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| (J. J. Abrams) |
Director, producer, and screenwriter J. J. Abrams is one of
the top leaders in the television and film industry, and the only person to
direct two major world changing film franchises – Star Wars and Star Trek.
I discovered how inspiring J. J. Abrams is when I did the research for my
Keynote presentation entitled J. J.Abrams – The Emergency of a Leader. It did not surprise me I saw that J. J.
Abrams had given a speech for TED, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
spreading ideas.
In March of 2007 in Monterey, California, Abrams gave his
speech entitled The Mystery Box. When
he was a child, Abrams’ grandfather Henry Calvin bought him a magic mystery
box. For the purchase of fifteen dollars, the mystery box had fifty dollars
worth of magic goodies inside it. Abrams never opened it up. It took him a
while to realize that the reason why he never opened it up was because it
represented something important to him – his grandfather. To Abrams his
grandfather represented hope and ideas of possibilities. His grandfather was
the reason why Abrams is so immensely attracted to mysteries. This realization
leads him to understand that life is full of mystery boxes.
Abrams’ speech was inspiring because he didn’t act like he
was talking to the “little people”. He gave the speech as if he was having an
everyday conversation with the audience. He was forthcoming with his fears of
not coming up with a suitable topic for TED, and how he had very little
direction on what to speak about. He described his thought process of how he
came up with The Mystery Box speech,
and its application to the real world. Abrams was enthusiastic when he was
sharing his knowledge on how he came up with the ideas of his past films and
television series. It was through his reputation and how he presented himself
that established the audience’s trust.
The Mystery Box
speech confirmed my research that everyone who’s worked with Abrams thinks and
speaks highly of him. He does not acknowledge the word impossible. Abrams
inspires me to go above and beyond the boundaries of my or anyone’s
imagination. I love the opportunity to work with him. Being able to create a
film or television series with Abrams is an ultimate dream of mine. J. J., if
you are reading this, “Let’s do lunch!”.
