The Advantage of Princes

Every Monday, I send an private e-mail to my Dream Year participants. In celebration of the Dream Year website and short film premiering later this week, I'm sharing today's article with you...

You may have thought you were dreaming big, but you're only dreaming as big as your experience will let you. The past has conditioned you for the size of your idea. Everything you’ve experienced in life has amounted to the scope and the scale of your dream.

If you’re intimidated, scared or frightened, it’s because you’ve never done anything like this before.

You haven’t been exposed to it.

Let me be frank with you. There are people out there doing exactly what you want to do who are not challenged by it at all. They’re not intimidated or overwhelmed, stressed out or worried. Your dream comes naturally to them because their background is vaster than yours. Or perhaps they have more exposure than you.

This is the advantage of princes.

They grew up in the castle. They understood how the kingdom was run. Leading an empire is no big deal to them because they grew up watching it being done. It has nothing to do with their capabilities. It has everything to do with their conditioning.
 
When Sylvester Stallone wrote the movie Rocky and insisted on playing the lead role, it was no real stretch for him. His mother was a women’s wrestling promoter. Sylvester grew up around gyms, locker rooms and fighting rings. He intrinsically understood the fighting sub-culture. As for the slurred speech that made his character so unforgettable – blame it on a forceps mishap during his childbirth. He was made to write and play that role.
 
It happens in every field. Even ministry. When Ed Young Jr. was invited to lead Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, he wasn’t stepping into unfamiliar territory. His father, Ed Young Sr., had been leading one of Houston’s largest mega-churches for decades. The same goes for Andy Stanley, Priscilla Evans Shirer, Joel Osteen, and Matthew Barnett.

Look at the sons and daughters of notable leaders. They enjoy the advantage of princes. It’s not just influence that comes with being related; it’s the exposure. They lack the fear and intimidation of operating at a higher level because it’s a normal way of life for them.

While you and I were born with steep learning curves, they were born with open terrain. They’re used to balancing checkbooks with more zeroes in them. They know how to operate the equipment. Their business relationships already existed. Their blood pressure doesn’t rise at the little things that would otherwise stress us out.

When I think about the advantage of princes, it makes me want to pave the way for my kids. I want to face steep learning curves so they can launch out with familiarity and confidence. I want them to grow up around the “locker rooms” and “gyms” of my industry. The things I do will become second nature to them.

For years, I’ve wanted to write and produce a feature-length film. Writing is not hard for me. I’ve been a short story writer, an advertising copywriter, a newspaper reporter, a magazine columnist, a blogger and a book author. I write at least 2,500 words every week of my life.

But there has always been one impenetrable barrier for me to write a film – the format and structure of a screenplay. I’ve never been able to make sense of the Courier typeface, the three-act structure, the cryptic abbreviations from scene to scene, and words like “log-line.”

Until now.

For the past year, I’ve read every book on the subject of screenwriting I could get my hands on. I’ve ordered original screenplays to study and rented classic movies to analyze the structure. At first, I was re-reading chapters over and over until I understood the terminology. And I nearly gave up on several occasions. But I broke through a wall.

Now I can tell you exactly the “inciting incident” and “key incident” in any movie you name, not to mention the midpoints, the plot points, and where exactly act one breaks into act two and so on. This wasn’t just a wall for me; it was a wall for my kids. Now they’ll grow up around film sets too. In 2011, I plan to write and produce my first feature-length film.

Can you imagine growing up in the home of renowned film director Francis Ford Coppola? You’d probably know a thing or two about filmmaking by the time you were 16 years old. This is exactly what happened to Francis’ daughter Sofia. She has gone onto write and direct several movies, including the Academy Award winning film Lost in Translation. Making great movies became second nature to her.

You may not have been born with the advantage of princes. But you can certainly defeat learning curves now and pass along the advantages to your kids.

Comments

[Jerel]

Good stuff, Ben. Really, really good. Most people never go there, because it's too hard. The truth is, most people never finish what they start. I'll look forward to seeing the completed product and hearing about what you learn along the way.

[itsmandyc]

and there I was just down the street with all my film school books and had no idea :)

[ross]

As a dad & the son of a dad who set me up for success, this post made me overflow with gratitude for my Dad's diligence & faithfulness in busting out of the status quo, & it made me really take a look at the areas where I have been drifting towards comfort instead of fighting for something greater for my family & myself. I feel like you cut the wick in half & lit it at the same time! Thanks.

[ShaunKing]

Loved this man. I am not the son of a prince and understand that being one has strengths and real drawbacks.

Ultimately, I love the struggle of having to breakthrough without the help of a legacy.

Proud of you and everyone else chasing their dreams.

Cannot wait to share something legitimately huge we are working on.

[Nat]

Such a great post Ben.

Your insight is always unique and so treasured. Even your "weekly rundowns" speak volumes.

Carry on!

[Ben Arment]

you guys rock. thanks for reading... and commenting. Made my day

[Daniel Decker]

Congrats Ben. Excited for you and excited to hear / see what the feature film will be about. Had a weird feeling something BIG was up when I emailed the other day. :)

[Will Mancini]

This is my favorite blog post of 2010. Thanks for your friendship and kingdom leadership. Keep helping leaders dream!

[Luke Dooley]

This was an amazing post Ben. Fantastic thoughts and encouragement here. I spent part of my evening tonight explaining to a friend why I would drive to Chicago and back in a 24 hour span for you. After reading this, I couldn't email him the link fast enough.

You are setting the pace for dozens of dreamers. We are all incredibly grateful.

[Steve Cuss]

fantastic post Ben - thanks for crafting it. I'm feasting on it and will be for a while

Steve

[david]

good thoughts, Ben.
As a son of a pastor who is now a pastor with a son, i think about this all the time. i was just pointing out to my children the other day some of the benefits we receive because of what i do.

i wonder however, if you might make some observations about the other side. what are the challenges to being a prince? and how do we enable our children to meet those challenges?

[adam herod]

Great, great stuff. Thanks for taking this one outside of the circle of trust and letting us read it. Wow. I'll be chewing and praying on this one for a while.

[alece]

wow, ben. thank you for blogging this. i so value this extra glimpse into your heart. such richness here...

[dan!]

thanks for sharing this. Love it.

and I can't wait for more on your movie.

[Justin Cloherty]

Hey Ben
its Fathers day in Australia on Sunday and you've just helped with some of the finishing touches for my sermon. Good work