Ideas For The Change Revolution

This past week, our team at Cooke Pictures moved into our new production and post-production offices in Burbank, California. Our goal is to make it a laboratory for experimenting with the chemical mix of faith, media, and culture. We're continuing to consult with numerous non-profit and religious clients, helping them raise the bar in the quality and effectiveness of what they're doing in the media, while moving ahead with our own projects, like the feature documentary "The Better Hour" on the life of William Wilberforce that was broadcast in HD nationwide on PBS this past Spring. ... read more

10.    I have Jim Caveziel for my movie – when can we shoot?
    Just because you have a star connected doesn’t mean you have a great movie. Worse yet, just because that star worked in a “Christian” movie, doesn’t help.  Trust me.

9.    If I could just have Ralph Winter (producer of X-Men) attached to my movie, it would get made.
    Acting talent brings money, then director, then writing, then maybe the producer.  The bottom line is that ... read more

There’s a particular problem that leaders face, and it happens in companies, non-profit organizations, churches, and ministries. Far too often – for whatever reason – the only real friends that CEO’s, pastors, and other leaders have are people who happen to work for them. Look around you and you’ll see it more than you’d expect. The first response I hear is that these are people who are close to the leader because they’re with him or her every day. They understand the leader, and they share the vision. I fully understand that argument. You certainly want to work with people you like and are friendly with, so hanging with those people from the office seems perfectly fine. But here’s where you run into problems: ... read more

When people ask me why I use a Mac, my usual response is that it’s more “intuitive.”  A PC is logical, but a Mac’s interface and software is more like the way I think.  I’ve also noticed it in how quickly young kids adapt to a Mac in contrast to a PC.  They just seem to “get it.”  It’s similar to the GPS systems on my car.  A few years ago I had a Lexus and I loved the GPS.  It just made sense.  It thought the way I did.  But now I have a Land Rover and I hate it.  The Land Rover GPS is good, and it’s very logical – but I find it’s very difficult to use. ... read more

We must reject the idea – well-intentioned, but dead wrong – that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become “more like a business.”
-- Jim Collins, author of Good To Great

The idea that a church, ministry, or non-profit must run like a business has gained enormous momentum in the last two decades.  The world is exploding with business books by a variety of gurus and supposed “experts,” and as a result, business thinking has become accepted dogma in religious organizations.  I’ve always been an advocate of this development, because over the years, after working with more than 1,000 churches and ministries worldwide, I’ve discovered that frankly, religious organizations are often the worst run operations on the planet.  ... read more

This is a must-read article in today's Wall Street Journal by Lee Siegel on the a fundamental difference between how the Left and Right views the world.  In fact, from my perspective - and the perspective of this blog - it's the single greatest key to understanding the rift between both parties.  It's long, but it's really worth the read.
 
 
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Lakewood Church in Houston (Pastor Joel Osteen) lost much of their historical video library a few years ago in a fire on the Lakewood campus.  Other major non-profits and media ministries are losing their historical film and video footage to accidents, neglect, and simply time.  Particularly with early 1 and 2 inch reel to reels and ¾ inch cassettes, deterioration happens very easily – especially if you don’t keep the footage in a temperature controlled facility.  I’m not a videotape expert, but I do know ... read more

Phil Cooke Can Speak for Your Organization or Event

philcooke.com/schedule

Phil Cooke can speak at your organization or event on subjects ranging from personal, organizational, creative, media, and cultural change. As an international speaker and lecturer at colleges and universities, major conferences, and related events, he can affect your audience through an array of personal stories, insightful information and research, and most of all, encouragement and inspiration.

Contact Cheryl Cashman at 818-563-2125 today! ... read more