Emmanuel C. Ezike II - The Greatest Ten Self-help Books In The World

The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read.

-MARK TWAIN

WOW! WHAT A QUOTE? And its true. Hi, my name is Emmanuel C. Ezike II and thanks for buying my book. I am not a Guru of some sort; a Sensei; an accredited teacher or have any of the former or latter accolades afforded those who have spent years in institutions of higher academic learning.

Rather, I am just like you; who through many searches for the right information has led you here; to this book.

My hope is not to bore you with all the benefits a good book can render but rather to possibly spur you further on your quest and perhaps minimize the time it could take to reach that proverbial Promise Land; a State of Being Happy, Healthy, Wealthy and Wise .

But first it is only customary; at least gentlemanly to tell you a bit about myself. As stated before, my name is Emmanuel C. Ezike II; and perhaps anyone seeing a name like that by a person who is bold enough to write in a public manner would wish to know a little bit more about the author.

Well, here it goes. I was born in a small country situated on the West Coast of Africa called Liberia. It is within this country I lived until 1992 and owing to a civil war, my parents and the rest of my family emigrated to Nigeria; the birthplace of my father. The name Ezike, a diminutive originates from the Igbo tribe in South-Eastern Nigeria.

I attended high school and in 1995; the year of my graduation, immigrated to the United States and settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was while at the University; my final year that I was struck with an epiphany to pick up pen and paper and write my first screenplay.

The work written in a span of two weeks and edited in about four would go on to win Best Breakthrough Screenplay in the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival . I was called by a lady; the organizer of the festival; who read the logline on a website in which the screenplay was posted, and requested a copy of the script. Three days later, I received another call inviting me to attend the festival at Madison Square Garden in New York for a week.

This was my first experience with the Big Apples creative artistry. I arrived at a small office filled with folders and papers all over the room and was told to come the next morning in order to pitch the script in front of a panel of judges. I did as I was told without realizing that this would be my first ever brush with public speaking; although it felt quite natural. A few applause, handshakes and smiles later would lead to another day of networking; meeting with producers, film enthusiasts, actors, artists and the like.

Quite frankly, all of this was kind of strange to me. I had a feeling of mild indifference; for somehow inside of me I care not for the socializing or the faade that sometimes comes with being in the Entertainment Business. There was a whole lot of Hollywood talk as they say that week. Yet, burning inside of me was the rationalization of the current turn of events. Was all of this happening just because I had written a screenplay? What else could there be if I wrote more of what came so effortlessly? Those were the thoughts that enveloped my psyche that weekend.

For the next few days, I went with the flow yet was eager to get back to Minneapolis and see what this new phase in my life was promising to be. It was on the plane that I picked up a magazine from the back of the seat in front of me. I opened to a page which showcased an article written about the film industry in Minneapolis called The Independent Feature Project (IFP North) as it was called then.

I got back home and the next morning, made my way to University Avenue by Highway 280 and walked up to the front office asking to speak to the Director of Affairs whose name escapes me currently yet was written in the magazine. The young man who was perhaps about thirty-five, and which seemed very ancient to me at that time for I was barely twenty-three, looked me over and wondered why I would want to speak to the apparent boss. I told him I had just gotten back from New York and wanted to have her read my screenplay and possibly have it shot in Minneapolis.

The gentleman smiled perhaps because he could tell I was a novice but a novice in earnest nonetheless. He said hed take my number and perhaps the screenplay and have the director get back to me. I obliged, bid him a good day and hustle my way out the door.

I would get a call about 11:45 AM the next morning from the director personally who asked if it was okay to have lunch with her on Friday. I was fresh out of school; no full-time work so plenty of free time was what I had. We set the venue for Starbucks 12:30 PM.

Friday arrived and I got ready and bussed downtown Minneapolis arriving about fifteen minutes early. I would wait for an hour plus with no director in sight. Back then, a cell phone was a bit of a luxury; had none; only a couple of $0.25 cents to make phone calls from the payphone using a small journal I kept of important numbers which I carried with me.

Don't know what happened for the no-show even though a series of messages were left on the directors phone to no return. Was this another Hollywood talk again? Is it done like this in Minneapolis too?

Don't know if this was the impetus, but I wandered into a bookstore; Barnes and Noble and as I was browsing, I ended up in the Writing Section and picked up a book Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez . It looked very interesting so I purchased it, took it home and read it from cover to cover.

The next week I would be enrolled in the Filmmaking Program at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College and began taking film lessons! And as a rebel, I borrowed $250 from my father, bought a 1963 Bolex 16 millimeter camera along with a tripod and began filming scenes around my neighborhood and the beautiful Minneapolis cityscapes as well as editing them.

My first picture film was a rendition of Alfred Hitchcock's knife and shower scene from the masterpiece Psycho . My only actress and my first supportive producer or should I say the second bar my father was my girlfriend who is now my wife. The skit would garner an A+.

And after a few months, I moved on to digital filmmaking; making quite expensive purchases in the Canon GL2 which cost about $2500 along with lights, filters; a Mac ibook fully stocked with the cutting edge Final Cut Pro Directors cut! Man! Was I ready to tackle the industry!

With the assembly of a few of my non-movie head associates, I started a filmmaking company Linius Pictures with me as Writer, Director, President, and CEO. It would fail royally!