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Tag: Stroke recovery

hospital bed with dvd player
Nov142025

What I Learned from Filmmaking… from a Stroke (about Johnny English)

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know that my mom had a stroke last year. Among the effects of the story, it took away her ability to read (letters, symbols and numbers) but oddly not her ability to handwrite. If you want to learn more about that oddness, here’s last year’s post: https://www.debpatz.com/what-i-learned-about-writing-from-a-stroke/

Another lesson on the journey of recovery is from the time when she was still in the hospital: a lesson about hope.

Beyond her struggles to remember how to read, to calculate what year it was, to identify cutlery on the lunch tray, and so on… my mom had a desperate need to see the movie “Johnny English.”

Really?

Apparently, in all her hospital tests and discoveries about abilities lost and not, she wanted to know if she could still understand movie comedy and enjoy one of her most favourite films. She knew she had shelves of books in her home she might never be able to read again. She needed to know if her shelves of movies were also going to be out of reach.

She asked about the movie near daily, looking forward – no doubt with trepidation – to when she’d have the chance to see it again and find out. But until she did, she was determined that she’d not know the full extent of what was lost with the stroke.

So, one day, I brought the movie along with a portable DVD machine and headphones to the hospital. I had to help her use the machine because she couldn’t read the icons on the player – not even the buttons for play, pause or volume.

Watching her watch the movie… well, I can hardly describe the joy on her face as she discovered she could still understand the story, still catch the humour – both wit and slapstick. In that moment, the movie gave her hope: hope for the future, hope for some level of recovery. And even if some skills were going to remain lost to the stroke, she’d still have movies. She’d still have story and comedy.

You see, the medical profession keeps you alive physically, but stories can keep you alive emotionally.

That moment in the hospital will stay with me. It is the reason I entered the film industry in the first place: to truly affect people’s lives with filmed story. To make a difference in people’s lives through story.

As a filmmaker, you rarely see that connection actually happen. You are part of the movie being made and during release, it goes out strangers you may never meet. It’s a blessing that, every now and then, life will let you know that the connection is working. And hope is born in me too.

The hope and power of story!

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

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“Film Production Management 101” (now in its third edition) is updated for today’s respectful workplace and sustainable practices – available worldwide, including Amazon-USA, Indigo-Canada and many other bookstores or directly from the publisher (MWP).

“Write! Shoot! Edit!” (written for young adults) is a choose-your-own-path book where you can follow the path of the writer, director-DP or editor to make your first films. It’s also available worldwide, including Amazon-USA, Indigo-Canada (Kobo), or directly from the publisher (MWP).

Notebook-pen-blindfold
Sep62024

What I Learned About Writing from a Stroke

I’m finally back to writing my FILM blog. Besides being busy with the editing/publishing process of the next edition of “Film Production Management 101” (how exciting!), I’ve also been busy dealing with my mom’s stroke which she had this summer (not so exciting). She’s doing OK, BTW. Now, every stroke is different and my mom’s was certainly baffling to a number of us on the journey so far. What is interesting, though, is that I’ve learned two amazing discoveries about writing:

#1 – The ability to read and the ability to write are in different parts of the brain.

#2 – The ability to type and the ability to handwrite are in different parts of the brain.

You see, my mom can’t read or type (i.e. use a keyboard), but she oddly, can handwrite. And once she’s written something, she can’t read it. It’s kind of like handwriting with a blindfold on. Both strange and amazing, isn’t it?

Whod’ve thought reading and writing were so separate in the brain? Whod’ve thought that you could prove that writing on a computer is different from writing with pen and paper? My mom has proved it.

The inspiring element to this journey (beyond my mom’s spitfire dedication to re-learn to read), is that starting even from her hospital bed, she started writing. All those stories and children’s books she wanted to write over the years but never found the time, she wrote. Sure, they are messy handwritten first drafts but they are complete first drafts, story arc and all. And her spelling isn’t nearly as bad as she thinks it is.

Basically, she was forced to ignore the self-editor voice that gets in the way of writing with all kinds of corrections and judgements… because she couldn’t read what she’d written. Her only choice was to write forward. To shelve the self-editor voice. And she did. When she re-learns to read, she’ll have a body of work ready for editing and second draft. But it will be there. Pages and pages.

Makes you reflect that if you’re having trouble writing into a story on keyboard, it’s worth trying pen and paper. Mix it up and don’t let your self-editor have voice. Put on a literal or figurative blindfold if you need to. Be inspired by my spitfire of a mom and get that first draft written.

Cheers & a productive writing session to you,
Deb

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Where is Deb?

Mon. Sep. 16 – Guest Speaker at GEMS ETVP (Emerging TV Producers) Program, Vancouver BC

Tue. Oct. 8 – Guest Speaker for Telefilm at the Sustainable Production Forum (SPF24), Vancouver BC

And FYI, the third edition of “Film Production Management 101” is coming to bookstores and online in January 2025, but available now for pre-order (e.g. on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Indigo-Chapters).