Ask the Author: Gavin Mills
Answered Questions (8)
Gavin Mills
Hi Roger.
Sorry - been tied up in silly season madness so saw your review (big thankyou) but not your question. Would love to make contact - and sent you an e-mail last week! My e-mail address is gavin@dontforgetgeorge.co.za.
So glad to know you!
Sorry - been tied up in silly season madness so saw your review (big thankyou) but not your question. Would love to make contact - and sent you an e-mail last week! My e-mail address is gavin@dontforgetgeorge.co.za.
So glad to know you!
Gavin Mills
Hi Roger.
No - although moving forward I would probably love to. It's a bit difficult and dicy doing yourself and having only you as judge and jury. Do you?
No - although moving forward I would probably love to. It's a bit difficult and dicy doing yourself and having only you as judge and jury. Do you?
Gavin Mills
I drive down the street and I see something, I overhear a conversation. I watch the news... I listen to my kids, I listen to my wife (...sometimes heheh). Inspiration comes from being alive and appreciating the gift. It is not something that can be forced, but is something you need to be open to - to see the colours, hear the sounds, smell the smells and embrace the flow.
Gavin Mills
Busy playing with an idea for a sort of prequel to Dup. Dup touches on my life back in South Africa in present times. It is a piece of fiction so obviously is not an autobiography (thank God!).
But reflecting on my journey, I know that it has not been normal - and a major slice of the insanity happened in Europe when I eventually decided to head into international performing arts. It is not just about the dancing world... I left when SA was being hit by sanctions against Apartheid. Going to Europe as a South African was an eye-opener! The new story will be woven around crazinesses both that I have experienced, and that I can conjure up in my mind. Should be very interesting (I hope)...
But reflecting on my journey, I know that it has not been normal - and a major slice of the insanity happened in Europe when I eventually decided to head into international performing arts. It is not just about the dancing world... I left when SA was being hit by sanctions against Apartheid. Going to Europe as a South African was an eye-opener! The new story will be woven around crazinesses both that I have experienced, and that I can conjure up in my mind. Should be very interesting (I hope)...
Gavin Mills
The same as to any entrepreneur: believe in yourself enough to accept praise gracefully and criticism with humility, but objectively.
When I had just started dancing, we were doing a TV shoot and I was in a company with some really excellent, well trained dancers. We were arguing about the choreography and one of the guys turned to me patronizingly and said, 'Ah Gavin. You have so much to learn.'
I was just about to bite his head off when I thought about his words. He was right! So I got back to Jo'burg and started learning, going to two classes a day, five days a week - and I learnt. I year later I was a principal at Sun City and he was in the line.
The crazy thing about life is there's so many of us! Maybe your stuff is not right for everyone, but there's a good chance you'll resonate somewhere at some time with someone. So believe in yourself, work hard, pay your dues and keep moving forward.
When I had just started dancing, we were doing a TV shoot and I was in a company with some really excellent, well trained dancers. We were arguing about the choreography and one of the guys turned to me patronizingly and said, 'Ah Gavin. You have so much to learn.'
I was just about to bite his head off when I thought about his words. He was right! So I got back to Jo'burg and started learning, going to two classes a day, five days a week - and I learnt. I year later I was a principal at Sun City and he was in the line.
The crazy thing about life is there's so many of us! Maybe your stuff is not right for everyone, but there's a good chance you'll resonate somewhere at some time with someone. So believe in yourself, work hard, pay your dues and keep moving forward.
Gavin Mills
Every job has limitations and constraints. With writing, the only limitations are in your head. That freedom allows you to explore worlds and situations that very few other professionals could ever dream about - quite literally.
Gavin Mills
Thankfully I don't really get writer's block. I'm a motormouth and a motorhead by nature. I never forget, once at work in a leading Johannesburg avdertising agent - I was heading up the event marketing division. I was whining about something or other. My boss, the MD of the company threw his arms up in exasperation, "Gavin you're so hectic man! Don't you ever slow down?" I held up my arms turning around so he could expect me like a body search. I said, "You think you have it bad... Can you see any on/off switch? You got me about eight to ten hours a day... I have to put up with me 24/7!" Ideas come easy and I then just follow the movies in my head.
Gavin Mills
We are told people make an assessment on you within less than ten seconds of first meeting. They don't know you. How can one evaluate you in ten seconds? But still we make judgements which most times endure, irrespective of how the other behaves thereafter. ...And with all the different stereotypes around us, how often do we get it wrong.
Dup is an exercise questioning these stereotypes in an action packed, highly entertaining, slightly light hearted envelope. Set in South Africa I chose strong stereotypes which pepper our cosmopolitan society: A NIgerian who is not a thug or drug dealer, cops who are not good guys, a self made Eastern block criminal who mixes with the rich and famous, and a pretty easy going middle class movie wannabe who feels threatened by a country where his kind have fallen from grace.
Put these characters together, and we have a story reflective of human experiences and emotions we all encounter from time to time in every day life: Those who you believe are your friends are not necessarily the ones you can depend on, the true meaning of life depends less on what you have and more on those you surround yourself with, and love and honour are often found in the strangest of places.
Dup is an exercise questioning these stereotypes in an action packed, highly entertaining, slightly light hearted envelope. Set in South Africa I chose strong stereotypes which pepper our cosmopolitan society: A NIgerian who is not a thug or drug dealer, cops who are not good guys, a self made Eastern block criminal who mixes with the rich and famous, and a pretty easy going middle class movie wannabe who feels threatened by a country where his kind have fallen from grace.
Put these characters together, and we have a story reflective of human experiences and emotions we all encounter from time to time in every day life: Those who you believe are your friends are not necessarily the ones you can depend on, the true meaning of life depends less on what you have and more on those you surround yourself with, and love and honour are often found in the strangest of places.
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