alison Duke:

1. Martin Luther King: I would love to hear him speak, but I would have to ask him the question, “Why did you write your speech I Have a Dream?” And I’d also want to know if he was satisfied with the results today, and what he thinks about today’s society.
2. Steven Spielberg & Martin Scorcese: I would love to meet and ask them how they became A-List directors, what film made them an A-List director and why?
3. Barack Obama: I would love to ask him how he takes so much pressure, how he deals with all the pressure around him. I think he is under an enormous amount of pressure and I don’t know how he deals with that on a daily basis. That’s extraordinary.
4. Harriet Tubman:  Harriet Tubman was an extraordinary person. I want to know what would possess her to be a freedom fighter and an abolitionist, what gave her the courage to do it, and how did she do that – lead the slaves to freedom, and the smarts to evade the authority at the time.

Avil Beckford: Which one book had a profound impact on your life? What was it about this book that impacted you so deeply?

Alison Duke: I think it was a A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume by Dr. Helen Schucman. It’s a book that answers those lifelong questions about your existence and where I as a human being fit into this huge universe. For me it’s about the connection to your soul. One of the saying in the book is “Nothing can be threatened”, “Nothing unreal exists.” In those two phrases that’s where I find peace. With all the chaos in the world, that’s where I find peace and my god – what I think god is.

Avil Beckford: You are one of the 10 finalists on the reality show, So, How Would You Spend Your Time? Each finalist is placed on separate deserted islands for two years. You have a basic hut on the island and all the tools for survival; you just have to be imaginative and inventive when using them. You are allowed to take five books, one movie and one music CD, and whatever else you take has to fit in one suitcase and a travel on case. What would you take with you and how would you spend the two years? T he prize is worth your while and at this stage in the game there really aren’t any losers among the 10 finalists, since each are guaranteed at least $2 million? 

Note from Avil: I did this interview before I changed the question!

Alison Duke:

1. A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles” by Marianne Williamson. It’s a reflection on the principles of the Course in Miracles.
2. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume because you can’t just read it front to the end, you have to take your time. Sometimes you read a chapter and have to step away from it for a week and then read another chapter. Or you read a page every day.
3. Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert: I love that book, it’s such a great book. On a deserted island, that woman in the book is a character, and she was sort of on a deserted island so the metaphor for that book and being on a deserted island I think would bode well with me thinking about the possibilities in life, that maybe some day I would be rescued. I think in her journey in life she was looking for someone or something to rescue her.
4. I would also love to have a book about my ancestors, maybe that’s a book that I would start working on, trying to retrace my family.
5. I don’t know if I would particularly have The Bible or the Koran but I’d like to have some kind of book that talks about spirituality. I think it would be a combination of all the spiritual books from the Koran to the Bible to the Tipitaka (Buddhist holy book) so that I can compare and contrast what they are saying.

My music CD that I would take is Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall and I remember as a young person dancing to that from the first to the last song, over and over again without tiring, and I think the title of the album says it all. You have to live life off the wall, you have to be outrageous. Make your life the best it could be and I really felt that when I used to listen to that album. The movie would be The Wizard of Oz (Two-Disc 70th Anniversary Edition). I love that movie because there are so many life lessons about your fears, and the scarecrow, just the life lessons that are played by the characters is amazing and I love to watch that movie over and over again.

OFF THE WALL – MICHAEL JACKSON

If you cannot view the YouTube Off the Wall video, please click here.

The Wizard of Oz

If you cannot view the YouTube Wizard of Oz video, please click here.

Avil Beckford: What excites you about life?

Alison Duke: You can make choices in life and through those choices you are in charge of your destiny.

Avil Beckford: How do you nurture your soul?

Alison Duke: I nurture my soul through my spiritual practice. I think everyone has to believe in something that is beyond them.

Avil Beckford: If you had a personal genie and she gave you one wish, what would you wish for?

Alison Duke: I wish there was peace on earth. I wish that people would be respected and that there would be human rights for all. And I think if there was human rights for all there would be peace on earth.

Avil Beckford: Complete the following, I am happy when…..

Alison Duke: I’m happy when I can make people smile and laugh.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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YouTube Video Credit: Off the Wall Uploaded by BigMTown4, Wizard of Oz Uploaded by  Ravenswood17

Interviewee Name: Alison Duke, Film Producer

Company Name: Goldelox Productions

Website: http://www.alisonduke.com/ 

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Alison Duke: I was born in Canada after my parents moved from Guyana. I was the only girl in the family of four boys. I am a proud Canadian who makes films about social justice.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Alison Duke: Nothing typical actually for me. I run my own production company so right now I have three productions on the go. I’m in production on a documentary about abused women and their children going through a leadership training program which is run by Redwood Shelter in Toronto. I’m also developing a documentary on the criminalizing of women living with HIV for the Canadian HIV Network, and I have a couple other productions on the go as well. So from the time I wake up and actually do my walk, and ready to go, I look at my inbox to see emails coming in, and I’m on the go.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Alison Duke:  Motivating myself is to love what I do. I really love being a producer and director. And even though some days I wake up feeling challenged I know this is what I am meant to do, and this is what I’m good at, what I excel at. So going out into the world and hearing other people’s stories, and documenting it and hearing how they have overcome obstacles is like a gift for me. I feel blessed that I’m able to do that. The reason I talked about me being the only girl in a family of boys is because when I was growing up I felt kind of marginalized all the time and being from an immigrant family that was on top of that. When I look at my job talking to different people who have had challenging lives and learning something from them, I think it just helps me as a person.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Alison Duke:  When I was growing up I became very shy. I don’t know if people know this but in the entertainment industry they think I’m an extrovert but I am a very shy person. Everything now is about branding yourself and telling people what you’re about and what you do and I avoided doing that for a really long time, just for the fear of doing that not knowing what to say.  Even though I used to be a pundit on TV about social issues, I would never talk about myself, what I’m doing or my successes. So knowing what I now know I would have taken some courses on public speaking to come out of my shell. I didn’t know those kinds of things were available to people as you’re developing. Now I know, just being shy is not a big thing, but I could have done something about it earlier.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Alison Duke: I think the personal is tied to the business. I discovered that I could do a lot more than I thought I could. I even discovered that I was more creative than I thought I was. Instead of hiring other people to do editing I’m doing it myself. I never used to edit any of my projects. I used to hire people to do that because I just thought you had to be really creative, you needed to be really technical, you needed to have all this experience. And then I took a few courses and I learned how to edit and by editing in-house I’m saving 20 to 30 percent on my budgets.

So the discovery of trying to learn something new, that I can do it, helped me and helped my business.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Alison Duke:

1. The biggest threat – and you wouldn’t believe it’s a threat because it’s supposed to be something that’s supporting my industry – is technology because people all of a sudden are expecting faster production and delivery times, and bigger production for less money. Because of that, the price of labour and other services started to drop so the marketplace became saturated with people who can afford the technology because it was readily available and they can learn how to use it. What I have done, is try to stay ahead of the curve, always researching the technology, taking courses, workshops, learning how to use it and investing in it in my business, not being afraid of buying the equipment. I’ve been using them in my productions because at the end of the day if you’re not owning this equipment and using it then you’re spending a lot of money on either renting or you’re not keeping up with the competition. I choose not only to keep up with the competition but to be the competition so I have to embrace technology as much as I can.
2. The other threat to the business is that the funding sources have changed. There is a lot of convergence going on, on a larger level. You don’t know what broadcasters are going to merge with next. You are always starting again because the structure of the industry is changing so much, so for me I try to develop personal relationships. The people might move to different companies but I know who they are and people don’t change. So I develop personal relationships with people who work with broadcasters. You have to learn who is who in the industry and form relationships with them.
3. The third thing is I’m really cautious about growing too fast. I’ve already been a part of another production company, it was in the nineties, and we were a music video production company. We grew really fast and it seemed every six months we were moving to a bigger location. Now what I’m doing, I have a studio in my house and I have an editing suite and I have someone who works with me as a production/administrative assistant. I also interns come in to my home business. I really don’t want to grow too fast too soon. I want to keep things at a manageable level because when you grow too fast you have all this overhead. For me it’s more about the quality than the flash.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Alison Duke: I produce social justice documentaries. I tell stories about people who are trying to make the world a better place by their activism – by what they fight for. A lot of these people are faced with human rights violations because of who they love, what they do, so I’m telling the stories of those people and those communities. And that’s a very unique situation because I get to go in and see some of the issues that are facing this world today, and some of them are big issues. I was just in Uganda and I was capturing some of the activities of a transvestite activist from Uganda who was expelled and for the first time is going back to their country to do a workshop for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite) community there. I get a really unique perspective on life and some people are so strong, that’s good to see and it motivates me to be a better person and to do whatever I can to help society.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Alison Duke: My biggest challenge was learning the industry and overcoming my shyness. Although I say you should get to know people in the industry, I was a very shy person for many years, and meeting people was excruciatingly painful. I would freeze up! I would literally freeze up and when it came to pitching ideas I would freeze up. What I did is I said, “You know what, the most scary thing is getting up in front of a group of people and talk,” so I started teaching. You would think that I would avoid that, but I just threw myself into teaching media, and that helped me to overcome some of the shyness. I learnt more about my profession, and how to talk about it, and it really shaped me, and how I am out in the community. So now I’m more outgoing, I’m not afraid to talk to people, and a lot of the people who I’ve mentored and talked to actually come up to me in some of these places.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Alison Duke: My big break came when I directed my first film, Raising Kane a rap documentary. I went to the National Film Board of Canada and pitched to them asking if they’d be interested in producing a documentary film about a Canadian Hip Hop group featuring my brother’s band, Citizen’s Kane. I didn’t hear anything from them and a month later and NFB producer Karen King – she is no longer there – called me back and presented me with a contract to produce the film. And that was my first big break and I have been making documentaries ever since.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Alison Duke:  My biggest failure was a film I made for a major broadcaster. I left my job as a producer for a syndicated television documentary show to direct a documentary that was commissioned for a major broadcaster. I went into it very naive. I thought the broadcaster wanted me to make a film that was from the point of view of the community as opposed to a film looking at the community from the outside in. I was young in my career and I had no idea what type of film they really wanted to make. They wanted something sensationalized and then I learned during the editing process that they were looking for something different from what I was looking at.

I learned that you have to speak up and you have to lay your agenda on the line when you are taking contracts, when you are negotiating. You have to let people know what kind of films, what kind of product you are going to make. What are they going to get from you? And let them know the things that you won’t do, and the things you don’t feel comfortable doing. That way down the line there are no surprises.

I think back when I was younger film maker, I was afraid to do that because I thought that I would lose the contract. Now it’s very apparent – it’s on my website, that this is the type of films that I make, this is what I do, there is no discrepancy when you hire me what you’re going to get. And you probably wouldn’t come to me if you wanted another type of product so that is another way to filter out those jobs, some of those clients who would come to you for something different than you are comfortable making or producing.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Alison Duke:  One of the toughest decisions I had to make was not talking to my dad. I stopped talking to my father. He was a very abusive person growing up and whenever I spoke to him it would just get me down. He’s now in a nursing home and I don’t visit him too often because he is very, very abusive. So I decided to take him in very small doses. Sometimes you just have to set boundaries and this is one of the times where I decided to set a really strong boundary and that’s helped me in other areas of my life. I don’t tolerate people who behave badly around me, people who are abusive or condescending, and whenever someone is like that around me I just think about my father. I wouldn’t tolerate that from my father so why am I going to tolerate that from this particular person. It was a hard decision, but I had to do it to preserve my own sanity.  It was a tough decision because in society you are taught to respect your mother and father, and hold them in high regard but you have to preserve yourself first. And when you are in a relationship that brings you down, you have to take a look at that seriously and set boundaries because it affects you in other areas of your life.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Alison Duke:

1. Being the only girl showed me how to play with the boys, be competitive and I’ve learned how to have endurance through that experience, just being able to keep up with the boys.
2. Another event was when I was selected for an all star basketball team representing Canada. One summer we played in Scandinavia, Germany, Denmark, Amsterdam and it was my first glimpse of the world outside of North America. I just loved that experience, not just being able to play as a junior Canadian basketball all-star player, but just being able to travel. Now I travel constantly.
3. The third would be meeting my partner, she’s very supportive and a very grounding person. And that’s great for me, especially for someone who is in the entertainment industry and also an entrepreneur. So it’s also nice to have a person around you that is opposite to what your life is like. So having a good relationship is a key to my success. You get to practice all the stuff with your partner and also hear about yourself too. Sometimes people won’t tell you on the outside things that you are not doing well but your partner surely will.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Alison Duke:  I think being inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at the University of Windsor. I was inducted in 2009 and that was a culmination of all my years as an athlete, but I also played basketball. When I played with the boys that taught me how to play basketball, and I became a very persistent basketball player and I played in university and I was MVP (Most Valued Player) for the team many times and I was also captain of the team. Being inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame made me feel like my life as an athlete was growing up – everything in life was worth it. Sometimes people think that playing sports is a waste of time but I learnt so much and it was just great to see that that part of my life was acknowledged. I’ll never forget it.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Alison Duke:  I had more mentors in sports than I did in the film industry and they were my coaches, teachers and some of the people who used to watch me play. And they really made me feel that I was accomplished, whenever you did something good or tried your best people commented, and that is always great. It’s great for your self-esteem, it’s motivational. Those same people, many of them I see in my film world or I see them when I’m doing different things around in Toronto. They are my Facebook friends and they also come out and watch my films, so my mentors have  allowed me to believe that I can do things and that I’m good at what I do and that I’m accomplished. They pushed me to be the best that I could be, and encouraged me not to give up on myself.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Alison Duke: One message is that the universe has a special plan for me.

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Alison Duke:  The universe has a special plan for you and I think that is true for everyone. It is your job in life to find out what it is you are to do, and then do it well.

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Interview With Alison Duke, Writer, Producer & Director, Goldelox Productions

This interview was first presented in the October 2006 issue of my newsletter Ambeck Edge

 Challenge: The business of filmmaking is very subjective. My clients are community-based organizations, government agencies and corporate businesses. They hire me to make films and videos for their companies in the form of short documentaries, Public Services Announcements and/or corporate videos. When I’m offered a contract to make “something,” usually there isn’t a script attached. Usually it’s just a concept. The only concrete things attached to it are the budget for the film and a delivery date. They may or may not have a research file on the subject available for me, or know the precise audience who the film is for. In addition to not having a script readily available, most of my clients didn’t go to film school so they don’t have the appropriate film grammar to explain what they want in the film or the film’s look or style.

A major problem working this way was that most people did not understand how much time and effort goes into producing films. Because TV, and Hollywood make moviemaking look easy, people have skewed ideas what things really cost. Yet when it comes to visuals, everyone has this uncanny way of knowing what they like (and what they don’t like) when they see it. An obvious business challenge working this way, was knowing what the client really wants, which means getting into the client’s head and figuring out what they want me to deliver without spending too much time and money so the production can arrive on budget and on schedule.

 Resolution: I educate the client about what it will take to make their film. Once attached to the job, I book a show and tell with the client. A show and tell is a creative meeting where I show segments from my previous work that may represent the feel and style of their project. For completely new ideas or concept, I present sketches, animations samples and even audio clips of what I have in mind for this new work. I’ll go over the cost of producing these audio/visuals and also talk about the overall challenges of creating particular visuals or audio for our timelines. Once the client approves the ideas they want, I give them a production contract. In this contract, I incorporate as much details about the creative, including responsibilities and timelines. I also affix a budget and payment schedule so that payments are released as we achieve creative milestones such as script approval, subject selection and so on. I go off and write the script.

 I don’t start the actual filming until they sign off on the script. When the production is in progress, things always change and it is very easy to get sidetracked in creative conversations. When the situation is clearly defined on paper people are more able to anchor back to the overall objective and director of the job.

 Lessons Learned

1.  Establishing a creative work environment with my client takes work. I can’t assume that it is just going to happen, I have to nurture it. The environment must have balance though, with a clearly defined hierarchy of who has the final say because it is easy to give in to ideas and try to satisfy the whims of everyone involved in the project
2. Creating this type of work environment enhances the overall execution and workflow of the project.
3. You can actually do more damage to your reputation as a creative person by working on projects, which lack overall vision, execution strategies or adequate support systems to help you deliver. When I started out doing this I did a lot of different things. I am very selective in what I do now

Formula for Success

Understanding my client’s needs, providing good service and being passionate about what I am doing is key. I love filming and I try as hard as I can to keep abreast with technology and trends. I read a lot of film books, magazines and web sites, and I also do a lot of research for each job so I am as prepared as possible. The bottom line is that I love learning about what I do. I feel that when I know more I am better able to give my clients products they can use for a long time.

Excerpt: Ambeck Edge October 2006

Further Readings

Internet Movie Database (IMDb) Alison Duke
Hear the Story