I really appreciated Mr.Seidman’s visit to our class. As a person who prides himself in being interested in a lot of things and also having a lot of projects going at once Bob’s story is inspiring. As we get older we are often encouraged to heavily specialize in a small set of things, but Bob’s story defies that idea. In addition to defying an idea that many of us take for granted, Bob show show rewarding it can be open to chart your own path.
Of the projects we viewed in class I enjoyed watching the documentary about the young homeless men and women of the Great Depression the most. The director of a film obviously plays a role in the direction of a doc but Bob’s discussion highlighted truly how much of a group effort every film is. As a person still learning about documentary and story making, it was important for me to hear truly how much people like Bob do to make sure high quality work is done. From writing grants to putting together scripts, it was great to learn more about the role Bob played in making some really great documentaries.
I also appreciated the conversational tone that Bob approached his presentation with. As Bob’s remarks continued I began to see him almost as a grandfatherly figure. His talk wasn’t necessarily packed with facts but I derived a great amount of value from Monday by simply soaking up the anecdotes Bob shared us about his experience as a screenwriter and producer. Bob is a remarkably personable guy. In short amount of time I felt relaxed around him, and I got the sense that he just makes people around him comfortable. It is always nice for me to just listen to someone who has done cool things, and Bob has no doubt done some really cool things with his time.